Judging from the amount of coverage, it would appear the major media are concerned about pedophiles in the Catholic Church. But there has been little coverage of the real problem. Just like society at large, the church has been too tolerant of homosexuals in its midst.

Technically, pedophilia involves sexual abuse of boys and girls. But the Catholic Priests under scrutiny are sexual abusers of boys. That makes the homosexual connection absolutely critical. Columnist Joel Mowbray, a practicing Catholic, says homosexuality is a definite factor in the sexual abuse cases. "Although greeted with a wave of protest," he points out, "suggestions by Vatican spokesman Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls of a link between homosexuality and sexual abuse by priests cannot be lightly dismissed, and in fact, demand further exploration."

Putting his finger on the problem, he notes that, "Part of the sensitivity in this discussion is the fear that such comments imply a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia. But in the overwhelming number of cases made public so far, the victims have been teenage boys (not girls), meaning that this does not fit the clinical definition of pedophilia, which is the obsessive sexual attraction to prepubescent children."

Mowbray goes on to cite estimates that 25-50% of priests are homosexuals, compared to what he says is the 3-5% of men in the general public who are gay. That figure may be as low as 1-2 percent. He adds, "Not only does the priesthood have a disproportionately strong appeal to homosexuals, but most of the priests involved in the scandals came of age during the sexual revolution of the late 60s and early 70s. Adding further fuel to the fire is the immaturity of many of these priests, who often joined the seminaries fresh out of grade school, denying them the normal social experiences of adolescence. The combination of homosexuality, lax sexual attitudes, and immaturity has proven a recipe for disaster."

Mowbray says Michael S. Rose, author of the forthcoming book Goodbye Good Men, says that now-deceased Joseph Bernadin, who was later Cardinal of Chicago, forced out conservative clergy members throughout the diocese and in the seminary when he became Archbishop of Cincinnati in 1972, replacing them with homosexuals. In The Changing Face of the Priesthood, by Father Donald Cozzens, the former head of a Catholic seminary, it depicts the homosexual culture as dominant at many seminaries.

The Culture and Family Institute of Concerned Women for America points out that homosexuals themselves are sometimes open about the link between homosexuality and pedophilia. They found a column by a lesbian author in the Washington Blade, a homosexual paper, who points out that some homosexual men "maintain that an adult who has same-sex relations with someone under the legal age of consent is on some level doing the kid a favor by helping to bring him or her ‘out’ [‘of the closet’ as an open homosexual]." They regard this "as an important aspect of gay culture…" The Catholic Church has to purge these predators.

Reed Irvine can be reached at ri@aim.org