Catholic Church Apologists Just Don't Get It

I received a post comment today which, while not anonymous, was from a Blogger profile that was blocked and thus not something that could be verified with a name and location. Therefore, I did not publish the comment. However, some of the points raised in the comment - such as call critics of the Church like myself "Liberal Church Haters" do deserve a response because they are part and parcel with the Catholic Church's effort to depict itself as a victim that has been wrongfully singled out for undue focus and strict criticism in the area of sexual abuse by clergy. The argument of the apologists basically goes like this: pedophilia and molestation of minors happen all throughout society and in various other institutions - public schools being one such example. Therefore, to single out the Catholic Church evidences bigotry and/or liberal bias. The apologists also endeavor to link pedophilia with homosexuality as opposed to celibacy. I'm sorry, but to me, that fairy tale story line is - pardon my French - unadulterated bull shit for a number of reasons.
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The first reason that the excuse that "everyone is doing it" does not wash is because - as is noted at Gay Agenda - in the wider scope of society outside of Catholic Church control, such incidents are not hushed up,swept under the carpet, and hidden from view. Outside the Catholic Church you don’t get someone guilty of child abuse protected by their employer, moved to different locations, and then given complete freedom along with close contact to children, to do it all over again. The facts that have come out to date have more or less confirmed a worldwide centralized policy of cover up and protection of predator priests that flows directly down form the Popes and the Vatican. I know of no public school system for instance where anything like this has or would occur.
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A second reason that the pedophilia/homosexuality canard fails is because the experts have uniformly condemned it as untrue. Just today the French foreign ministry slammed the Vatican for this lie as did the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. In its statement, the British Catholic Bishops Conference stated in part as follows:

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[T]here is no empirical data which concludes that sexual orientation is connected to child sexual abuse. The consensus among researchers is that the sexual abuse of children is not a question of sexual 'orientation', whether heterosexual or homosexual, but of a disordered attraction or 'fixation'.
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"Many abusers of children have never developed the capacity for mature adult relationships. Instead, their sexual attractions focus on children - boys, girls, or both. "In the sexual abuse of children the issue is the sexual fixation of the abusers, and not their sexual orientation."
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Unfortunately, the celibate priesthood seems to have offered a perfect haven for these psycho-sexually disturbed individuals where they can hide their severe psychological issues while enjoying respect and status. Stated differently, the Church's policy of celibacy attracts those unable to function normally in sexual/emotional relationships. Both the Church hierarchy and the Church apologists need to face this reality. Pretending that a systemic problem does not exist does nothing to correct the problem.

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A third reason why the Church needs to be hoisted on its own petard is because of the rank hypocrisy of the hierarchy from the Pope on down and the way in which they have shown themselves to be worse than modern day Pharisees. As an institution, the Church has inflicted untold emotional and psychological harm on its members over the centuries - and not just gay Catholics - yet through it all the supposed "men of God" in leadership positions have been worse sinners than the members of the laity in whom they have inflicted self-hate and misery. It's the hypocrisy of it all that makes me and others want to have the Pope and other members of the high Catholic clergy reveal for the frauds and morally bankrupt functionaries that they are in fact. While condemning average people, these monsters have put money, power, and privilege before God and simple decency.

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Today's comment author and similar apologists need to open their eyes to the harsh light of reality. The emperor has no clothes and they have been acting in idolatrous behavior towards the bitter old men in dresses at the Vatican.