470 gay bishops?
By Diogenes (articles ) | October 24, 2003 3:42 PM
"If 10 per cent of men are gay then it's a reasonable assumption that 10 per cent of priests and 10 per cent of bishops are gay, but it is what you do about it."
That's newly-minted Cardinal Keith O'Brien working to edify the faithful (here quoted in an interview shortly after the announcement of his selection). By his reasoning -- and let's hope he's giving us an example of his speculative intellect at work and not speaking empirically -- about 13 of the Cardinal Electors are gay, and over 470 of the world's Catholic bishops share Gene Robinson's libido, if not (in Mark Steyn's phrase) the courage of his concupiscence.
Catholics are meant to take this calmly, of course, as mature and responsible citizens, and convince ourselves that bombshells such as that dropped by Bishop Dan Reilly regarding gay benefits or Cardinal O'Brien regarding gay clergy are wholly unconnected with political liabilities or personal appetite. We are to imagine them passing their days in profound study of Boethius and Augustine, and their remarks as the product of prayer and serene scholarly detachment. Curiously though, gays themselves are permitted to exchange high fives.
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Posted by: -
Oct. 25, 2003 10:44 AM ET USA
470 gay bishops--appointed by John Paul II. 13 gay cardinal electors--elevated by John Paul II. A church in collapse--courtesy, in large part, to John Paul II. Was it really so much to expect that an orthodox pope would appoint orthodox bishops?
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Posted by: -
Oct. 25, 2003 10:09 AM ET USA
and 26 popes and 4 presidents etc etc
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Posted by: -
Oct. 25, 2003 8:25 AM ET USA
Our name is legion, for we are many...
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Posted by: patriot6908 -
Oct. 24, 2003 4:45 PM ET USA
Why should this surprise anyone, any longer? We Western Catholics were a spoiled pampered lot in need of a good schism to weed things out. Well, it's here and has been here from nearly forty years. Chicago has its Eighth Day Center for Justice, which might as well be Wiccan Midwest, and staffed by good old Catholic orders whom we all grew up with, including some of my Passionist parish priests. Hey, Matthew Fox is their hero! Only tough love will straighten out or kick out the bunch.
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Posted by: shrink -
Oct. 24, 2003 4:33 PM ET USA
The proportion of gay men in the US is 2.7% overall, and roughly 1.5% in the bishops' age cohort. No one knows the real numbers in the clergy however. Nevertheless, suppose 50% of all priests and bishops were gay, (which is the % of Arian bishops in the 4th century) we know, nevertheless, what has to be done. The numbers simply don't matter, unless you view these things through purely political lenses.
