French cardinal: don't blame Church alone for sex abuse
March 11, 2013
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Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris has insisted that sexual abuse of children is not a problem confined to the Church.
Decrying the “fascination” with abuse by Catholic clerics, the French cardinal said that this approach “is an easy way of ridding us of the issue of pedophilia: by putting it on the Church.” That approach, however, “prevents asking the question within society itself,” he said.
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Posted by: geoffreysmith1 -
Mar. 12, 2013 8:12 AM ET USA
jeremiahjj: It is not a case of the Church saying 'No' when a homosexual applies for a place in a seminary. The Church must acknowledge that this condition is a diriment impediment to ordination, and no gay, active or inactive, can become a priest precisely because he has this disordered mental state.
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Posted by: jeremiahjj -
Mar. 11, 2013 6:16 PM ET USA
The problem of pedophilia (a tiny percentage of the total population) certainly isn't the church's alone, and neither is the incidence of homosexuality, which is a much larger problem. However, ministers, priests and rabbis answer to a higher calling. From an administrative standpoint, the religious institution must make sure the person called has no such inclination. There's no need to debate the origin of the inclination; the organization simply must say no when such persons apply.
