470 gay bishops?

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Oct 24, 2003

"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.

We are an Easter People.