The Pope
I found out about this article from a blog called Queerty. I am not linking to the blog because while it usually has relevant news posts worth monitoring… it likes its soft porn and we don’t link to blogs that promote soft porn. But, to the point, the Vatican issues a strongly worded statement parsed out for consumption in this article. Here is a quote to focus on here:
… The statement said that rather than paedophilia, it would “be more correct” to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males.
“Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90% belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17.”
The statement concluded: “As the Catholic church has been busy cleaning its own house, it would be good if other institutions and authorities, where the major part of abuses are reported, could do the same and inform the media about it.” …
via The Guardian
But Queerty isn’t understanding it at all and makes a big defensive leap instead of reflective consideration (parenthesis mine):
… Well they (the Catholic Church) don’t really like this child molester reputation, and they have a brand new branding campaign they’d love for you to take part it.
Step 1? Stop calling their molesting priests “pedophiles.” Rather, start using the word “ephebophilia,” which describes a gay attraction to adolescent boys. See how this makes the molestation a gay problem and not a church problem? …
It should be noted that the word ephebophilia isn’t exclusive to homosexual attractions. So The Guardian and Queerty‘s definition of the word is more indicative of their reaction to the Vatican pointing out the truth (that most of the cases they experienced were about ephebophilia) than the actual word.
I don’t know what the motivation for the Vatican statement was but while it does appear (may not be reality) to be defensive on one level, it isn’t squirming or blame-shifting to point to the broader reality. Homosexual/Heterosexual ephebophilia does exist in religious institutions and the secular world.
Just as Hollywood looks like they live in blind denial defending a heterosexual ephebophile (Roman Polanski), the gay identified person should not turn to the same type of defensive denial by ignoring the reality of homosexual ephebophiles.
At the same time I have seen stigmatizers try to use this to demonize every person who identifies as gay with this story just as much as some militant gay activists try to demonize every Christian because of this story. This propensity to use the salacious scandals of the day to stain as many ideological/moral opponents as possible is nothing but hyped negative attention seeking preaching to the choir and is counterproductive to actually protecting children.
And both sides doing that type of stigmatizing rhetoric are totally missing the point. That point being that there are sexual predators in our community. Notice I didn’t say “communities.” There are men, and women, who prey upon young kids and teens to exploit them sexually. They need to be caught, prosecuted and punished for their actions.
It’s not a Christian problem, or religious problem or gay problem … it’s our problem. Instead of demonizing those actually trying to address these very difficult subjects, what are we doing to prevent it from ever happening again within our own spheres of influence? That is the most helpful question to ask and then sharing with others what actually works will help prevent this malicious behavior from being perpetrated on more young people.
RESOURCES:
The Wounded Heart - Hope for Adult Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse by Dan Allender
Wounds That Heal – Bringing Our Hurts to The Cross by Steve Seamands
About Randy Thomas
This I found interesting … first because my family is Roman Catholic and second I'm also Aboriginal and so I like to see how the Roman Catholic church has been working towards expressing the issues at hand, confessing the wrong they've done as a whole, not just with the sex abuse scandel but with regards to the residential schooling across North America.
Now with regards to the Roman Catholic church, in Canada the Roman Catholic Church just recently made a formal statement of apology for their responsibilities with the sex scandels and the Residential Schools. More specifically, the church's involved in the Residential Schools and the Canadian government has made an official Apology to Aboriginal Peoples with regards to the sex scandels which by the way the Aboriginal Communities have been the main targeted group of people with these sex scandels that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church.
I am not caught up on the sex abuse scandal with Aboriginal people. Are you saying the Canadian Catholics have sexually abused Aboriginal communities?
I know for at least in Canada the Residential schools that were run by Roman Catholic, Anglican, and United Church's of Canada was just filled with cases and one of the reasons why there is such devastation among Aboriginal Peoples in Canada at least. I'm not sure if there exists one Aboriginal person who went through the residential schooling system that hasn't been sexually, physically, and verbally, and spiritually abused at the hands of Ministers not just in the Roman Catholic church but all Religious organizations involved.
The HIV epidemic among Aboriginal people seem to be more of an issue with Aboriginal Peoples then it within the GLBT Community because of a high percentage of Aboriginal Peoples having addictions. Aboriginal Women are seen as being apart of the "At Risk" population because of all of this.
Roman Catholics who were involved in the Residential Schools have played a major role in the abuse of Aboriginal People…at least in Canada that is the case.