CODE WORDS TO HIDE SEX ABUSE
Revised
4 June 2008
If one is searching church documents for evidence of a church’s prior
knowledge of sexually abusing priests he will rarely find the words
pedophile, abuser, sex, or any other direct reference to actual
sexually abusive behavior. Even in correspondence with medical providers
code words and euphemisms are used. All of the euphemistic terms or
phrases used to describe a priest who is sexually abusing minors listed
below were found in medical, church, or criminal records.
The
longstanding knowledge of sexual abuse by priests among the hierarchy
becomes decipherable as more and more church documents come to light and
are examined. A Cardinal recently (2006) admitted what we have known for
a long time, that “codes“ are used between bishops to indicate a priest
is having problems with sex. This cardinal’s particular code when he
sent a sex-abusing priest to the jurisdiction of another Catholic
Cardinal was—he is coming for “HEALTH AND FAMILY REASONS.” He not
only admitted that it was a code that any bishop or cardinal would
understand, but also tried to defend his position in sending the priest
who was soon arrested for sexual assault on minors in his new placement
because he thought the priest was “ONLY HOMOSEXUAL.”
Codes
and Euphemisms in Psychiatry
The
church has not been alone in handling sex abuse by Catholic bishops and
priests as a hot potato and behavior that had to be disguised with
alternative names to identify and record it at the same time to hide it.
I know from my years in association and observation of the psychiatric
community and reviewing many medical histories of priests that
pedophilia (under its current and appropriate definition) was noted, but
classified and treated under various monikers. Sexual activity by
priests was concealed and codified especially in Catholic institutions.
In my years of training and on the staff of a hospital that treated
numerous priests, a noteworthy number who were in actuality pedophiles
not one was given that designation as a primary diagnosis. (It is of
public record that minor abusing priests Fr. John Goehgan and Fr. David
Holley and dozens of others were treated at the hospital where I
worked.) Priests’ sexual activity was noted and subsumed under some more
acceptable psychiatric and, at the time, available diagnosis.
This
distortion was not entirely the fault of the treating institutions.
Rarely did bishops “play it straight with the staff.” Even in referring
an offending priest for treatment many bishops concealed or twisted the
facts to make the priest (diocese) look as good as possible. On
discharge, many bishops and superiors often disregarded or twisted the
recommendations of the psychiatric staff to suit their own judgment and
needs.
Also,
some Catholic treating institutions were compromised. They destroyed
medical documents that witnessed criminal behavior and told bishops to
do the same
or in line with the recommendation of Bishop John Quinn, sent documents
to the office of the Apostolic Delegate in Washington, DC to seal them
under diplomatic immunity.After
1985 at least one archdiocese hired a man specifically to “cleanse the
files.”
Other dioceses made the same arrangements with members of their staff.
From
the 1920s through the 1950s SCHIZOPHRENIC was a commonly used
designation for a priest who was involved in sex with children. Fr.
Gerald Fitzgerald wrote in 1957 to a bishop who wanted to send a
pedophile priest to Via Coeli, “From our long experience with characters
of this type…most of these men would be clinically classified as
schizophrenic.”
He was also convinced by that time that priests who got involved
sexually with children could not be cured.
Hospital records from 1982 give the diagnosis of “paranoid
schizophrenic” to a priest who had been treated twice before for
“depression.” He admitted a history of abusing at least five boys a year
during the course of his ministry. The reason for this categorization
did have logic: the conscious decision of a priest was to be celibate.
He could not be a priest if he did not promise that. Since he wanted to
be a clergyman and his behavior was diametrically opposed to this desire
he had to have a “split-personality.” His behavior demonstrated
primarily that he was “crazy” and schizophrenia was an available
diagnosis at that time. If his craziness could be controlled then he
would behave appropriately, but that diagnosis was not seen as amenable
to cure, just management.
ALCOHOLISM
has long been known as a problem among Catholic clergy. The lifetime
incidence of alcoholism is twice as high in Catholic clergy (20 percent)
than recorded in the general population. Hospital and treatment centers
for priests contemplated and established since the 1930s always named
alcohol abuse as one major motivation for founding these centers. Father
Thomas Verner Moore, M.D. had plans drawn up for a psychiatric hospital
on the campus of Catholic University with the treatment of alcoholic
priests as one of the major targets.
“Sister Mary Ignatia Gavin pioneered the concept of medical treatment
for addiction when alcoholism was thought to result from irreversible
moral failure. Gavin founded the world’s first alcohol addiction
treatment center in 1939 at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio.
The first treatment center designed exclusively for the treatment of
alcoholic priests was founded as Guest House, in Lake Orion, MI in 1956.
But alcohol problems of priests were a factor in the founding in 1947 of
St. John Vianney Hospital in Downingtown, PA—a psychiatric hospital
exclusively for clergy—Via Coeli in 1948 and St. Luke Institute in 1981.
But the awareness of the sexual problems hidden behind alcohol moved
Guest House in the 1990s to refuse sexually addicted men entrance to
their program, at the same time that the awareness of the connection
between substance abuse and sex addiction motivated Via Coeli (1976) and
later St. Luke’s (1985) to devise and initiate specific treatment
protocols for clergy-sex-addiction.
History of the psychiatric treatment of priests with sexual problems,
including abuse of minors clearly demonstrates that ALCOHOLIC was
the name given to these men—partly because they were drinking too much
and causing—as said in church circles, admiratio populi—scandal.
But in truth, scores of the priests and bishops in this group were
acting out sexually with children or adolescents. Drinking was a more
benign diagnosis—less damaging to the reputation of the clergy and the
church than any direct recognition of sexual involvement. It was not
politically tolerable to use the word pervert.
The
logic behind this psychiatric decision rested in the belief “if you
could keep father sober, he would not act in these sinful ways.”
Some how the idea that a person was drunk at the time of a sexual
encounter rendered the sexual element more understandable and less
culpable.
The
psychiatric designation DEPRESSION is well known and common in US
culture. Mental health research has estimated that 7.9 to 8.6 percent of
adults will experience a major depression during their lifetime.
During my years in
training and on the staff of a Catholic hospital
it was common to have
a priest patient who had sexually abused minors to be diagnosed as
suffering from depression. And indeed, most suffered from depressive
symptoms. They had been caught. Either the police or some church
authority noted the sexual behavior and had to do something about the
impending scandal or danger of incarceration. The displacement,
uncertainty about the future, the fear of a mental hospital setting,
embracement and loss of self-esteem, conspired to make the priest or
bishop feel depressed.
But
in many cases the diagnosis was rendered as a cover, diminishment, or
disregard of the major psychiatric element—inability to control sexual
behavior toward children and adolescents. It sounded much better to say
that father was in the hospital for depression (or exhaustion, another
euphemism) than to admit he was caught abusing children or call him a
pervert.
The
logic of diagnosing depression is similar to that of calling a
sex-abusing priest an alcoholic—If we can help father feel better,
enhance his self-esteem, and control his dark moods he won’t do these
bad things. The excuse of alcohol has been used notable and almost
laughably when public figures have been caught in embarrassing sexual
misbehavior. “I was drinking,” they say. For example Congressman Michael
Foley of Florida resigned his post in 2006 because of sexual advances he
made to young Congressional Pages. In the aftermath he was “depressed,”
entered treatment for alcohol addiction and then announced another
factor often seen as superior to being identified as an abuser of
minors—“I’m homosexual.” This triad of drink, depression, and gay
identity is often juggled around to find the most acceptable—or least
damaging—public explanation of criminal behavior.
Sometimes the sexual element in behavior was too obvious or public to
deny on admission to a psychiatric hospital. Even then the fact that a
child had been abused by a priest had to be softened and covered as much
as possible. The offending priest was treated for a psychiatric disorder
(until 1973 when it was dropped from the DSM): he was called a
HOMOSEXUAL.
In
1968 this psychiatric cover was somewhat understandable. The texts
recorded, “Pedophilia, or a pathological sexual interest in children
is regarded as a variant of homosexuality in which the homosexual
strivings are directed toward children.” The perpetrator was
considered weak and impotent, his actions reincarnations of his wishes
for his mother’s love, and because of insecurity and self-doubt he
functioned on an immature psychosexual level.
This
confusion of pedophilia (ephebophilia) and homosexuality is
long-standing and detrimental to the understanding and treatment of men
who are genuinely addicted to sex with minors.
In
the 1970s treatment centers for clergy like the House of Affirmation
were established staffed by priests and other Catholic workers, mostly
with M.A. degrees, under the supervision of a psychologist or
psychiatrist. Priests who had sexually abused minors were labeled in
documents to bishops with idiosyncratic diagnoses such as “suffering
from MODERATE FRUSTRATION NEUROSIS.” Lack of sexual control was
not spelled out but recorded simply as “Father has an AREA OF
DIFFICULTY.” Other reports to bishops referred to “father’s
PROBLEMATIC BEHAVIOR” and his “SERIOUS WEAKNESS.” (Records
1974)
The
Law and the Church
Prosecution and incarceration have not been the usual path for priests
and bishops who have been found to abuse minors or been discovered in
other sexually compromising circumstances:
·
In
1967 a Monsignor was arrested consequent to picking up a 15 year-old
hitchhiker, driving him to his (the cleric’s) parent’s home, forcing
alcohol on him, and attempting to rape him. The boy escaped from the
house (breaking some furniture in the process) and screaming, roused a
neighbor. When the police came at 1:30 A.M. they found the boy confused
and distraught lying on the floor of the neighbor’s home. The police
traced the priest’s identity through his parent’s home.
What
happened?
The
Police handled it: “by filing a secret information with the Court.”
The
Police determined: “more harm than good could be done by prosecution.”
The
Sheriff directed: “present the information to Bishop Green and let
him handle the matter, as has been done in the past.”
The
Police discounted the idea that the Msgr. might be an “active or
latent-homosexual” but that he could be “UNDER SEVERE STRAIN
combined with APPARENT INTOXICATION.” (Emphasis mine)
Church response?
Monsignor was sent to a Catholic General hospital for a 30-day check-up
and the announcement was made that he was recuperating from
EXHAUSTION from OVER WORK.
As a
parochial dean in 1983 he destroyed written complaints about child abuse
by another priest.
He
was promoted and continued in ministry until 2000.
·
In
1987 a bishop was arrested for sexual solicitation at a truck stop in
Massachusetts. The arresting officer, a devout Catholic, did not
discover that the man was a bishop from another state until after he had
written the citation. He and his superior were concerned about the
possible adverse consequences. The officer of the State Police in charge
called the Catholic Chaplin and had him drive the bishop home in the
neighboring state. The priest chaplain made a note of the incident. The
arresting officer was troubled by his part in the incident and feared
scandal. He consulted a well-placed cleric who assured him that he had
not betrayed the church by doing his duty.
He also made a note of the incident.
The
outcome?
All
police records were destroyed by some unknown agent.
This
event among others involving minor boys was kept SECRET by the
church and the law.
Although allegations of this bishop abusing orphans while he was a
seminarian are on record, they never have been made public.
Priests and bishops have been sent for treatment to Catholic
hospitals under court order. The arrangement, informal or formal, was an
agreement that the understanding judge would not press, or would
suspend, charges if the cleric would submit to psychiatric treatment.
Senior members of the staff of Seton testified that the practice was
long-standing there.
No
statement can be clearer about the cozy cooperation between the law and
religion-related psychiatric centers than that of Dr. Frank Valcour, the
medical director of St. Luke’s Institute when he wrote on December 10,
1992—“Because sexual behavior disorders often involve felonious
acts many of our patients have been adjudicated. Some have been on
probationary status others have been in treatment in lieu of jail time.
Still others have been sent to treatment with us as part of a
plea-bargain.”
Father Gerald Fitzgerald reminded a bishop who sent a priest for abusing
minors in 1953, that priests were spared criminal prosecution only
because they were clerics.
The
Church Speaks In Latin
It
may surprise some people to know that even in the early 1960s the moral
theology books used in seminaries could be in English save for the
chapters on the sixth and ninth commandments. They were written in
Latin—entitled De Sexto—as if it would take a classical
language scholar to know what those mysterious chapters were all about.
It is but one more indication of the degree of secrecy accorded anything
that had to do with sex—the forbidden, except to the Initiate.
Coitus was carefully defined—in Latin—so that priests would know the
importance of a valid marriage—ratum et conusmatum: that
is the couple had to take vows before a priest and they had to have
complete intercourse.
When
I was ordained in 1959, priests in parishes were given a pamphlet that
was to be reviewed with an engaged couple ONLY the night before the
wedding ceremony. The absurdity of giving marital instructions at the
last minute lest the couple be tempted to sin is only secondary to
presuming the competence of the instructor.
Stuprum
is a classic term used for centuries to indicate sodomy. Although it has
a long history and was used to designate that activity with men or women
it is most frequently used in church documents to indicated sex of a
priest with a minor, usually a boy.
In
chancery documents from 1959 I found the phrase De re turpi cum
infantibus to describe a priest in trouble. That is a pretty
clear admission of the fact of child abuse, of course, meant only for
clerical eyes.
Crimen
or
Delict (literally church terms for crime) are other terms
frequently found in church documents to cover a multitude of sins
without having to be explicit. They are a bit more vague because they are
not exclusively reserved for sexual offences against children. They can,
among other things, indicate abuse against adult men or women.
Delictus contra naturam cum eodem sexu
is a
phrase I found in records of Via Coeli to a bishop as late as 1963.
Literally it could mean homosexual activity, but it is in the record of
a notorious sexual abuser of boys. In 1964 the treatment center
simplified the term to Code 3.
In a
report about a candidate whose name had been submitted for consideration
for ordination to the episcopacy the objection was that he had
Mulier (women) problems.
Many
codes can be seen in church correspondence about candidates for the
priesthood where the words Problem and Incident
remain undefined, but in the argot of the clerical system and future
validation they were clearly related to sexual impropriety. The terms
Dishonest act and Moment of Hesitation are
found in the file of a priest who had sexual difficulties prior to
ordination.
Bishops and Catholic Treatment Centers
In
1980 the term Adverse Homosexuality appeared in documents
that referred to a center that conducted a “spiritual and psychiatric
center for the treatment of priests and religious” with this condition.
The
same physician we quoted above, Frank Valcour, the medical director of
St. Luke Institute, wrote on November 4, 1992, “Our strength is in
the treatment of addictive disorders including sexual disorders. Over
the past seven years we have evaluated and or treated over 300
individuals with serious sexual behavior problems including child
molestation.”
Bishops consistently used the vaguest terms and the most developed code
words when they communicated with each other and treatment facilities
about a priest who was causing some concern over his sexual behavior.
Often reference to sex with minors was simply stated as “father is
having a PROBLEM.” Bishops knew what that meant. In
addition to that the bishops frequently dissimulated when they referred
a priest to a treating psychiatrist by posing the presenting problem as
“father is depressed” or “father is drinking too much.”
From
the very beginning of founding the Servants of the Paraclete Fr.
Fitzgerald was faced with requests to admit priests who had some sort of
sexual behavior as the presenting concern. Already in 1948 Fr.
Fitzgerald said that his house (Via Coeli) was packed with alcoholic
priests and declined to accept a priest who implied a ‘problem’ with
children. His stated policy was to “refuse problem cases that involved
abnormalities in sex.” He writes with sympathy to the priest “ who has
fallen under the spell of ABNORMAL RELATIONS.”
In
1957 Bishop Buddy of San Diego sent a priest to Via Coeli who had abused
several minor girls with the description that he had made some
MISTAKES that were so well known he would be ineffective in his
diocese. He went on to say that if the priest learned “discretion” he
could be very useful to another bishop.
INDISCRETION
is another code word that often hides sex abuse. Bishop William Curlin
of Charlotte, N.C. justified his decision to keep a priest at his
assignment after he knew from the priest that abused a boy.
By
1957 Fitzgerald was experienced enough with the dynamic of child abuse
that he could speak more directly about it and favored that priests who
even “attempted to seduce little boys or girls” should be automatically
and involuntarily laicized. He called child –abusing-priests “DEVILS”
and “ this class of RATTLESNAKE.” He wanted them isolated on an
island preserve, “too good for these vipers.” He appealed to scripture,
“it would be better they had not been born.”
Even at this time Fitzgerald was seeking an island in the Caribbean
where priest sex offenders of minors could be isolated. The Paracletes
bought property on the island of
Some
bishops could write to Fitzgerald with somewhat more candor by 1957, for
instance the referral of Fr. John T. Sullivan from New Hampshire that
listed the cause as: “SCANDAL CAUSING ESCAPADES WITH YOUNG GIRLS.”
The fact that young women were involved made greater candor
possible.
By
1963 Fitzgerald had expanded his centers from Jemez Springs, NM, to
Albuquerque, to Cheery Valley, CA, St. Louis, MO, Nevis, MN, a seminary
in Vermont, a treatment center in Scotland, and a Generalate in Rome. He
was asked to make a report to the Pope. By then Fitzgerald estimated
that fully one third of all the priests sent to his centers were there
because of problems with minors, 20 percent were there because of
AFFAIRS OF THE HEART, (sexual involvement with women) and only
50 percent for alcoholism.
In
spite of Fitzgerald’s opposition to accepting sex abusers as
GUESTS in his facilities (priests were not called patients or
clients) the demand from bishops was clear and persistent. The cover of
alcoholism was evaporating to expose underlying sexual dynamics.
What
amounted to a palace revolt that unseated Fitzgerald from control of the
organization coincided with the departure of Archbishop Byrne who had
been considered the co-founder of the Paracletes and the appointment of
James P. Davis in 1964 to head the Santa Fe Archdiocese.
Fitzgerald’s hopes to send priests who abused minors to Carriacau the
Caribbean island he had purchased for that purpose were dashed when the
new archbishop took matters to Rome. The Servants were ordered to sell
their property on the island that they already remodeled and where 2
priests of the order were stationed.
Also,
Fitzgerald’s ideal of a spiritual cure was also curtailed when he was
“forced” to use AA as part of a treatment modality. Psychiatry was low
on his list of interventions, but as the requests for treatment
increased he capitulated to staff demands for help. In addition, some
bishops and superiors sent priests to the Servants on a psychiatric
recommendation.
This
shift in the fundamental thinking about the treatment of problem priests
did not come easily. Cardinal Antoniutti, secretary of the Congregation
for Religious, wrote in 1966 what was considered a mandate “to implement
lay programs and place greater reliance on lay psychologists and
psychiatrists.”
In
1966 the Paracletes hired a lay psychologist, Dr. John Salazar, to head
up their program. This was a response to the cardinal’s instruction to
institute “methods of rehabilitation of the guests…striving to effect a
wise selection of those mental and physical means which help the
workings of grace.”
In
the early 1970s in the persons of Frs. Michael Foley and William Perri
the Servants trained-for, developed, and instituted a special modality
to diagnose and treat sexually offending priests particularly those who
were involved with minors.
TROUBLESOME INVOLVEMENTS
is a
label that indicates sexual activity, but usually with adult women or
men. A priest considered a sexual addict, had sexual activity with many
women over a forty-year period including several long-term relationships
(at least 7 women recorded, one as young as 17) fathered 4 children,
visited prostitutes, etc. After several reports to his superiors of his
activity that was common knowledge, his provincial told him to see a
psychiatrist. The superior did not mention women or sex, only concern
over “ your FREQUENT AND LONG-LASTING INVOLVEMENTS.” The
priest was given a new assignment where he was not known, but the
pattern of his behavior continued for another twenty years.
Being
OVER FAMILIAR with as vague a group as “lay people” can be found
in bishops’ correspondence, or it can be more specific such as, “with
boys working at the parish.” It means sexual abuse.
“Father is in an UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION” or caught up in
UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR PATTERNS, or was IMPRUDENT,
or has been involved in some UNFORTUNATE INCIDENTS” are all
code words that indicated sexual misbehavior especially with minors in
communication from bishops and superiors referring priests to treatment
facilities.
As
programs for sexual treatment like those of the Paracletes, St. Luke’s,
Institute of Living, the University of Minnesota, etc. proliferated the
bishops echoed more psychologically sophisticated terms when they sent
priests for treatment. These included the codes such as
BOUNDARY VIOLATIONS, IMMATURE, ADJUSTMENT PROBLEM or on
occasion rather directly INAPPROPRIATE ASSOCIATION WITH A MINOR.
These
terms went back and forth between treatment facilities and bishops even
as the psychiatric treatment centers became more precise in recording
the terms PEDOPHILIA and EPHEBOPHILIA.
Evaluations and diagnoses often times reflect a gentler and less
specific term—SEXUAL DISORDER NOS
(not otherwise specified)— that can cover concern over sexual identity,
function, relationships, etc.
Bishops and Public Exposure
The
media coverage of high profile abuse cases has made the reporting of
clergy behavior clearer and more direct: it is not uncommon to read that
the priest ABUSED a child or adolescent. The press
frequently used the word pedophilia; sometimes imprecisely when it
designates sex with an adolescent. TOUCHING as well as
abuse are terms often used to designate behavior that more accurately
could be named rape.
It is
in the legal system that the most precise description of the actual
behavior of the priest is recorded. The courts seal many of these
records and conceal the full horrors of them from the public. For
instance, “touch” was the public code used when a priest used his semen
to anoint the forehead of his 13-year-old boy victim. It was also the
public report of the priest who used, what he said, was a consecrated
host to touch the vagina of his child victim, telling her that this
gesture was to confirm the sanctity of his sexual activity with her.
The
sordid and painful experiences of victims of abuse are probably most
directly related within the confines of therapeutic treatment. Also the
adversarial deposition and trial for the victim in the process of suing
the priest abuser and the church demands a level of clarity and
precision not otherwise needed.
Public outrage has forced many bishops to make an APOLOGY FOR THE
SUFFERING OF THE VICTIM. Rarely does it have the ring of a
personal confession or regret. Frequently a victim reporting his or her
experience is met with the question of MISUNDERSTANDING
the priest’s movement or intentions.
On
record a few strong priests have taken the pulpit to say, “I am an
alcoholic and I am going for treatment.” Most often, official
pronouncements of a priest’s or bishop’s absence for treatment declare
that the person is EXHAUSTED or under sever strain.
As
recently as 2003 (and 1994) two bishops announced that a priest was
leaving the parish for reasons of a HEALTH AND REST or
SABBATICAL. Both were sexual offenders.
Some
priests and bishops who have been described as OVER WORKED
or RETIRED FOR MEDICAL REASONS were in fact being
treated for their sexual activity. Of course, the fact that some
priests and bishops leave their posts because they are genuinely ill,
overworked, and need to retire causes confusion and injustice.
TICKLING, HORSE PLAY
or WRESTLING are words used to cover up sexual grooming or
frank sexual activity and abuse. The most extreme example I know of
occurred in the conduct of a young assistant pastor who established a
sexual bond with a boy when he was 15 and 16. One of “games” the priest
played with the boy while both were naked involved tying him to the bed
and then sodomizing him. On one occasion the boy freed one of his legs
and began flailing around. In the process he hit the wall hard enough to
put a hole in it. The pastor responded to the ruckus, came into the
room, and said, “You’re going to have to pay for the repair of that
damage. Later when the abuse was litigated the pastor said he thought
they were just horsing around.
A
victim of Fr. James Porter tells a similar story about his abuse when he
was in grade school. A priest of the parish walked in while Porter was
sodomizing him. He simply looked and closed the door. When the boy was
grown and more than one hundred of Porter’s victims came forward, he
confronted the priest who witnessed the abuse. That man, now a monsignor
gave a harrowing retort, “Priests are human too.” He could fool himself
for time that they were just wrestling.
These
words—tickling, horsing around, wrestling— that intimate playfulness and
innocence have been used repeatedly by abusers and their lawyers to
deny, minimize, and disarm the actual behavior even if they see it with
their own eyes. Words that sanitize abuse do nothing to help heal the
profound effects of abuse of minors.
Bishops have had a good deal to say about priests and bishops who abuse
minors. “Pedophile clergy were afflicted—not sinful”
Priests who abused “Had made some errors in judgment.”
Everyone sins. “Sinners deserve forgiveness.” It (abuse) is in
the past. The statute of limitations has run out. This
attitude of bishops discounts the harm that abuse by clergy imposes.
Sexual
orientation
and the
source of sexual excitation
are 2 separate entities.
There are a number of myths about sexual orientation that need
clarification.
Sexual orientation has a moderately flexible spectrum of identity
including a broad range of understanding of masculinity and femininity
and a permeable distinction and range when measured by behaviors—even to
the extent of encompassing true bi-sexuality.
Because homosexuality is a minority orientation, people with this
disposition suffer the confusion, misunderstanding, fear, attack, and
prejudice accorded to every minority.
Most people who take advantage of women (including rape) are men who
have a heterosexual orientation.
The bulk of pornography is directed toward men who have a heterosexual
orientation.
Many heterosexual men have several sexual partners. Some men are
promiscuous.
There is no proof that heterosexual men are superior moral beings over
homosexual men.
Men and women of all sexual stripes can and often do behave badly. That
is not due to their orientation. That is due to choice.
The line between orientations is more vague and far more permeable than
many people care to admit. (College students, prisoners, and military
behaviors among others can bear witness.) In all of these instances, and
more, we can clearly separate orientation from behavior.
I know of no scientific study that asserts that men (or women) who have
a homosexual orientation are less responsible or more disordered in
their behavior than heterosexual people.
To have any rational discourse on sexuality — generally or specifically —
the discussants must meet at the twain of orientation and behavior. That
is basic.
The record of the sexual abuse history of one religious priest was
recorded as concern over a “violent streak.” (Salesian files) Another
term to code concern about homosexual acting out is contained in the
term PARTICULAR FRIENDSHIP or PT for further codification. A code rule
stated NEVER TWO ALWAYS THREE of “no two alone” was clearly to avoid the
possibility of sexual exchanges. SENTIMENTAL ATTACHMENT was another code
for a dangerously close sexual relationship.
Lansing, Carol,
Gender and civic authority: sexual control in a medieval Italian
town.
Bishop Matthew Brady, Manchester NH 1957 to Gerald Fitzgerald
re: Fr. John T. Sullivan who subsequently applied to 17 dioceses
for work. He was accepted into another diocese and re-offended.
It is interesting to note the dioceses he chose to apply for
because they were the ones that had a reputation of receiving
problem priests.
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