pope benedict

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It is fitting that we draw the life of this blog to a close with a thread devoted to the Feast of Saints Peter & Paul. Thus, we can reflect on the office of Pope and our Catholic love of  the papacy. Click here to recall  the discussion we had on that topic last year on this very day.

We might  also reflect on the importance of the priesthood, since today is traditionally “ordination day” for so many new priests. Quite shockingly, this week’s Tablet includes a leaflet promoting women’s ordination. To think that this will be read by Catholics up and down the land, some of whom will be tempted to tick the boxes to sign up for more information and even send financial donations to bankroll this heresy. Remember, because it is sold in Catholic churches and bookshops, the majority of laity will think this is OK – we’re all entitled to our opinions, aren’t we?  So, talk about the fact that women’s ordination is never going to happen. The Church’s teaching is final on that matter.

And discuss, too, the nature and extent of papal authority – something about which most Catholics are in the dark.

However, really, since we’re closing down at midnight – 30 June – feel free to post more or less anything!  Especially, something to make us smile!

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The Extraordinary Form? Sure, but one day it will again be the only form of the Roman Rite, and then perhaps the spirits of the early Traditionalists can rest in peace. You say EF, I say TLM; but if it hadn’t been for them we’d all be saying NOM. Click here to read more

I keep saying I’m not going to post another thread on the Mass – but this one I just couldn’t resist!

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The two faiths, historically divided along sectarian lines, have taken what the Kirk has described as “a monumental step in inter-church links” by creating a “joint-liturgy” for the reaffirmation of baptismal vows. As a result, Scotland has the first Protestant church in the world to form such a bond with the Catholic Church. The two churches will also join together to mark the 450th anniversary of the Reformation later this year.

…Mr Kearney said that, while there were differences between the two churches, worshippers from both denominations were “part of the body of Christ”. He added, in an increasingly secular world, Catholics and Protestants had more in common than what divides them.   Click here to read more

A gentleman emailed me this story, which I’d missed since I’ve been travelling the length and breadth of Scotland these past few days, and he concluded his email by asking if we had any plans to protest this outrage.  What do you think?  What, if anything, can we do about this most recent assault on the Faith by the very shepherds charged with guarding and protecting it?  We’ve already reported plans to celebrate the Reformation anniversary, and managed to scupper at least one (the litany prayer to Protestant “saints”) but is there anything else that we can do – that YOU can do – to protest this public scandal?

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How sad to hear that plans to celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form in St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall – parts of which date back to 1137 – were recently blocked by the Catholic Bishop of Aberdeen, the Rt Rev Peter Moran. Sad but not surprising, since the Bishops of Scotland seem united in their determination to throw up as many obstacles as possible to the implementation of Summorum Pontificum.

The traditionalist group Una Voce Scotland had planned what would have been a historic and very beautiful celebration of the older form of the Roman Rite in the cathedral of the Orkneys (the most northerly in Britain), apparently with the permission of the Church of Scotland, which has occupied it for centuries. Una Voce has its own schola, so the plainchant would have been magnificent. Click here to read more and then tell us what you think. Remember, this is the same Bishop who publicly rebuked Cardinal Bertone for linking homosexuality to the abuse crisis in the Church, describing his comments as “stupid.”

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The Fatima Challenge Conference…

To my surprise and pleasure, I received an invitation from the unquestionable leader of the Fatima movement,  Father Nicholas Gruner, to attend the Fatima Challenge Conference in Rome, 3-7th May.   The entire experience was both educational and edifying.  Click here to view the talks on video It was wonderful to meet, dine with, discuss with, Catholics – including at least nine bishops and many more priests -  from all over the world, who take the Fatima message and prophecies very seriously. We attended the papal audience on Wednesday and you can imagine my devastation when in the roll-call of visitors from all over the world, a group of students from Scotland, (Firpark School, Motherwell, I believe) was publicly welcomed, but no mention of moi.  I could not believe it.  I’m sure the Pope waved directly at me; I’m almost certain I heard him say “Tell that lady near the front to wait behind” but no, nothing came of it.  Anyway,  that oversight on the Pope’s part aside, the whole trip has been an unforgettable experience: the Conference talks, conversations with Catholics from all over the globe and the papal audience, with  the Pope himself reminding us that he  is visiting Fatima for the Feast Day on 13th May – wonderful.  And now we learn that the Pope will give an “intense” message at Fatima – click here to read that report for yourself.

The Scotland Connection…

If I’d been in any doubt about the fact that the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (and only that Consecration) will end the crisis in the Church – not least in Scotland – such doubts would have evaporated when a telephone call from a reader interrupted my duty-free (fantasy) shopping at Rome airport.  The latest edition of the dissenting journal, Open House (always a declaration of war against the Pope and the Church) is, this time, our reader warned me, of nuclear proportions. It is no exaggeration to say that, in the current edition of Open House, Scottish Catholics are called to open schism. And you can bet your last haggis that the priest-editor of this publication would not dare to urge such open revolt unless he knew that in doing so his publication was acting as the mouthpiece of the Scottish bishops, manifestly smarting from their February ad limina visit.

The Catholic definition of “evil” is something that falls short of the good (cf St Thomas Aquinas.)  So, allow me to quote from the current edition of Open House, and you tell me whether or not it is accurate to describe it as an “evil publication.” Open House is a publication edited by a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Glasgow, Fr Willy Slavin, who, it must be noted, hides his priestly status, preferring to sign himself “Willy Slavin/Willy Slavin, Writer and Reviewer; An Editor of Open House. Therefore, I put it to you, the jury, that it is perfectly legitimate for Catholics to expect the contents of Open House to conform to Catholic teaching, principles and – at least – not to attack the Church.

Check out the following extracts and see if you can spot why I have absolutely no hesitation in describing Open House as an evil publication:

(1)  a short report entitled Television Debates…

Viewers watching our three would be national leaders in the rough and tumble of electoral debate on the Sky channel must have been disconcerted when a member of the audience switched from politics to religion. He cast doubt on the wisdom of a state visit by Pope Benedict to Britain in September, not, as some have done, on the grounds of cost but on the pontiff’s bizarre opinions so much out of kilter with those prevailing among the British people, and some bearing the stamp of parliamentary approval. He mentioned contraception, homosexuality, the use of embryos for medical research, abortion and euthanasia. The three party leaders suddenly began to act as one, as they might do at the Cenotaph, and made the same three points: the Pope would be very welcome; as the head of a world-wide Church; but his values were  not our values, among which  tolerance and equality were paramount. One mentioned particularly the spread of AIDS in Africa which was facilitated by the papal ban on contraception. None risked anything akin to the witty remark of Brian Fitzpatrick, Advocate that ‘much Catholic discourse is located in the genitals rather than the Gospel.’ (emphasis added)

The above “short report” was not attributed to any writer, so we must presume that it was concocted by one of the ‘editors’.  Since this publication is a mere 20 pages affair, it is curious that they need so many ‘editors’ but yours not to wonder why, etc.  Me, I think this multiplicity of alleged editors is a cover-up for the counter-witness of the one ordained editor – Fr Willy Slavin, priest of the Archdiocese of Glasgow…

(2)  Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who will guard the guardians?)
(what follows is an extract from the front page lead article, May 2010 edition, Open House)

… Quite evidently, the Catholic Church is facing a major crisis of authority… As Nicholas Lash has argued, the Church is far more monolithically and rigorously controlled by Pope and Curia (than) at any time in its history…modern technological developments have encouraged greater centralisation and micromanagement, a concentration of power which undermines the emphasis of Vatican II on collegiality. This pattern of patriarchal, top-down power and authority has become less and less acceptable to a less deferent and better educated population with a greater sense of its own capacity to think for itself. Yet the dominant models of power within the Church still rest on the foundations of long past, deeply authoritarian cultures. The structures of authority need radical revision to address the aspirations of contemporary adults. The tasks of reversing this modern centralisation of power, anbd of re-examinhing appropriate models of ‘eldership’ and ‘oversight’ (the presbyters and bishops of the New Testament) are urgent. In an open letter to the Catholic bishops, Hans Kung has analysed the crisis.  He is saddened by the failure to address the major challenges of our times – rapprochement with the Protestant churches, reconciliation with the Jews, dialogue with Muslims, reconciliation with  the colonised indigenous peoples of Latin America, help to the people of Africa faced with the spread of HIV, making peace with modern science, and internal reform within the Church in the spirit of Vatican II. The present Pope, Kung believes, has actively reinforced the anti-conciliar forces in the church by appointing reactionary officials to key office in the Curia and reactionary  bishops around the world. And now…the scandal of clerical abuse and the worldwide system of covering up its incidence. Kung has various proposal to offer the bishops, ideas which he believes are supported by millions of Catholics. It is time for the the bishops to send to Rome calls for reform rather than profession of devotion.  It is time to set about  reform locally, without waiting for central approval, and to do so in a collegial fashion, in a spirit of Christian community rather than unconditional obedience, and at a regional level also. Finally, Kung calls on the bishops to call for a new ecumenical coluncil or at the very least a representative assembly of bishops.   Kung’s proposals are actually quite modest. Although his challenge is addressed to the bishops, there is a challenge to all the baptised to exercise their responsibiity for the renewal of the church. We call upon the Church in Scotland to show the way forward by convening an assembly to identify and address the immediate priorities. Only thus can the church evolve new structures of governance which are better fit for purpose. Only thus can the present crisis become instead a kairos, an opportunity for change. (emphasis added)
Again, this article is unattributed, so we must presume that it has been written by the editor(s).

(3) The Photograph…

What follows this disgraceful call to open schism, is a photograph, captioned to describe Hans Kung answering questions at a meeting held in Glasgow on 24 June, 1971. Archbishop Scanlan, the caption reveals, refused to attend, describing the letter of invitation from the organisers as “an impertinence”.  He was, indeed, the last truly Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow.  However, the Archbishop’s disapproval did not prevent “leading Catholic priests in Scotland” from attending, we’re told, namely, Fr Michael Lynch of the Galloway Diocese, Monsignor Philip Flanagan, former Rector of the Scots College in Rome, Fr Columba Ryan, OP and Fr John Fitzsimmons, then Lecturer of St Peter’s College, Cardross – one of the several Scottish seminaries that no longer exist, thanks to dissidents like Fr Fitzsimmons, now deceased.

(4) Conclusion…

So, there you have it:  the connection between Fatima and Scotland. Russia has spread her errors across the world, and Scotland is no exception. The diabolical disorientation of which Sr Lucia warned, is there, bang in the pages of the evil publication, Open House, sold in the Catholic cathedral in Edinburgh, various parishes (including St Aloysius Jesuit College) in Glasgow and the Pauline Bookshop, Archdiocese of Glasgow. These are the outlets we know about for certain: but there can be little doubt that it is available in other places. Oh, this evil publication has episcopal approval – you can bet your kilt on it. Shame on the Scottish Bishops – every last one of them.

(5) Action…

These apostates, however, are not going to get away with this. Be clear about that. Catholic Truth is organising its own ‘assembly’ and anyone with a Catholic bone in their body, will be there, in the Woodside Halls on Saturday, 26th June, to hear more. Email editor@catholictruthscotland.com to book your seat & refreshments – no charge. In the meantime, pray for Scotland, under vicious assault from the enemy within.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.  Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us…

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Pioneers of Traditionalism used to remark that God will not be mocked for long. They were right, of course, and are being proven so every day now. In a matter of months we have seen the mighty Spirit of Vatican II fundamentally exposed, the canonization of John Paul ‘the Great’ stall, the Traditional Mass come storming back, and the Holy Father obviously deliberating over when to leap from the leaky lifeboat of progressivism back onto the barge of holy Tradition.

Michael Davies used to say that the New Mass would simply consume itself over time, having nothing inherent apart from novelty to sustain it . That doesn’t seem so far fetched any more, especially since our Modernist friends, having grown as passé as hippies, their liturgy as stale as a bowl of Digger Stew, seem to have run out of new ideas.

This point was made recently in Dr. Robert Moynihan’s excellent report on the historic traditional Mass at the National Shrine in Washington, D.C. In an article entitled “Solemn Latin Mass in Washington stirs change in Catholic liturgy,” the editor of Inside the Vatican writes:

But at least one Vatican official I talked to, also in the past month, told me he believes the future is solely and exclusively in a return to the old rite. “The old rite is our past, and it will be our future,” he told me. “The new Mass is a passing phase. In 50 years, that will be entirely clear.”

Whatever the case may be, one thing is certain: The Church finds herself at historic crossroads at this moment. Contrary to media claims, Pope Benedict is not yet a traditionalist per se (though the yapping media jackals seem to be backing him rapidly into that corner), but serious Catholics know full well that the attempted lynching of our Holy Father is part of a global initiative to criminalize the traditional Catholicism he now represents, at least in the eyes of a world that understands few of the distinctions involved. Click here to read more

This thread is not meant to be a means of annoying modern Catholics who are happy with the new Mass.  Allow me to say, in passing, that it is a matter of immense puzzlement to many of us that any Catholic can be satisfied with a Mass that was concocted by a priest/archbishop discovered to be a Freemason, actively supported by six Protestant ministers, the express aim being to remove anything and everything that is an obstacle to our separated brothers and sisters in various Protestant communities. In any event, this thread is not about “the Mass” per se, but about the overall state of the Church which now finds itself the focus of almost unceasing and unfriendly (to say the least) media attention following the child/young person abuse scandals.  I think we can all agree, surely, that the Church is, indeed, at a crossroads, and a crossroads always presents us with a choice to be made.

We can continue on the same road, despite all the signposts along the way to indicate we’ve got it wrong. We can take another dodgy turn, unsure of whether or not it will take us to our destination.  Or we can go back to where we started out, and take a fresh look at the whole journey.   Tell us your thoughts – click on ‘comments’ now. 

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Senior Papal aides suggested the Foreign Office had not taken strong enough disciplinary action against those responsible for the document, which suggested the Pope should open an abortion clinic, bless a homosexual marriage and launch his own range of condoms while he is here. Click here to read more and then tell us what you think.  Should the Pope cancel his visit to the UK?   

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Torkay, one of our American bloggers, has been on the mailing list of a new group calling itself RealCatholicTV.com. RCTV puts out internet videos exposing various points of clerical corruption, usually connected with the American bishops’ conference, the USCCB. A couple of weeks ago, RCTV did a week-long series about “progressives,” defining them and detailing the dangers they present to the Church. They were excellent – as RCTV’s productions usually are – but Torkay noticed a strange omission. Nowhere did these videos mention the role of “progressives” at Vatican II and afterward, including their masterminding and implementing of the radical changes in liturgy, theology and discipline that have so poisoned the Church ever since.

Torkay wrote in to express his concerns, and so began a brief but intense (and ultimately futile) discussion between himself and an official of RCTV, who shall remain nameless.  In the thread below this one, you can read Part 1 of the conversation.   This thread contains some additional excerpts from their exchange, in Part 2 of 2…

TORKAY: “Union between the SSPX and Rome have been and continue to be imperfect.” I believe the word Rome uses is “irregular,” and yes, I think this is a demonstration of the advanced nature of this crisis, the advanced state of penetration of the “smoke of Satan,” and the advanced nature of the “diabolical disorientation” within the hierarchy. That is, here we have a Catholic society whose position is unwavering fidelity to Tradition, but not in full union with Rome, who is the guardian of that Tradition, but who seems to have fallen victim to some very clever and unprecedented novelties since Vatican II. Only the enemy could think this one up. (Well, the novelties aren’t really unprecedented: many pre-Vatican II Popes warned us about them.)

“Not unlike what could be said about most Protestant denominations.” Actually, not an apt comparison, since the Protestants ARE in formal schism. They reject the authority of the Pope, of the Magisterium. The Orthodox Churches are also in schism: again, not an apt comparison (oops, I just noticed the end of your note, where you do state that they are in formal schism. Sorry.). Now, I hear you say, “But the SSPX also rejects the authority of the Pope!” Which leads me to ask: the SSPX, i.e. Abp. Lefebvre, disobeyed the Pope once. Yet everyone acts as though this disobedience is a permanent state of rejection of his authority. My understanding is that it is not. Does one act of disobedience make for a permanent rejection of Papal authority? Are you aware, for example, that the SSPX prays for the Pope and the Church continuously?

“All statements that I have read coming from SSPX leaders reject some teachings contained in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, most frequently the Declaration on Religious Liberty, but others as well.” I think “reject some teachings” is accurate, most specifically, as far as I can tell, certain statements on religious liberty, ecumenism, collegiality (I think I left one out), as well as the Novus Ordo. However, it is important to add one word: they reject NOVEL teachings, i.e. those which contradict tradition, i.e. those which contradict the Magisterium.

“Many express more than a mere preference for the Traditional Latin Mass, suggesting the invalidity of the Novus Ordo Mass and other sacraments.” As far as I know, the official position of the SSPX, derived from Abp. Lefebvre, is that the NO is valid, but a danger to the faith because of the Catholic theology that has been stripped from it (see: Ottaviani Intervention). I have never seen any SSPX statement to the contrary, or that suggests inherent invalidity (unless the conditions of validity are not met – which, as we agreed, is highly likely to occur). By the way, who is this “many” who are expressing “more than a mere preference”?

“The mere fact that the SSPX even feels the need for discussion of doctrinal issues with Rome is a sign that the leaders, and probably most members, do not feel they are in union with Rome.” I think the leaders are probably acutely aware of this lack of union, or irregularity, or whatever you want to call it. However, what is driving them, in my perception, is a zeal to restore the health of the Church, not any regrets about their own status. Now, what about the other side of the coin? Why does Rome feel the need for doctrinal discussions? Is that a sign that perhaps the Pope thinks the SSPX may be correct in its doctrinal analyses? If the SSPX is wrong, in other words, why invite them for discussions? Why not just reject their positions out of hand?

“SSPX sophistry etc.” I don’t pretend to understand the canon law argument, but I’ve been told that many canon lawyers do not consider the excommunications valid since Abp. Lefebvre correctly invoked Canon Law, which allows for what he did in cases of perceived necessity: i.e. a bishop is permitted to take whatever action he deems necessary to preserve the faith. My personal reaction, though, is that if Canon Law does indeed permit such cases, I think it gives the bishop too much power. But the whole argument is way over my bald head. Are you familiar enough with Canon Law to comment?

“You cannot claim conditional submission to the authority of Rome.” What if Rome contradicts tradition? Didn’t St. Robert Bellarmine write about this subject? (But don’t ask me where!) In that case, where is the authority? With the human being who contradicts tradition, or with tradition?

“You cannot, as the Protestants say, proclaim the infallibility and the inerrancy of Scripture and then qualify that statement with ‘rightly interpreted.’” But rightly interpreted, to a Catholic, means the authentic teaching of the Magisterium on Scripture, doesn’t it? I didn’t understand where you were going with this statement.

“I could be wrong, but my impression is that the SSPX believes not that they have separated themselves from Rome but that Rome has separated itself from the Tradition and that this Tradition is now under the protection of the SSPX.” I’d say your impression is correct, as far as I understand the situation, but I would use “preserved,” rather than “protect.”

“SSPX priests do not submit to the authority of the local Bishop and, therefore, cannot be said to be in union with Rome.” Aren’t there religious orders who are not under the authority of the local Bishop? Anyway, everyone already agrees, I think, that the SSPX is not in full union with Rome.

“Their only heresy, if there is any, is their rejection of the supreme authority of the Roman Pontiff as manifested in their rejection of authoritative teachings of the Church.  I don’t understand how one can say “we are in union with Rome except” and be considered in full communion with Rome.” You’ve switched targets here: you’ve gone from “rejecting the authority of the Pope” to “rejecting the authoritative teachings of the Church.” Why? Also, you are incorrect in claiming that the SSPX rejects the authoritative teachings of the Church, for the following reasons: one, they embrace and defend the entire Magisterium; two, none of the documents of Vatican II are “authoritative teachings,” because both Council Popes declared the Council to be pastoral, not dogmatic (thus making the Council a historical aberration). Pope John XXIII did that because he knew that the “Progressives” were about to wreak havoc at the Council, and that was how he thought he could head them off. That means that Council documents are not binding on the faithful, despite two of the documents bearing the word “dogmatic,” thus disobeying the Pope.

[SIDEBAR: Uh-oh! Who gave those 2 documents those titles and disobeyed the Pope? And why didn’t they by their actions excommunicate themselves?] (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

The Council documents do repeat Magisterial teaching, in their vague, frequently inconsistent, and even self-contradictory way, but as stand-alone documents, they cannot be said to be part of the Magisterium. I’ve heard some prelates, by the way, try to sneak around this by proclaiming something called a “post-Conciliar Magisterium,” but that is a completely transparent and specious ploy. How can there be two Magisteria?

And the third reason why the SSPX has not rejected the authoritative teachings of the Church is that there is no such thing as a “new teaching,” such as those contained in various Council documents. The SSPX judges the Vatican II documents against the infallible yardstick of the Magisterium, as taught by all the Popes before Vatican II, and finds them wanting. That yardstick is not their personal yardstick, it is the yardstick of the Church! What else could we –or they – possibly have to rely on?

But, I hear you say: “You (like the SSPX) have imposed your personal interpretation on Vatican II and its documents! You are acting like a schismatic Protestant! You think you know better than the Church!” To which I would reply: “No, all I have done is to recite the facts. Pope John decreed that the Council was pastoral, not dogmatic, so that its modernist/liberal/progressive errors, which he clearly saw coming, would not be binding on the faithful. This status was affirmed by Paul VI. Therefore, no Vatican II document can be considered to be binding on the faithful. Therefore, none of them can be considered Magisterial. Q.E.D.”


“It may not be a formal sin to participate in the life the SSPX in any way.  It is, in my opinion, to place oneself in a “near occasion of sin” because of a pervasive “culture of doubt” that accepts conditional submission to the authority of Rome.  Even the most devout Traditionalist who rejects the authority of Rome plants a cancer of disobedience in their soul.  If you think I’m exaggerating, just look at the history of the Protestant Reformation: once they rejected the authority of Rome, all manner of doctrinal aberrations became thinkable, then possible, then doable.” You have set up a straw man argument here. First of all, the Vatican has given express permission to attend SSPX Masses to fulfill our Sunday obligation, so where is this “near occasion of sin”? Then, you once again compare traditionalists to Protestants, which is not valid – you can compare sedevacantists to Protestants accurately, but not any traditionalist who is guided by the Magisterium (and if they are not guided solely by the Magisterium, then they are not traditionalists, and lay false claim to that label). Then, you once again unjustly compare the SSPX to schismatics, after you’ve already had to backtrack and admit that they are not schismatic! Sorry, but I think you got carried away with yourself, allowing one false assumption to lead you into an entire 3-story house of false assumptions. Are you aware that you did that?

“I reject the claim that Rome has abandoned the Tradition as inconsistent with the indefectibility of the Church.” In that case, the onus is on you to read the encyclicals of previous popes, to read Pope St. Pius X Pascendi, the Syllabus of Errors, and many more, and to then demonstrate how these are not contradicted by Vatican II.  And as for the indefectibility of the Church, John XXIII’s decree making the Council pastoral has preserved that indefectibility, since the errors contained in the documents are not binding on the Church.

But here’s a thought I had while typing the above paragraph: in a strange sense, you are correct in claiming that Rome has not abandoned Tradition, because, thanks to John XXIII, no Vatican II error is binding on the Church. Which means the problem really is this: Rome acts as though it has abandoned Tradition in several areas, by acting as though the false new ideas of Vatican II have legitimately replaced Magisterial teaching. So, if I have my Latin correct, it is a de facto abandonment, not a de jure abandonment. Example: remember Joseph Ratzinger’s “Countersyllabus,” a description of one of the VII documents (which one was it, Lumen Gentium?) he made when he was a young, and very progressive, peritus? So let’s see: the Syllabus is Magisterial. What then would a “Countersyllabus” be? Could it be…..ANATHEMA????? [accompanying image: Dana Carvey as the Church Lady on Saturday Night Live]

This reminds me of something else: I’ve read in a couple of places that the Novus Ordo was never really promulgated, and for two reasons: one, Paul VI’s apostolic letter (?) introducing it was deliberately mis-translated, and two, the Pope himself stated that he only intended to offer the Novus Ordo as an alternative. If this is true, we have the well-placed enemies of the Church acting as though, once again. The tragedy, and the heart of the crisis, therefore, is that acting as though, the sleight-of-hand of the progressives, has been made to obscure the truth.

RCTV: Before going much further, I want to invite you to visit this page in our online “Amazon Partner Store” and, whether you order the books from our site or not, purchase and read “More Catholic Than the Pope: An Inside Look at Extreme Traditionalism” (by Pete Vere and Patrick Madrid) and “I Am With You Always” (by Michael Davies).  The first book, “More Catholic etc.” is co-authored by a former member of the SSPX and currently a Canon Lawyer.  It addresses each and every SSPX argument from Canon Law and, to my mind, dismantles them as “selective articles taken out of context and without regard for the historical record.”  The second book, “I Am With You Always” is written by the premier apologist and sympathizer of the SSPX and, again to my mind, successfully refutes all the standard SSPX arguments, both moderate and extreme, advancing what amounts to a charge of defectibility of the Church.  If all you do is read the comments entered for each of these books, it will raise and answer a lot of questions.I have probably, already, spent over $100 of my own money seeking satisfactory answers to every issue you have raised.  I have talked with a priest of the FSSP.  I have spent considerable personal time thinking about “The Traditionalist Critique of the Contemporary Church” and all its implications: theological, philosophical, psychological and sociological.  I have learned an enormous amount, been blessed plentifully by all this.  My faith has been questioned and strengthened in the process.  I am truly grateful that you have crossed my path as one obviously in love with the Church without an agenda.  I will not begin to question the sincerity of your search for Truth and the integrity of your conscience: those are rare qualities in any man.Nonetheless, I must invite you to do more of the heavy lifting on your own behalf.  You have found a “pearl of great price” that brings you joy, happiness and peace.  It is extraordinarily difficult to engage in a serious, objective search for a Truth that risks robbing you of so much that brings you joy.  “It can’t be wrong when it feels so right” can be sung about religious as well as romantic matters.  When we are invested in a “pearl of great price,” only God can make us move to another investment which, if true, will bring us even more joy than we think possible from where we are.  If our current investment is making us rich, it’s hard to believe that another could make us even richer or, if it could, why we would need more than we have.I am convinced from everything I have read that the SSPX is far more right than wrong.  What it is wrong about, however, is more important than everything it is right about.  The SSPX critique of the contemporary Catholic Church is in the finest traditions of the prophets.  Where it strays is in the arena of action, where critiques demand that they be expressed concretely.  Riddled throughout the SSPX “ideology” is the belief that, somehow, Rome has strayed from its divinely mandated role to protect the Tradition and SSPX is called to protect that Tradition.  It absolutely violates all understandings of the indefectibility of the Church to hold that position.  The Church is protected by God Himself from teaching errors of divinely revealed faith.  It is not protected from bad management, ineffective articulation of the faith or poor pastoral decisions.  Absolutely every apparent contradiction of the faith can and must be resolved in a way that maintains the Supremacy of the Petrine Office and the indefectibility of the Church.The Office of Peter is the “ultimate legislator,” the judge whose judgments are not subject to appeal, the one whose interpretations of Canon Law are final and definitive.  The SSPX apologetic is, as I wrote earlier, self-serving casuistry and sophistry.There is no articulation of divine Truth that can ever be considered fully adequate.  Transubstantiation, for example, is not an object of faith but an explanation of the Truth to which it points.  No articulation of what we believe about the divine mystery of the Mass, the Eucharist, can ever be complete or perfect.  But no attempt to better articulate that Truth can ever contradict it and be True.Transubstantiation, however, is of an order of Truth quite different from the Truths articulated in “The Declaration on Religious Liberty”  where we wrestle with issues like “the human conscience,” “coercion” and “the right of a human being to be wrong.”  These are issues which are truly subject to understandings heavily conditioned by historical realities that change over time. Pope Leo XIII, for example, may have said, very explicitly, that the divine Truth of the Catholic faith gives it certain prerogatives in the natural order by virtue of its divine origin.  That may be true, and the examples he uses may be valid, but a growing understanding of the radical love of the Father for each of His children may lead to a “new Truth”: that our respect for human beings demands that we respect them as much as God, who never coerces, does.  “Divine prerogatives in the natural order for the Catholic Church” may no longer be an adequate articulation of divine Truth.  The “new Truth” may logically contradict some parts of the old, but it’s because we now have a better articulation of the Truth.  It’s called “Development of Doctrine” and any such “development” will render some parts of earlier articulations wrong. Final example:  Jesus is traditionally defined as the final, complete, self-revelation of God.  Nothing more can be said, in human terms, about the nature of God that was not said in the Incarnation.  This is why Catholics believe that there can be “no new divine revelation” because everything has already been said in the person of Jesus.  However, we are also told, in Scripture, that Jesus will leave with us the Paraclete who will lead us into all Truth.  That means Jesus knows that we will need the assistance of the Holy Spirit, over time, to come to the knowledge of Truth.  We have the Holy Spirit to both protect and reveal the Truth of God, not Truth that at one time was false and now is true, but Truth proportionate to our ability to understand, Truth we are better able to grasp now than before.  When we were children, we spoke and understood as children.  It’s expected that we will grow and that our level of understanding and articulation will mature. Firm belief in the Supremacy of the Roman Pontiff and the Indefectibility of the Church are capable of providing the necessary guidance for addressing issues of disagreement with Rome.  Any belief that suggests that the Holy Father may one day wake up and realize that the SSPX had it right all along is just not compatible with Supremacy and Indefectibility. I’m not going any further with you on this journey.  I’ve learned a lot.  I also know where I cannot go.  It is my judgment that you ought to know where must go.

TORKAY: I can’t say that I’m surprised at your decision to terminate this discussion without responding to any of my original points. Instead, you have raised one straw man after another and tried to turn this into a referendum on the SSPX. You apparently cannot face the fact that the crisis in the Church is the deliberate, planned creation of progressives, both at Vatican II and in its aftermath, from liturgy to theology to discipline, so you engage in evasive behavior. That’s a real shame. This would be the equivalent to our federal government warning us about Arab terrorists, but then carefully scrubbing from its warnings all references to the fact that 9-11 was perpetrated by….Arab terrorists.

It might interest you to know that I never even heard of the SSPX during my original phase of reading about Vatican II – though I did read about Abp. Lefebvre’s efforts to counter the liberal alliance that had taken over the Council, while the Council was still in session. My initial opinion of the Council was formed by Father Wiltgen, Dietrich von Hildebrand, and Michael Davies. This initial opinion was confirmed, later on, when I came across various SSPX articles, as well as Abp. Lefebvre’s book “Against the Heresies,” and other books.

Your thinking tends to be not only imprecise, but quite Modernist: orthodox one moment, heretical the next. Here is a classic example of the Modernist pattern from your post above:

“But no attempt to better articulate that Truth can ever contradict it and be True.” That’s the orthodox part. But then you say this:

“The “new Truth” may logically contradict some parts of the old, but it’s because we now have a better articulation of the Truth.  It’s called “Development of Doctrine” and any such “development” will render some parts of earlier articulations wrong.”  Not only do you contradict yourself, but you have produced sheer heresy. Your note contains several other contradictory statements.

I’m sorry that you cannot face the real cause of the crisis. That being the case, kindly remove me from your mailing list. However, should you ever decide to aim for the bull’s-eye, instead of flailing around on the outer circle, then you may once again send me your videos. END.

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Catholic Truth is on the mailing list for the National Mens Council of Ireland. Below is one of today’s bulletins – note that Roger Eldrige, Chairman, is not a Catholic. However, his fight for the rights of the family should be supported by all Catholics. His comments on the current child abuse scandals in Ireland, with calls for Cardinal Brady’s resignation, are of particular interest. Cardinal Brady is being hotly pursued by the Irish media. Read Rodger Eldridge’s analysis below and ask yourself whether or not the pursuance of Cardinal Brady amounts to a witchhunt – or not…

FROM THE NATIONAL MENS COUNCIL OF IRELAND (NMCI)

Please see the press release by the Catholic Communications Office below my comments on this witch-hunt against Cardinal Brady and mis-representation of the facts. Below that is an article for your reference, “Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse” by Timothy J. Dailey, Ph.D.

Are the National Mens Council of Ireland the only people who can see the Emperor has no clothes.

For months now the media and secularists having had a field day lambasting the Catholic Church for its cover-up of the sexual abuse of young boys by certain priests, culminating in the calls for Cardinal Brady to resign for his alleged participation 35 years ago.

There are two issues here and clarification is needed. Firstly the horrific abuse that was perpetrated on those young boys was committed – not by a priest acting in his capacity as a priest – but as a priest acting in his capacity as a homosexual with sexual desires for young males. Even though the media dub these men pedophiles, which refers to an adult with a preference for prepubescent children as sexual partners the term hebephilia should correctly be used as almost all victims were adolescent boys or post pubescent boys.

There had been many warnings such as in 1993, after extensive public debate, Congress in the US adopted and President Clinton signed a law (Public Law 103-160) which declared that “The presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.”

Despite this the tragedy for the victims was that the Catholic Church felt it needed to show its tolerance to the liberal demands of the sixties and seventies. It decided to give these priests with homosexual tendencies a chance to show that they could be trusted. The experiment went horribly wrong and the Church have now avowed never to let another man with homosexual desires be ordained.

If, however, the Church had forbidden homosexuals from being ordained they would have incurred the wrath of the very same people who are now calling for the resignation of Cardinal Brady. They would have brought charges of discrimination against the Church on the ground of sexual orientation.

The question everyone should be asking is why is the Equality Commission demanding that no-one can lawfully protect adolescent boys or post pubescent boys from current hebephiles by them insisting that employers can not refuse to hire a person with any form of sexual orientation including an attraction for young males to look after them. Will the Equality Authority be condemned in a few years time and all its staff forced to resign when the next scandal of the abuse of young boys comes to light in a situation where they prevented them from being protected.

We are told there have been at least twenty children who have died in the State’s care. Each child’s death was either an “accident” or a case of murder or manslaughter. These are crimes and that probably explains why no reports have been issued by the body who is responsible for them, the Health Service Executive. Even so-called accidental death usually involves the crime of negligence.

If we apply the same reasoning to the attack on Cardinal Brady to these cases the media should be demanding the resignation of the Minster for Health, the Head of the HSE, every social worker, every doctor, every health worker, every residential care worker, every residential care cleaner, cook and especially every Judge who had anything to do with any of these children who ended up being the victim of a horrific crime if they PERSONALLY did not report any thoughts or concerns to the Gardai. Yet it remains silent on these crimes by State employees whilst going for the throat of Cardinal Brady who, the evidence shows, actually acted towards preventing the criminal from harming any more victims.

It is time the people started to look more closely at how the media are treating them like fools and manipulating their emotions like Pavlov’s dogs. It is time to demand they pay the Irish people more respect and tell the Truth or get lost.

God bless,  Roger Eldridge

Chairman, National Mens Council of Ireland

Executive Director, Family Rights and Responsibilities Institute of Ireland

National Office: Knockvicar, Boyle, Co. Roscommon

Website: www.family-men.com Email: familymen@eircom.net

Telephones: 00353 (0) 7196-67138

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http://www.catholicbishops.ie/media-centre/press-release-archive/71-press-release-archive-2010/1791-16-march-2010-note-from-the-catholic-communications-office-to-clarify-media-reporting-on-cardinal-sean-brady

Note from the Catholic Communications Office to clarify media reporting on Cardinal Seán Brady – 16 March 2010

The State’s first Child Abuse Guidelines came into effect in 1987 and the Church’s first guidelines Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response, were published in 1996.

In late March 1975, Fr Seán Brady was asked by his bishop, Bishop Francis McKiernan, to conduct a canonical enquiry into an allegation of child sexual abuse which was made by a boy in Dundalk, concerning a Norbertine priest, Fr Brendan Smyth.

Fr Brady was then a full-time teacher at St Patrick’s College, Cavan.  Because he held a doctorate in Canon Law, Fr Brady was asked to conduct this canonical enquiry; however he had no decision-making powers regarding the outcome of the enquiry.  Bishop McKiernan held this responsibility.

On 29 March 1975, Fr Brady and two other priests interviewed a boy (14) in Dundalk.  Fr Brady’s role was to take notes.  On 4 April 1975, Fr Brady interviewed a second boy (15) in the Parochial House in Ballyjamesduff. On this occasion Fr Brady conducted the inquiry by himself and took notes.

At the end of both interviews, the boys were asked to confirm by oath the truthfulness of their statements and that they would preserve the confidentiality of the interview process. The intention of this oath was to avoid potential collusion in the gathering of the inquiry’s evidence and to ensure that the process was robust enough to withstand challenge by the perpetrator, Fr Brendan Smyth.

A week later Fr Brady passed his findings to Bishop McKiernan for his immediate action.

Eight days later, on 12 April 1975, Bishop McKiernan reported the findings to Fr Smyth’s Religious Superior, the Abbot of Kilnacrott. The specific responsibility for the supervision of Fr Smith’s activities was, at all times, with his Religious Superiors. Bishop McKiernan withdrew Brendan Smyth’s priestly faculties and advised psychiatric intervention.

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Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse

Timothy J. Dailey, Ph.D.

http://www.frc.org/get/is02e3.cfm

Scandals involving the sexual abuse of under-age boys by homosexual priests have rocked the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time, defenders of homosexuality argue that youth organizations such as the Boy Scouts should be forced to include homosexuals among their adult leaders. Similarly, the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a homosexual activist organization that targets schools, has spearheaded the formation of “Gay-Straight Alliances” among students. GLSEN encourages homosexual teachers — even in the youngest grades — to be open about their sexuality, as a way of providing role models to “gay” students. In addition, laws or policies banning employment discrimination based on “sexual orientation” usually make no exception for those who work with children or youth.

Many parents have become concerned that children may be molested, encouraged to become sexually active, or even “recruited” into adopting a homosexual identity and lifestyle. Gay activists dismiss such concerns — in part, by strenuously insisting that there is no connection between homosexuality and the sexual abuse of children.

However, despite efforts by homosexual activists to distance the gay lifestyle from pedophilia, there remains a disturbing connection between the two. This is because, by definition, male homosexuals are sexually attracted to other males. While many homosexuals may not seek young sexual partners, the evidence indicates that disproportionate numbers of gay men seek adolescent males or boys as sexual partners. In this paper we will consider the following evidence linking homosexuality to pedophilia:

Pedophiles are invariably males: Almost all sex crimes against children are committed by men.

Significant numbers of victims are males: Up to one-third of all sex crimes against children are committed against boys (as opposed to girls).

The 10 percent fallacy: Studies indicate that, contrary to the inaccurate but widely accepted claims of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, homosexuals comprise between 1 to 3 percent of the population.

Homosexuals are overrepresented in child sex offenses: Individuals from the 1 to 3 percent of the population that is sexually attracted to the same sex are committing up to one-third of the sex crimes against children.

Some homosexual activists defend the historic connection between homosexuality and pedophilia: Such activists consider the defense of “boy-lovers” to be a legitimate gay rights issue.

Pedophile themes abound in homosexual literary culture: Gay fiction as well as serious academic treatises promote “intergenerational intimacy.”

Male Homosexuals Commit A Disproportionate Number of Child Sex Abuse Cases

Homosexual apologists admit that some homosexuals sexually molest children, but they deny that homosexuals are more likely to commit such offenses. After all, they argue, the majority of child molestation cases are heterosexual in nature. While this is correct in terms of absolute numbers, this argument ignores the fact that homosexuals comprise only a very small percentage of the population.

The evidence indicates that homosexual men molest boys at rates grossly disproportionate to the rates at which heterosexual men molest girls. To demonstrate this it is necessary to connect several statistics related to the problem of child sex abuse: 1) men are almost always the perpetrator; 2) up to one-third or more of child sex abuse cases are committed against boys; 3) less than three percent of the population are homosexuals. Thus, a tiny percentage of the population (homosexual men), commit one-third or more of the cases of child sexual molestation.

Men Account for Almost All Sexual Abuse of Children Cases

An essay on adult sex offenders in the book Sexual Offending Against Children reported: “It is widely believed that the vast majority of sexual abuse is perpetrated by males and that female sex offenders only account for a tiny proportion of offences. Indeed, with 3,000 adult male sex offenders in prison in England and Wales at any one time, the corresponding figure for female sex offenders is 12!” 1

Kee MacFarlane, et al., writing in Sexual Abuse of Young Children: Evaluation and Treatment report: “The large majority of sexual perpetrators appear to be males (Herman & Hirschman, 1981; Lindholm & Willey, 1983).” 2

A report by the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children states: “In both clinical and non-clinical samples, the vast majority of offenders are male.” 3

A study in the Journal of Sex Research states that “pedophilia does not exist, or is extremely rare, in women.” 4

A Significant Percentage of Child Sexual Abuse Victims are Boys

According to the Journal of Child Psychiatry: “It was commonly believed fifteen years ago that girls were abused in excess of boys in a ratio of about 9 to 1, but contemporary studies now indicate that the ratio of girls to boys abused has narrowed remarkably. . . . The majority of community studies suggest a . . . ratio . . . in the order of 2 to 4 girls to 1 boy.” 5 The study adds that “some authors now believe that boys may be sexually abused as commonly as girls (Groth, 1978; O’Brien, 1980).” 6

A study of 457 male sex offenders against children in Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy found that “approximately one-third of these sexual offenders directed their sexual activity against males.” 7

Sexual Abuse of Boys is Underreported

The actual percentage of child sexual abuse victims who are boys very likely exceeds the above estimates. Many researchers echo the view of the Journal of Child Psychiatry study, which refers to the “under-reporting of the incidence and prevalence of sexual abuse in boys.” 8

Dr. Robert Johnson, in Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, reports: “The vast majority of cases of male sexual molestation is not reported. As a result, these young men keep both the incidents and their feelings to themselves.” 9

The Department of Justice report on child sexual exploitation explains why the percentage of boy victims is underestimated: “Adolescent boy victims are highly likely to deny certain types of sexual activity. . . . They are embarrassed and ashamed of their behavior and rightfully believe that society will not understand their victimization. . . . No matter what the investigator does, most adolescent boys will deny they were victims.” 10

The Journal of Child Psychiatry adds: “Boys are usually encultured into an ethos where self-reliance, independence and sexual prowess are valued, while showing hurt or homosexuality are denigrated. . . . This may lead to powerful repression or deletion of the experience, with failure to report.” 11

Homosexuals Comprise Less than 3 Percent of the Population

Relying upon three large data sets: the General Social Survey, the National Health and Social Life Survey, and the U.S. census, a recent study in Demography estimates the number of exclusive male homosexuals in the general population at 2.5 percent, and the number of exclusive lesbians at 1.4 percent. 12

A study of the sexual behavior of men in the United States based on the National Survey of Men (a nationally representative sample comprised of 3,321 men aged twenty to thirty-nine, published in Family Planning Perspectives), found that “2 percent of sexually active men aged twenty to thirty-nine . . . had had any same-gender sexual activity during the last ten years. Approximately 1 percent of the men (1.3 percent among whites and 0.2 percent among blacks) reported having had exclusively homosexual activity. 13

J. Gordon Muir, writing in The Wall Street Journal, discusses a number of studies that have found that homosexuals comprise between 1 to 3 percent of the population. 14

In a survey of studies on homosexuals in different populations, the Archives of Sexual Behavior reported a random sample of Hawaii State residents interviewed by telephone. The study found “just about 3 percent of males and 1.2 percent of females as having engaged in same-sex or bisexual activity.” 15 However, this relatively higher number is attributed to the fact that the study was not limited to exclusive homosexuals, but included all those who at some time in their lives engaged in same-sex activities. 16

Homosexual Pedophiles are Vastly Overrepresented in Child Sex Abuse Cases

Homosexual pedophiles sexually molest children at a far greater rate compared to the percentage of homosexuals in the general population. A study in the Journal of Sex Research found, as we have noted above, that “approximately one-third of [child sex offenders] had victimized boys and two-thirds had victimized girls.” The authors then make a prescient observation: “Interestingly, this ratio differs substantially from the ratio of gynephiles (men who erotically prefer physically mature females) to androphiles (men who erotically prefer physically mature males), which is at least 20 to 1.” 17

In other words, although heterosexuals outnumber homosexuals by a ratio of at least 20 to 1, homosexual pedophiles commit about one-third of the total number of child sex offenses.

Similarly, the Archives of Sexual Behavior also noted that homosexual pedophiles are significantly overrepresented in child sex offence cases:

The best epidemiological evidence indicates that only 2 to 4 percent of men attracted to adults prefer men (ACSF Investigators, 1992; Billy et al., 1993; Fay et al., 1989; Johnson et al., 1992); in contrast, around 25 to 40 percent of men attracted to children prefer boys (Blanchard et al., 1999; Gebhard et al., 1965; Mohr et al., 1964). Thus, the rate of homosexual attraction is 6 to 20 times higher among pedophiles.” 18

The stark imbalance between homosexual and heterosexual child molestations was confirmed in the Archives of Sexual Behavior study itself, which divided 260 pedophile participants into three groups: “152 heterosexual pedophiles (men with offenses or self-reported attractions involving girls only), 43 bisexual pedophiles (boys and girls), and 65 homosexual pedophiles (boys only).” 19 In other words, 25 percent of the offenders were homosexual pedophiles — or 41 percent if those who molest girls as well as boys are included.

Other studies report an unusually high percentage of child molestations by homosexual pedophiles:

A study on pedophilia in the Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa reported: “According to the literature, findings of a two-to-one ratio of heterosexual to homosexual pedophiles have been documented.” 20

The Journal of Sex Research reports a study that included “199 offenders against female children and 96 offenders against male children. . . . This would indicate a proportional prevalence of 32 percent of homosexual offenders against children.” 21

A study of male child sex offenders in Child Abuse and Neglect found that fourteen percent targeted only males, and a further 28 percent chose males as well as females as victims, thus indicating that 42 percent of male pedophiles engaged in homosexual molestation. 22

Are Men Who Molest Boys Really ‘Homosexuals’?

Gay Apologists Insist on a Simplistic Stereotype of Pedophilia

Central to the attempts to separate homosexuality from pedophilia is the claim that pedophiles cannot, by definition, be considered homosexuals. Relying upon a questionable methodology 23, the gay advocacy organization Human Rights Campaign published a “Fact Sheet on Sexual Orientation and Child Abuse,” that states: “A sexual abuser who molests a child of the same sex is usually not considered homosexual.” 24

The basis for this claim is the view that pedophiles who molest boys cannot be considered homosexual if that individual has at any time been married or sexually involved with women.

‘Homosexual Pedophiles’: A Clinical Term

The fact is, however, that the terms “homosexual” and “pedophile” are not mutually exclusive: they describe two intersecting types of sexual attraction. Webster’s Dictionary defines “homosexual” as someone who is sexually attracted to persons of the same sex. “Pedophile” is defined as “an adult who is sexually attracted to young children.” The former definition refers to the gender of the desired sexual object, while the latter refers to the age of the desired sexual object.

A male “homosexual pedophile,” then, is defined as someone who is generally (but not exclusively, see below) sexually attracted to boys, while a female “homosexual pedophile” is sexually attracted to girls. 25

The term “homosexual pedophile” was first used in the early 20th century by the Viennese psychiatrist Dr. Richard von Krafft-Ebing, who pioneered the systematic study of sexual deviance. Krafft-Ebing described pedophiles as heterosexually, homosexually or bisexually oriented. 26 This division has been accepted by pedophiles themselves, 27 and is well attested in the literature:

A study of child molesters in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence found that “a homosexual and a heterosexual subgroup can be delineated among these offenders.” 28

The Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy published a study on the same topic, which discussed “the proportional prevalences of heterosexual and homosexual pedophilia.” 29 The study commented on a study that found that “the percentage of the homosexual pedophiles would be 45.8.” Even adjusted downward for exhibitionists, “this would still indicate a much higher percentage (34 percent) of homosexuals among pedophiles than among men who prefer physically mature partners.” 30

In a review of studies on pedophilia, the Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa concluded: “The findings of previous studies report that pedophiles can be divided into heterosexual and homosexual pedophiles according to their erotic preference. . . . This was confirmed in this recent study.” 31 The article classified homosexual pedophilia into three types: the socially inadequate homosexual pedophile, the intrusive homosexual pedophile, and the undifferentiated homosexual pedophile. 32

A study of pedophiles in Behavior Research and Therapy concluded: “The second, and perhaps the most important observation we made, is that a homosexual and a heterosexual subgroup can be delineated among these offenders. . . . Categorizing them in this way revealed important differences in the pattern of their sexual preferences.” 33

The International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology refers to homosexual pedophiles as a “distinct group.” The victims of homosexual pedophiles “were more likely to be strangers, that they were more likely to have engaged in paraphiliac behavior separate from that involved in the offence, and that they were more likely to have past convictions for sexual offences. . . . Other studies [showed a] greater risk of reoffending than those who had offended against girls” and that the “recidivism rate for male-victim offenders is approximately twice that for female-victim offenders.” 34

Homosexuals and Homosexual Pedophiles Engage in a Wide Variety of Sexual Behavior that Belies Simplistic Categories

Despite this evidence, in their efforts to divorce homosexuality from pedophilia, homosexual apologists insist on a rigid, narrow definition of the terms “homosexual” and “pedophile” that permits no overlap of the terms. They deny that homosexuals are attracted in inordinate numbers to boys. They also claim that pedophiles cannot be classified as “homosexual” if at any time they have had sexual relations with women.

However, such a narrow definition does not do justice to the complex nature of pedophilia. Researchers have long been aware that pedophiles exhibit a wide variety of sexual attractions and behavior — often to draw attention away from their primary lust for boys. A study on sex offenders in the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology notes that “the reason child sexual abusers are successful at remaining undetected is because they do not fit a stereotype.” 35

The data indicates that both homosexuality and pedophilia are intersecting categories that admit to a wide variety of sexual behavior:

Homosexual Males are Sexually Attracted to Underage Boys

A study in Archives of Sexual Behavior found that homosexual men are attracted to young males. The study compared the sexual age preferences of heterosexual men, heterosexual women, homosexual men, and lesbians. The results showed that, in marked contrast to the other three categories, “all but 9 of the 48 homosexual men preferred the youngest two male age categories,” which included males as young as age fifteen. 36

In The Gay Report, by homosexual researchers Karla Jay and Allen Young, the authors report data showing that 73 percent of homosexuals surveyed had at some time had sex with boys sixteen to nineteen years of age or younger.” 37

Conversely, Homosexual Pedophiles are Often Attracted to Adult Males

A study of sex offenders against male children in Behavior Research and Therapy found that male homosexual pedophiles are sexually attracted to “males of all ages.” Compared to non-offenders, the offenders showed “greater arousal” to slides of nude males as old as twenty-four: “As a group, the child molesters responsed [sp] with moderate sexual arousal . . . to the nude males of all ages.” 38

A study of Canadians imprisoned for pedophilia in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence found that 30 percent of the adult male offenders engaged in homosexual acts with adult males. 39

Many pedophiles, in fact, consider themselves to be homosexual. A study of 229 convicted child molesters in Archives of Sexual Behavior found that “eighty-six percent of offenders against males described themselves as homosexual or bisexual.” 40

Fr. John Harvey, founder and director of Courage, a support ministry for Catholics who struggle with same-sex attraction, explains that “the pedophile differs from the ordinary homosexual in that the former admires boyishness in the object of his affections, while the latter admires manliness.” 41 However, the categories are not completely separate:

While granting that the majority of homosexuals are not aroused by young boys, the distinction between homosexuality and homosexual pedophilia is not quite absolute. In some cases the interest oscillates between young adolescents and adults, in others between boys and adolescents; in exceptional cases a man may be interested in boys at one time and adults at another. 42

Many Pedophiles are Attracted to Women, Marry, and Have Children

Gay activists insist that pedophilia has nothing to do with homosexuality because pedophiles are only sexually interested in children, whereas homosexuals only have sexual relations with adults. We have already seen that this stereotypical view is not correct with regard to homosexuals. There is also abundant evidence demonstrating that, while primarily interested in children, pedophiles nevertheless exhibit a wide variety of sexual behaviors, including relationships with women:

A study in Child Abuse and Neglect found that 48 percent of the offenders either were married or had been married at some time. 43

The Journal of Interpersonal Violence studied the sexual preferences of male pedophiles who sexually abused children. When they compared the sexual response of the pedophiles with the control group, they found, unexpectedly: “Surprisingly, the two groups did not differ in their response to the nude female stimuli.” 44

A study in the Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa reported that “most of the middle-aged pedophiles have had significant adult sexual activity.” 45 Fifty-eight percent of the pedophiles in one study had at least one child, while other research indicated that “more than two-thirds of the married pedophiles in their sample had children, with an average of two to three children per subject.” 46

A report by the Department of Justice addressed the devious stratagems of pedophiles, who will go to great lengths to conceal their true desires: “Preferential sex offenders may be ‘pillars of the community’ and are often described as ‘nice guys.’ They almost always have a means of access to children (for example, through marriage, neighborhood, or occupation.)” 47

Thus, the evidence shows that homosexual pedophiles cannot be narrowly defined as individuals who are solely attracted to underage boys. In fact there is considerable overlap between homosexuality and pedophilia.

Pedophilia in Gay Culture

The Historical Connection between Pedophilia and the Gay Rights Movement

David Thorstad is a homosexual activist and historian of the gay rights movement. 48 He is a former president of New York’s Gay Activists Alliance (gaa), a prototype activist group founded in December 1969. The gaa at its inception opposed age of consent laws, which prohibited adults from having sex with children. 49 Thorstad is also a pedophile and founding member of the North American Man Boy Love Association (nambla).

Thorstad argues that there is a natural and undeniable connection between homosexuality and pedophilia. He expresses bitterness that the gay rights movement has, in his view, abandoned pedophilia. Thorstad writes: “Boy-lovers were involved in the gay movement from the beginning, and their presence was tolerated. Gay youth groups encouraged adults to attend their dances. . . . There was a mood of tolerance, even joy at discovering the myriad of lifestyles within the gay and lesbian subculture.” 50

The inaugural issue of the Gay Community News in 1979 published a “Statement to the Gay Liberation Movement on the Issue of Man/Boy Love,” which challenged the movement to return to a vision of sexual liberation. It argued that “the ultimate goal of gay liberation is the achievement of sexual freedom for all — not just equal rights for ‘lesbian and gay men,’ but also freedom of sexual expression for young people and children.”

In the early years there was some reluctance to accept pedophilia, primarily among feminist and lesbian activist groups. In March 1979 the Lesbian Feminist Liberation (lfl) accusing “so-called Man/Boy Lovers” of “attempting to legitimize sex between children and adults. . . . Feminists easily recognize this as the latest attempt to make palatable the sexual exploitation of children.” The coalition went on record as opposing “the sexual abuse of children by heterosexual or homosexual persons.” 51

Despite this opposition, Thorstad claims that by 1985 homosexual pedophiles had won acceptance within the gay movement. He cites Jim Kepner, then curator of the International Gay and Lesbian Archives in Los Angeles: “A point I’ve been trying to make is that if we reject the boylovers in our midst today we’d better stop waving the banner of the Ancient Greeks, of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Horatio Alger, and Shakespeare. We’d better stop claiming them as part of our heritage unless we are broadening our concept of what it means to be gay today.” 52

In 1985 nambla was admitted as a member in New York’s council of Lesbian and Gay Organizations as well as the International Gay Association — now the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ilga). In the mid-1990’s ilga’s association with nambla and other pedophile groups cost the organization it’s status as a Non-Governmental Organization in the United Nations.

ilga’s renewed attempt to gain admittance to the UN was rejected again in April 2000 because the organization “did not document that it had purged pedophile groups such as [nambla].” The Washington Times reports that Ishtiag H. Anrabi, Pakistani delegate to the UN Economic and Social Council, expressed concern that ilga was continuing to be secretive about ties with pedophile groups: “For more than a year, the ilga has refused to provide documentation or allow review of its membership list to demonstrate that pedophilia groups have been expelled.” 53

Pedophile Themes Abound in Gay Literature

The late “beat” poet Allen Ginsberg illustrates the seamless connection between homosexuality and pedophilia. Many know Ginsberg as an illustrious “out” homosexual poet: fewer are aware that he was also a pedophile.

Biographer Raymond-Jean Frontain refers to Ginsberg’s publications in both nambla Bulletin and nambla Journal. He discusses how Ginsberg’s biographers failed to discuss his poems that contained pederastic themes:

Although both Shumacher and Barry Miles (Ginsberg’s initial biographer) frankly discuss Ginsberg’s sexual politics, neither refers to his involvement with the controversial North American Man/Boy Love Association. . . . I reread Collected Poems and Ginsberg’s two subsequent collections, surprised by the pattern of references to anal intercourse and to pederasty that emerged. 54

Ginsberg was one of the first of a growing number of homosexual writers who cater to the fascination with pedophilia in the gay community. Mary Eberstadt, writing in the Weekly Standard, documents how the taboo against sex with children continues to erode — with the impetus coming from homosexual writers. 55

Revealingly, the examples she provides of pedophilia in current literature come from gay fiction. Eberstadt cites the Village Voice, which states that “Gay fiction is rich with idyllic accounts of ‘intergenerational relationships,’ as such affairs are respectfully called these days.” 56 Other examples of pedophilia-themed gay fiction include:

In the introduction of the “mainstream” homosexual anthology Penguin Book on International Gay Writing, David Leavitt notes matter-of-factly that “Another ‘forbidden’ topic from which European writers seem less likely to shrink is the love of older men for young boys.” Leavitt praises one book with a pedophilic theme included in the anthology as a “coolly assured narrative [which] compels the reader to imagine the world from a perspective he might ordinarily condemn.” 57

Several texts included in another anthology, The Gay Canon: Great Books Every Gay Man Should Read, feature scenes of man-boy sex. One such book is praised as “an operatic adventure into the realms of love, personality, ambition and art . . . a pure joy to read.” The protagonist is “a pedophile’s dream: the mind of a man in the body of a boy.” 58 Another novel which includes graphic descriptions of sexual violence against boys is said to “[tear] straight to the heart of one of the greatest sources, community-wide, of 1990’s gay angst: What to do with men who love boys?” 59

Yet another anthology of homosexual fiction, A History of Gay Literature: The Male Tradition, published by Yale University Press, includes “a longish chapter on ‘Boys and Boyhood’ which is a seemingly definitive account of pro-pedophile literary works.” 60 The author appears more concerned with the feelings and emotions of the man than with his boy victim. He explores the question of “whether or not you regard [having sex with boys] as a way of retreating from life or, on the contrary, as a way of engaging with it at its most honest and least corrupted level.” 61

A significant percentage of books that have appeared on the Gay Men’s Press fiction bestseller list contain pedophilia themes, including:

Some Boys: described as a “memoir of a lover of boys” that “evokes the author’s young friends across four decades.” 62

For a Lost Soldier: the story of a sexual relationship between a soldier and an eleven-year-old boy, set during World War II. 63

A Good Start, Considering: yet another story about an eleven-year-old boy (!) who suffers sexual abuse but is rescued by a teenager who “offers him love and affection” 64

Terre Haute: billed as “A poetic novel of sexual awakening in the American Midwest, tracing an adolescent’s journey from introspection to perilous desire.”

Shiva and Arun: the story of two Indian adolescents who “discover early on the joys of sex.”

Teardrops on My Drum: barefoot kids in 1920’s Liverpool search for “adventure, love and sex.”

Pro-pedophilia Publications

Recent years have seen the appearance of publications that lend a scholarly veneer to the fascination with pedophilia in the gay community. Such publications attempt to make the case for “intergenerational intimacy.” The nation’s largest gay publisher, Alyson Publications, which distributes Daddy’s Roommate and other homosexual books that promote homosexuality to children, publishes books advocating man-boy sex, including:

Paedophilia: The Radical Case, which contains detailed information on how to engage in sexual relations with young boys. 65

The Age Taboo, another defense of pedophilia which claims: “Boy-lovers . . . are not child molesters. The child abusers are . . . parents who force their staid morality onto the young people in their custody.” 66

The Journal of Homosexuality and Pedophilia

The Journal of Homosexuality is viewed as the premier “mainstream” English-language publication of the gay movement. One prominent editor is John DeCecco, a psychologist at San Francisco State University who also serves on the editorial board of the Dutch pedophile journal Paidika. It is therefore not surprising to see pedophilia promoted on its pages.

In 1990 the Journal of Homosexuality published a series of essays on pedophilia that were eventually published as Male Inter-Generational Intimacy: Historical, Socio-Psychological, and Legal Perspectives, edited by pedophile Edward Brongersma. None of the essays offered any substantive criticism of pedophilia: most blatantly promoted man-boy love as the natural right of homosexuals.

In 1999 Helmut Graupner, wrote an article on pedophilia in the Journal of Homosexuality, in which he claims: “Man/boy and woman/girl relations without doubt are same-sex relations and they do constitute an aspect of gay and lesbian life.” Graupner argues that, as such, consensual sexual relations between adult homosexuals and youths as young as fourteen qualifies as a “gay rights issue.” 67

The fascination with pedophilia continues to be a cause of concern even within the gay community. Lesbian columnist Paula Martinac, writing in the homosexual newspaper Washington Blade, states: [S]ome gay men still maintain that an adult who has same-sex relations with someone under the legal age of consent is on some level doing the kid a favor by helping to bring him or her ‘out.’

[S]ome gay men still maintain that an adult who has same-sex relations with someone under the legal age of consent is on some level doing the kid a favor by helping to bring him or her ‘out.’ It’s not pedophilia, this thinking goes — pedophilia refers only to little kids. Instead, adult-youth sex is viewed as an important aspect of gay culture, with a history dating back to ‘Greek love’ of ancient times. This romanticized version of adult-youth sexual relations has been a staple of gay literature and has made appearances, too, in gay-themed films. 68

Martinac adds that “When some gay men venerate adult-youth sex as affirming while simultaneously declaring ‘We’re not pedophiles,’ they send an inconsistent message to society. . . . The lesbian and gay community will never be successful in fighting the pedophile stereotype until we all stop condoning sex with young people.” 69

Victim’s Turned Victimizers: The Consequences OF Homosexual Child Abuse

The steadfast denial of the disturbing ties with pedophilia within the homosexual movement is no purely academic matter. Perhaps the most tragic aspect of the homosexual-pedophile connection is the fact that men who sexually molest boys all too often lead their victims into homosexuality and pedophilia. The evidence indicates that a high percentage of homosexuals and pedophiles were themselves sexually abused as children:

The Archives of Sexual Behavior reports: “One of the most salient findings of this study is that 46 percent of homosexual men and 22 percent of homosexual women reported having been molested by a person of the same gender. This contrasts to only 7 percent of heterosexual men and 1 percent of heterosexual women reporting having been molested by a person of the same gender.” 70

A study of 279 homosexual/bisexual men with AIDS and control patients discussed in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported: “More than half of both case and control patients reported a sexual act with a male by age 16 years, approximately 20 percent by age 10 years.” 71

Noted child sex abuse expert David Finkelhor found that “boys victimized by older men were over four times more likely to be currently engaged in homosexual activity than were non-victims. The finding applied to nearly half the boys who had had such an experience. . . . Further, the adolescents themselves often linked their homosexuality to their sexual victimization experiences.” 72

A study in the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology found: “In the case of childhood sexual experiences prior to the age of fourteen, 40 percent (of the pedophile sample) reported that they had engaged ‘very often’ in sexual activity with an adult, with 28 percent stating that this type of activity had occurred ’sometimes’” 73

A National Institute of Justice report states that “the odds that a childhood sexual abuse victim will be arrested as an adult for any sex crime is 4.7 times higher than for people . . . who experienced no victimization as children.” 74

A Child Abuse and Neglect study found that 59 percent of male child sex offenders had been “victim of contact sexual abuse as a child.” 75

The Journal of Child Psychiatry noted that “there is a tendency among boy victims to recapitulate their own victimization, only this time with themselves in the role of perpetrator and someone else the victim.” 76

The circle of abuse is the tragic legacy of the attempts by homosexuals to legitimize having sex with boys. For too many boys it is already too late to protect them from those who took advantage of their need for love and attention. All too many later perpetrate the abuse by themselves engaging in the sexual abuse of boys. Only by exposing the lies, insincere denials, and deceptions — including those wrapped in scholastic garb — of those who prey sexually on children, can we hope to build a wall of protection around the helpless children among us.

Dr. Dailey is a senior fellow for culture studies at the Family Research Council.

Notes

1. Dawn Fisher, “Adult Sex Offenders: Who are They? Why and How Do They Do It?” in Tony Morrison, et al., eds., Sexual Offending Against Children (London: Routledge, 1994), p. 11.

2. Kee MacFarlane, et al., Sexual Abuse of Young Children: Evaluation and Treatment (New York: The Guilford Press, 1986), p. 9.

3. John Briere, et al., eds., The APSAC Handbook on Child Maltreatment (Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 1996), pp.  52, 53.

4. Kurt Freund, et al., “Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, and Erotic Age Preference,” Journal of Sex Research 26 (February 1989): 198. See also Freund (1992): “In females, pedophilia is either very rare, or virtually nonexistent,” p. 34.

5. Bill Watkins & Arnon Bentovim, “The Sexual Abuse of Male Children and Adolescents: A Review of Current Research,” Journal of Child Psychiatry 33 (1992); in Byrgen Finkelman, Sexual Abuse (New York: Garland Publishing, 1995), p. 300.

6. Ibid.

7. Kurt Freund, et al., “Pedophilia and Heterosexuality vs. Homosexuality,” Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 10 (1984): 197. “The proportional prevalence of offenders against male children in this group of 457 offenders against children was 36 percent.” See also, Kurt Freund, et al., “Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, and Erotic Age Preference,” “Approximately one-third of these individuals had victimized boys and two-thirds had victimized girls. This finding is consistent with the proportions reported in two earlier studies,” p. 107.

8. Watkins & Bentovim, p. 215.

9. Robert L. Johnson, “Long-term Effects of Sexual Abuse in Boys,” Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality (September 1988): 38.

10. “Understanding and Investigating Child Sexual Exploitation,” (U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, 1997), p. 12.

11. Watkins & Bentovim, p. 302.

12. Dan Black, et al., “Demographics of the Gay and Lesbian Population in the United States: Evidence from Available Systematic Data Sources,” Demography 37 (May 2000): 150.

13. John O. G. Billy, et al., “The Sexual Behavior of Men in the United States,” Family Planning Perspectives 25 (March/April 1993): 58.

14. J. Gordon Muir, “Homosexuals and the 10 percent Fallacy,” Wall Street Journal (March 31, 1993).

15. Milton Diamond, “Homosexuality and Bisexuality in Different Populations,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 22 (1993): 300.

16. Ibid. Significantly, a number of studies that were surveyed, and which skewed the overall percentages of homosexuals upwards, included such vague definers as those having had “any homosexual body contact.” In contrast, one study that was limited to self-identifying homosexuals found that less than 2 percent of the male respondents considered their “sexual orientation” to be homosexual, p. 293.

17. Kurt Freund, et al., “Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, and Erotic Age Preference,” p. 107. In this and previous studies, Freund claims that homosexuals are no more likely than heterosexuals to be attracted to children (p. 115). However, Silverthorn, et al., mentions the limitations of studies by Freund and others: “Studies of homosexual male preferences are also limited. . . . The Freund et al. (1973) study was possibly compromised because the homosexual men used in the study were selected to be sexually attracted to adults, but not teenaged, males. The Bailey et al. (1994) study was limited in that it did not present participants with objective stimuli but simply asked participants to report what age of sexual partner they preferred . . . the Jankowiak et al. (1992) study . . . was limited in two ways: the homosexual male participants had a limited age range of ‘middle-aged professionals’ and the stimuli presented to participants were also of a limited age range (‘university to middle-aged’).” Silverthorn attempted to correct these deficiencies, and in his study found that homosexuals “preferred younger partners than those who preferred female partners” — including those as young as fifteen. Zebulon A. Silverthorne & Vernon L. Quinsey, “Sexual Partner Age Preferences of Homosexual and Heterosexual Men and Women,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 29 (February 2000): 67-76.

18. Ray Blanchard, et al., “Fraternal Birth Order and Sexual Orientation in Pedophiles,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 29 (2000): 464.

19. Ibid., p. 471.

20. John M. W. Bradford, et al., “The Heterogeneity/Homogeneity of Pedophilia,” Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa 13 (1988): 225. Elsewhere the study notes: “Researchers have variously estimated the incidence of homosexual pedophilia between 19 percent and 33 percent of reported molestations,” p. 218.

21. Freund, “Pedophilia and Heterosexuality vs. Homosexuality,” p. 197.

22. Michele Elliott, “Chld Sexual Abuse Prevention: What Offenders Tell Us,” Child Abuse and Neglect 19 (1995): 581.

23. The fact sheet discusses a study by Carole Jenny, et al., which claims that only 2 of 269 child molesters could be identified as gay or lesbian. Carole Jenny, et al., “Are Children at Risk for Sexual Abuse by Homosexuals?” Pediatrics 94 (July 1994): 41-44. However, the Jenny study utilized an atypical research technique: the reported child molesters themselves were not interviewed. Instead, the researchers relied upon the subjective opinions of “informants” who accompanied the child victim to the medical clinic. The qualifications for such “informants” to determine the sexual behavior of the accused molester were not established. However, once it is “determined” beforehand that pedophiles who molest boys cannot be considered gay or homosexual if they have had sexual relations with women, it is a foregone conclusion that few if any of the pedophiles -who often have girlfriends, are married, and have children – will be labeled homosexual. The Jenny study used this narrow profile despite the fact that the study itself found that 22 percent of the perpetrators were of the same sex as the victim. In these cases the molesters clearly engaged in homosexual sexual molestation.

24. “Fact Sheet on Sexual Orientation and Child Abuse,” Human Rights Campaign (2001): available at: http://hrc.grassroots.com/family/soandchildabusefact/. The fact sheet discusses a study by Carole Jenny, et al., which claims that only 2 of 269 child molesters could be identified as gay or lesbian. Carole Jenny, et al., “Are Children at Risk for Sexual Abuse by Homosexuals?” pp. 41-44. However, the Jenny study utilized an atypical research technique. The reported child molesters themselves were not interviewed; instead, the researchers relied upon the subjective opinions of “informants” who accompanied the child victim to the medical clinic.

25. Note that the well-accepted definition of “child” as someone between infancy and the age of maturation is employed here.

26. John M. W. Bradford, et al., p. 218.

27. “[pedophiles] can be of either sex or any [sexual] orientation, i.e., homosexual, heterosexual or bisexual.” Paedophilia: Some Questions and Answers (London: Paedophilic Informational Exchange, 1978); quoted in Seth L. Goldstein, “Investigating Child Sexual Exploitation: Law Enforcement’s Role,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 53 (January 1984): 23.

28. W. L. Marshall, et al., “Sexual Offenders against Male Children: Sexual Preferences,” Behavior Research and Therapy 26 (March 1988): 390.

29. Kurt Freund, et al., “Pedophilia and Heterosexuality vs. Homosexuality,” p. 194.

30. Ibid., p. 197.

31. Bradford, et al., p. 217.

32. Ibid., pp. 218, 219.

33. Ibid., p. 390.

34. Bickley, p. 56.

35. Krisin A. Danni, et al., “An Analysis of Predicators of Child Sex Offender Types Using Presentence Investigation Reports,” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 44 (2000): 491.

36. Zebulon A. Silverthorne & Vernon L. Quinsey, “Sexual Partner Age Preferences of Homosexual and Heterosexual Men and Women,” p. 70.

37. Karla Jay and Allen Young, The Gay Report: Lesbians and Gay Men Speak Out about Sexual Experiences and Lifestyles (New York: Summit Books, 1979), p. 275

38. W. L. Marshall, et al., “Sexual Offenders against Male Children: Sexual Preferences,” p. 383.

39. W. L. Marshall, et al., “Early Onset and Deviant Sexuality in Child Molesters,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 6 (1991): 323-336.

40. W. D. Erickson, “Behavior Patterns of Child Molesters,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 17 (1988): 83.

41. John F. Harvey, O.S.F.S., The Homosexual Person: New Thinking in Pastoral Care (San Francisco: Ignatius Press: 1987): 219

42. Ibid., p. 221.

43. Elliott, p. 581.

44. W. L. Marshall, et al., “Sexual Offenders against Male Children: Sexual Preferences,” p. 383.

45. Bradford, p. 219.

46. Bradford, p. 224.

47. “Understanding and Investigating Child Sexual Exploitation,” p. 2.

48. Thorstad is co-author, with John Lauritsen, of The early homosexual rights movement (1864-1935) (New York: Times Change Press, 1974).

49. David Thorstad, “May/Boy Love and the American Gay Movement” Journal of Homosexuality 20 (1990): 252.

50. Ibid., p.  253.

51. Ibid., p. 258.

52. Ibid., p. 266.

53. George Archibald, “U.N. Group Keeps Ban on Gay Lobby,” Washington Times (May 1, 2002).

54. Raymond-Jean Frontain, “The Works of Allen Ginsberg,” Journal of Homosexuality 34 (1997).

55. Mary Eberstadt, “‘Pedophilia Chic’ Reconsidered” The Weekly Standard 6 (January 8, 2001).

56. Ibid., p. 21.

57. Ibid., p. 22.

58. Ibid.

59. Ibid.

60. Ibid., p. 23.

61. Ibid. Emphasis added by Eberstadt.

62. Ibid., p. 23.

63. Ibid.

64. From the Gay Men’s Press website: www.gmppubs.co.uk/cgi-bin/web_store/web_store.cgi

65. Tom O’Carroll, Paedophilia: The Radical Case (Boston: Alyson Publications, 1982).

66. Daniel Tsang, editor, The Age Taboo: Gay Male Sexuality, Power, and Consent (Boston: Alyson Publications ; London : Gay Men’s Press, 1981), p.144.

67. Helmut Graupner, “Love Versus Abuse: Crossgenerational Sexual Relations of Minors: A Gay Rights Issue?” Journal of Homosexuality 37 (1999): 23, 26.

68. Paula Martinac, “Mixed Messages on Pedophilia Need to be Clarified, Unified,” Washington Blade (March 15, 2002).

69. Ibid.

70. Marie, E. Tomeo, et al., “Comparative Data of Childhood and Adolescence Molestation in Heterosexual and Homosexual Persons,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 30 (2001): 539.

71. Harry W. Haverkos, et al., “The Initiation of Male Homosexual Behavior,” The Journal of the American Medical Association 262 (July 28, 1989): 501.

72. Watkins & Bentovim, p. 316.

73. Gary A. Sawle, Jon Kear-Colwell, “Adult Attachment Style and Pedophilia: A Developmental Perspective,” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 45 (February 2001): 6.

74. Cathy Spatz Widom, “Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse – Later Criminal Consequences,” Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse Series: NIJ Research in Brief, (March 1995): 1.

75. Elliott, p. 582.

76. Watkins, p. 319. Watkins mentions several studies confirming that between 19 percent and 61 percent of male sex abusers had previously been sexually abused themselves.

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Homosexuals Recruit Public School Children;

Homosexual Behavior Fuels AIDS and STD Epidemic;

A Gender Identity Goes Mainstream;

Homosexual Propaganda Campaign Based on Hitler’s “Big Lie” Technique;

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In the current (March) edition of Flourish, the official publication of the Archdiocese of Glasgow, Archbishop Conti reports on the recent ad limina visit of the Scots Bishops to Rome.  The whole report seems to be a case of trying to make the best of a bad job, but that’s not really the main point of this thread.  The main point of this thread is the fact that, in his comments about papal authority, Archbishop Conti misrepresents Vatican II teaching to argue that the Pope needs the bishops to “complete” his authority. Not so.

Read the Archbishop’s words  for yourself:

“Pope Saint Leo the Great has left us a sermon which the Church has incorporated into the Divine Office for this Feast: “One man, Peter, was chosen out from the whole world to preside over the calling of all nations, over all the Apostles and all the Fathers of the Church. So, although in the People of God there are many priests and many pastors, Peter was to rule by his own authority overall, and over them also.” Clearly, Pope Leo had a sense, as Successor of Saint Peter, of his own authority and responsibility as teacher. At the same time, he recognised that the authority that had been given to him, and his commission to feed the whole flock of Christ, was shared by the other apostles… There is a collegiality among all the bishops, which is not complete without Peter, any more than Peter is complete without shepherds who share the power and commission which was given to him, the Prince of the Apostles. The example of Peter is put before all the leaders of the “Church.” Click here to read the entire article

Now read what Vatican II teaches on the subject…

“…the Roman Pontiff, the head of the college of bishops, enjoys (this infallibility) in virtue of his office, when, as the supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful, who confirms his brethren in their faith,(166) by a definitive act he proclaims a doctrine of faith or morals.(42*) And therefore his definitions, of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, are justly styled irreformable, since they are pronounced with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, promised to him in blessed Peter, and therefore they need no approval of others, nor do they allow an appeal to any other judgment. For then the Roman Pontiff is not pronouncing judgment as a private person, but as the supreme teacher of the universal Church, in whom the charism of infallibility of the Church itself is individually present, he is expounding or defending a doctrine of Catholic faith.(43*) The infallibility promised to the Church resides also in the body of Bishops, when that body exercises the supreme magisterium with the successor of Peter. To these definitions the assent of the Church can never be wanting, on account of the activity of that same Holy Spirit, by which the whole flock of Christ is preserved and progresses in unity of faith.(44*)” Lumen Gentium 25. Click here to read the entire Vatican II document

So, Vatican II unequivocally re-states traditional Catholic teaching on papal authority. In short, the bishops need the Pope but the Pope – by virtue of his office as “supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful” – does not need the agreement of the bishops to pronounce on matters pertaining to the Faith.

So, is there an innocent explanation for this grave error on the part of the Archbishop of Glasgow?

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