By Hilary White
April 20, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic bishop of Aberdeen, in Scotland went on the attack on Friday, telling the EUobserver that EU leaders should speak out whenever the Vatican said something “stupid.”
Bishop Peter Moran, the bishop of Aberdeen, Scotland was reacting to comments made by the Vatican’s Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, who told a press conference in Chile earlier this month that the sex abuse scandals among the clergy are more the result of homosexuality in the priesthood, not pedophilia or the discipline of priestly celibacy.
Moran told the EU Observer, “I would not like to think that there is any exaggerated deference by Christian leaders in Europe toward the Church authorities today. To put it very simply, if the Church says something that is wrong or stupid, even Christian leaders should have the courage to say: ‘No. I disagree with that. You are wrong. That was a stupid thing to say’.”
“This kind of abuse is found in all parts of society – in families, in heterosexual situations, in homosexual situations. It is not attached to any of those.”
In Chile, Cardinal Bertone said, “Many psychologists and psychiatrists have shown that there is no link between celibacy and pedophilia but many others have shown, I have recently been told, that there is a relationship between homosexuality and pedophilia. That is true.”
“The behavior of the priests in this case, the negative behavior, is very serious, is scandalous,” he said.
The 75-year-old Moran, who was due to submit his resignation as bishop this month, is well known in his diocese for his hostility towards Pope Benedict’s efforts to restore the Church’s liturgical traditions, as well as for his 1960s era political views. He has served as president of Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, as head of the Scottish Bishops’ Commission for Justice and Peace and is the Scottish Bishops’ representative on the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE).
His remarks echo those of a spokesman for the Bishops Conference of England and Wales, Fr. Marcus Stock, who responded last week to Bertone’s comments, saying there was no evidence to support the claim.
However, since the publication of the John Jay Report, commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002, which found over 80 per cent of the clerical abuse victims had been adolescent males, other independent research has continued to point to homosexuality in the priesthood as the root cause of the crisis.
According to an annual report released on March 23 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), of the 398 new credible allegations of child sexual abuse lodged against 286 diocesan priests or deacons in 2009, only six involved those who are currently minors. Of those 398 allegations, 83 per cent involved male victims and only 15 per cent of the victims were under the age of ten.
A report issued this week by Human Life International’s Research Director, Brian Clowes, said that in the available literature there is a demonstrated link between homosexuality and priestly sexual abuse of young men and boys.
Clowes cites a study recently published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior that said, “The best epidemiological evidence indicates that only 2.4 per cent of men attracted to adults prefer men. In contrast, around 25-40 per cent of men attracted to children prefer boys. Thus, the rate of homosexual attraction is 6-20 times higher among pedophiles.”
Clowes also noted that the Catholic Church has been subjected to an “opportunistic siege by prominent individuals” who want to advance goals such as the ordination of women and the abolition of the discipline of priestly celibacy.
“There is also a strongly defensive element to this strategy,” Clowes said. “Opponents of the Church know that there is a well-documented and strong correlation between male homosexuality and child sexual abuse, but claim that there is no evidence supporting this connection.
“And, of course, those who are currently attacking the Church hope that they can undermine its moral authority to preach on the sinfulness of homosexual behavior and weaken its opposition to ersatz homosexual ‘marriage’.”
Bishop Moran made his comments while attending a meeting of COMECE, and said that other bishops in attendance had been “shocked to know that someone in Rome had said that this is a problem of homosexuality.”
Asked whether clerical celibacy causes sexual dysfunction, including pedophilia, Bishop Moran said, “Perhaps now we will carry out a survey of that kind.”
To contact Bishop Moran:
Bishop's House
3 Queen's Cross
Aberdeen AB15 4XU
Phone +44 (0) 1224 319154
Fax +44 (0) 1224 325570
By email: https://www.dioceseofaberdeen.org/contact-us
To contact the Nunciature of Great Britain
Faustino Sainz Muñoz, Apostolic Nuncio
54 Parkside, Wimbledon
London SW19 5NE,
Phone: (44-20)8944-7189
Fax: 8947-2494