By Peter J. Smith
EDINBURGH, September 12, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An organization of lay Catholics in Scotland has garnered the ire of a homosexual organization for its crusade to expose homosexuals hidden in the Scottish clergy and precipitate the massive sex-scandals of the kind that occurred in Ireland and the US after years of ecclesial cover-up.
Catholic Truth, a group of Catholics that maintains their intention is to restore orthodox Christianity in Scotland, has initiated an investigation into the extent of homosexuality in Scotland’s priesthood. They have asked for participants to cooperate in their “heavenly witness protection programme” saying that those who step forward with credible and trustworthy information on homosexual clerics will have complete identity protection.
“The key objective behind naming homosexual priests and bishops is to raise awareness of the problem within the Scottish Church, ultimately to ensure the safety of others in the Church,” said Patricia McKeever, the editor of Catholic Truth’s newsletter, to Glasgow’s Sunday Herald. “Not just the physical safety of children, important though that is, but also the spiritual safety of people and congregations entrusted to the care of a homosexual priest or bishop.”
“We do not want you to contact us merely to give us information … but then insist that we keep it to ourselves,” says Catholic Truth on their website. “If you give us information that we find is credible and trustworthy, then we will make it public.”
The organization adds, “It is a matter of the utmost urgency that we are able to identify and expose men who are using the Church as a cover for the ‘gay lifestyle’.”
However George Broadhead, secretary of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association objects to the exposé saying, “This is a 21st century witch-hunt.”
He adds, “People who are innocent of any kind of misdeed could find themselves on the website of this obnoxious organization being condemned by association as paedophiles.”
However, Catholic Truth rejects the notion that it is scandal mongering, and maintains instead that its initiative is an act of charity saying, “To expose homosexual activity and thereby allow time for correction and repentance from this sin … is, in fact, a great work of charity.”
Catholic Truth points out that the pedophilic sex-scandals in the Catholic Church are a direct result of infiltration of the priesthood by homosexuals, saying evidence has shown there is “a proven link between homosexuality and child molestation.”
“If we act as quickly as we can to expose scandals, perhaps we can help to turn the tide,” says Catholic Truth, adding that their status as laymen gives them an advantage over priests, who might be persecuted for exposing homosexual colleagues.
The group hopes that by exposing homosexual priests, it may cut short a festering sex-scandal that poses grave danger to both children and the faith in Scotland.