Interview with Father Boniface Ramsey
Father Boniface Ramsey who was the whistle blower that tried to alert the local Church authorities about McCarrick 20 years ago, is interviewed here.
One quibble I have is his characterization of a priest 'falling' once in a while in terms of celibacy. I get that we are all sinners and such things can happen. However, there is also a spectrum between occasionally 'falling' and being a predator. It seems like an awful lot of priests like to hang out in gay bars and deliberately hide behind celibacy to cover for their activity. The atmosphere in seminaries and in the priesthood (there seems to be plenty of drinking and social time going on) seems to often be occasions or near occasions of sin
I agree that the crisis isn't just about homosexuality. This actually really angers me when people say that it is. Obviously that is a complicating factor here. But what about the 20 percent of abuse victims who weren't boys/men? Let's not throw them under the bus! Again! I think it is an abuse of power across the board. But it tended to manifest itself through homosexuality because we are dealing with a male dominated society where there's a mix of power, opportunity and messed up sexuality. What makes it worse is it goes against Church teaching so the scandal and the hypocrisy negate any moral authority the Church may claim to have.
While Father Ramsey doesn't think there is a vast gay network, it seems to me there is. It happened that way because those who were deviant promoted those who either were directly involved, complicit in some way or willing to turn a blind eye. So now as these men went from priests to higher places in the hierarchy, and this seemed to happen all over the world, many of those in charge are corrupt. And they seem to be pushing a particular agenda. As Richard Sipe said, the Church is as corrupt now as it was at the time of Luther. He also estimated 45 to 50% of priests regularly being unchaste. Sipe was no prude. He was really progressive about sex. But he hated hypocrisy. Think of those two priests arrested this week in Miami. The recklessness of their behavior is mind boggling! To me that is the behavior of sex addicts. How can two priests who are supposed to be evangelizing the truth of Jesus Christ's Church, even think of doing that kind of thing? This is not the behavior of men who have a 'fall' once in a while. This is a manifestation of deeper problems. I bet they watch porn and have had these kinds of encounters many times before.
And as un-PC as it is, I do think there is a link between pederasty and homosexuality. I think it is pretty obvious. And I'm getting this from gay accounts. A large number of boys who decide they are gay do so after having a sexual encounter with an older man. It is often seen as a rite of initiation. Just last year, some Italian movie about an affair between an older man (in his 20s) with a teen boy won all sorts of praise at Cannes. And I think often the age gap is bigger than represented there. I think if you look at the issue historically you can see that pederasty is a common phenomenon in various cultures. This article in the National Catholic Register touches on this. I don't agree with everything that Wiker says here but I think he makes some strong points.
One quibble I have is his characterization of a priest 'falling' once in a while in terms of celibacy. I get that we are all sinners and such things can happen. However, there is also a spectrum between occasionally 'falling' and being a predator. It seems like an awful lot of priests like to hang out in gay bars and deliberately hide behind celibacy to cover for their activity. The atmosphere in seminaries and in the priesthood (there seems to be plenty of drinking and social time going on) seems to often be occasions or near occasions of sin
I agree that the crisis isn't just about homosexuality. This actually really angers me when people say that it is. Obviously that is a complicating factor here. But what about the 20 percent of abuse victims who weren't boys/men? Let's not throw them under the bus! Again! I think it is an abuse of power across the board. But it tended to manifest itself through homosexuality because we are dealing with a male dominated society where there's a mix of power, opportunity and messed up sexuality. What makes it worse is it goes against Church teaching so the scandal and the hypocrisy negate any moral authority the Church may claim to have.
While Father Ramsey doesn't think there is a vast gay network, it seems to me there is. It happened that way because those who were deviant promoted those who either were directly involved, complicit in some way or willing to turn a blind eye. So now as these men went from priests to higher places in the hierarchy, and this seemed to happen all over the world, many of those in charge are corrupt. And they seem to be pushing a particular agenda. As Richard Sipe said, the Church is as corrupt now as it was at the time of Luther. He also estimated 45 to 50% of priests regularly being unchaste. Sipe was no prude. He was really progressive about sex. But he hated hypocrisy. Think of those two priests arrested this week in Miami. The recklessness of their behavior is mind boggling! To me that is the behavior of sex addicts. How can two priests who are supposed to be evangelizing the truth of Jesus Christ's Church, even think of doing that kind of thing? This is not the behavior of men who have a 'fall' once in a while. This is a manifestation of deeper problems. I bet they watch porn and have had these kinds of encounters many times before.
And as un-PC as it is, I do think there is a link between pederasty and homosexuality. I think it is pretty obvious. And I'm getting this from gay accounts. A large number of boys who decide they are gay do so after having a sexual encounter with an older man. It is often seen as a rite of initiation. Just last year, some Italian movie about an affair between an older man (in his 20s) with a teen boy won all sorts of praise at Cannes. And I think often the age gap is bigger than represented there. I think if you look at the issue historically you can see that pederasty is a common phenomenon in various cultures. This article in the National Catholic Register touches on this. I don't agree with everything that Wiker says here but I think he makes some strong points.
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