A Time for Caution
by Deal Hudson
Passions are running high in response to the daily revelations of sexual misconduct by Catholic priests. I purposely avoid the word "pedophilia" because-in the rush to judgment-most of the instances of "sexual abuse" are being reported incorrectly as pedophilia.
Pedophilia is sexual contact with a child who has not yet reached puberty, say before age thirteen. Sexual relations with older adolescents past puberty is accurately termed "hebophilia" or "ephebophilia."
Why is the distinction important?
The presence of pedophiles in the priesthood describes a group of psychologically disordered men who can be found among any group. Married men with children, for example, have more than a 3% likelihood of being pedophiles.
However, one group of men has a markedly higher percentage of pedophiles-homosexual men.
Homosexual males are more likely than heterosexuals to engage in sex with minors. One study shows that homosexuals are three times more likely than straight men to engage in adult-child sexual relations. Other studies demonstrate that 35% of all pedophiles are homosexual (see http://www.narth.com/docs/pedophNEW.html).
Most of the reported instances of priests having sexual contact are with teenage boys, and points in an obvious direction: There are a lot of homosexuals in the priesthood. And some of these homosexual priests are responsible for the alarming numbers of sexual misconduct among the clergy.
The secular media will avoid this conclusion. Its editorial bias will keep any fingers from being pointed in the direction of homosexuality. The "problem of pedophilia" will be the ongoing refrain with the solution somehow being found in a married or female clergy. All the while, a major facet of the problem will be ignored.
Others have already said that the encouragement of sexual activity among married priests is the strangest of all remedies for pedophilia - as if married sex will drive out pedophiliac desires!
But there's a caution in this. In addressing the significant homosexual subculture in the Catholic clergy, we need to avoid at all costs a witch-hunt for homosexual priests.
Clearly, homosexuality does not necessarily lead to pedophilia or hebophilia. There are many instances, I believe, of homosexually disposed persons living chaste lives of heroic self-command. They may well be living among our priests.
To address the situation squarely the Church will have to submit itself to a rigorous investigation of homosexuality and the priesthood. This process should be undertaken in a measured and methodical way, with laypeople with genuine expertise in the areas of personnel management and sexual disorders.
Some in the Vatican have already gone on record saying that homosexuals shouldn't be ordained at all. What happens if the Church reaches this as an official conclusion? Will it mean that all priests with homosexual inclinations are invalidly ordained? Will some Catholics actively demand they "out" themselves and "resign" their priesthood?
I raise these questions as a note of caution. Catholics are feeling scandalized. We're looking for answers and explanations. We also want solutions and reforms. I recommend all of us look down the road a distance before we allow our present passions to make the damage worse than it already is.
Deal W. Hudson is the director of the Morley Institute, and is the former publisher of CRISIS Magazine, a Catholic monthly published in Washington, DC. His articles and comments have been published in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, National Review, Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Village Voice, Roll Call, National Journal, The Economist, and by the Associated Press. He appears regularly on television shows such as NBC Nightly News, One-on One with John McLaughlin, C-Span's Washington Journal, News Talk, NET's Capitol Watch, The Beltway Boys, The Religion and Ethics Newsweekly on PBS, and radio programs such as "All Things Considered" on National Public Radio. He was associate professor of Philosophy at Fordham University from 1989 to 1995 and was a visiting professor at New York University for five years. He taught for nine years at Mercer University in Atlanta, where he was chair of the philosophy department. He has published many reviews and articles as well as four books: Understanding Maritain: Philosopher and Friend (Mercer, 1988); The Future of Thomism (Notre Dame, 1992); Sigrid Undset On Saints and Sinners (Ignatius, 1994); and Happiness and the Limits of Satisfaction (Rowman & Littlefield, 1996). His autobiography, An American Conversion (Crossroad, 2003), is available from Amazon.com.
