Ad Dominum

There has been a lot of news- liturgical and moral- coming out of the ongoing meeting of the American Bishops. There is one significant story, however, that is not being reported well at all.

In 2002, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a $2 million study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to determine the causes, scope, and effects of clerical sexual abuse in the Church after the abuse crisis erupted in Boston and spread nationwide.

Since the beginning of this extensive study, several preliminary reports have been released that offered tons of data for mining. The researchers at John Jay had not interpreted the statistics before releasing them for general lay consumption. Thus, since 2002, many conservative pundits and others with a clear anti-gay agenda in the Church have ignorantly pointed to some numbers in the preliminary data and said, “Aha! See? It was the gay priests all along!”

Yesterday, John Jay College disagreed.

As reported to the Bishops:

“What we are suggesting is that the idea of sexual identity be separated from the problem of sexual abuse,” said Margaret Smith of John Jay College, in a speech to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“At this point, we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and the increased likelihood of subsequent abuse from the data that we have right now.”

Karen Terry, a John Jay researcher, said it was important to distinguish between sexual identity and behavior, and to look at who the offender had access to when seeking victims.

At the meeting Tuesday, Bishop Edward Braxton of the Diocese of Belleville, Ill., asked the researchers whether their study indicated that homosexuality should be considered when evaluating a candidate for the priesthood. In 2005, the Vatican issued a policy statement that men with “deep-seated” attraction to other men should be barred from the priesthood.

Smith said: “If that exclusion were based on the fact that that person would be more probable than any other candidate to abuse, we do not find that at this time.”

Now.

How about that 2005 document concerning gay priests?

Truth is generally the best vindication against slander. (Abraham Lincoln)

Read more here and here and here.

Pax et bonum.