Where the Rubber Hits the Road

It may be a few difficult days for the Canadian Catholic Church as this trial gets going in Ottawa. I'll post any relevant details. Trial set to begin for Canadian Catholic Bishop on child pornography charges - The Washington Post

Another horrible offense committed by those who are today attacking the Christian faith. To violate the sanctity of a support group is almost as bad as what happened in Belgium. If the Church had ever done anything even close to this (violate a confidence shared in secret about an individual to attack them), they would be (rightly) castigated and assaulted from every direction. Yet, if the same is done to a person of faith... it seems to be fair game. WRONG is WRONG, no matter the intentions of whoever the responsible agent doing it is!!! NorthJersey.com: Alleged 'outing' of pastor assailed

Hi Tim, The problem for gay priests is not that they must remain celibate (I am sure many are quite faithful and effective in their ministries). The problem is that they must remain invisible as gay men. That is the closet. There are elements within the Church that want a purge of all gays...whether or not they practice celibacy. In fact, your Church is actively screening for homosexuality among seminarians. I believe it is almost impossible now for an openly gay man to be ordained. It will be interesting to see where this all leads. Gay men have historically been a rich source of priests for the Church. As the Church becomes more hostile to gay men, and as secular society becomes less so...many gay men will no longer seek ordination. There are other options for them. I simply cannot imagine any balanced and self-respecting gay man signing up for a closeted and virulently hostile assignment. Perhaps some gay priests reading this blog might comment (anonymously of course) about t...

I have spent the better part of an hour on the phone today talking with a woman whose family had been devastated by the scourge of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest. She had discovered my blog and took the steps to find and contact me to share her story, her fears and even a few successes in the wake of the injury her family experienced. Even though the priest has been uncovered as an offender, was sentenced and completed his prison term; even though he is forbidden from ever working as a priest again - all necessary issues to pursue justice, she states that the effects upon her siblings and parents continues to metastasize in horrific ways even now, years after the event. Her parents marriage collapsed under the weight of guilt and recriminations at having not only bringing this "priest" into their lives as a "family friend", but also for the fact that they were unable to see the predator that lurked behind the friendly face and laughter that marked his vis...