Honest, he only did it once!

Homosexual? Not In This Outfit!
By Joseph Walther



I was shocked earlier this week to learn that Pope Benedict XVI wants to ban homosexuals from the Roman Catholic Seminary. More on this in a moment… I was shocked but not surprised this morning when I read the News Journal’s exposé on Delaware’s prison system. The Vatican’s action, a move to lessen the impact of an ongoing social gut-punch caused by the priestly sex exploits in the United States, is so far off base that it’s laughable. The stupidity going on in Delaware’s prison system has been a black eye for this State for many years. The exposé is laudable, and will cause people to get downright irate, but it will be business as usual, I’m afraid.

Politics within the Roman Catholic Church make what goes on in our secular political system look like choirboy antics. One of the main differences is the fact that the church’s aggregate congregation does not get to participate in choosing its leaders. Members of any diocesan parish, stuck with ineffectual pastors and associate pastors, will attest to how helpless lay members are in these matters. The Roman Catholic Church is the personification of autocracy in action. Adding insult to injury, the Church justifies all of this disguised as the Pope’s “infallibility” relative to Roman Catholic Dogma.

For Benedict XVI to pretend that eliminating homosexuals from the seminaries will prevent anything is just stupid, especially since his move grandfathers all living homosexual priests, bishops, cardinals, and other members of the Holy Orders Gang. Since Pope Benedict XVI is not a stupid man, I am just going to assume that he thinks we are. Neither homosexual seminarians nor homosexual priests are the problem in the Roman Catholic Church. Perhaps the Pope would care to explain to us why he thinks that they are.

Socially, the terms chastity and celibacy have become synonymous. The two terms are not the same. The first definition of celibacy is the state of not being married or taking a vow not to marry. A more liberal definition of the term includes an abstention from sexual intercourse. Chastity, on the other hand is a: abstention from unlawful sexual intercourse, b: abstention from all sexual intercourse, c: purity in conduct and intention, and d: restraint and simplicity in design or expression. There is a second definition: personal integrity.

With these definitions in mind, secular order priests do not take vows of chastity or celibacy. They make a promise to a consecrating bishop that they will abstain from such activities. Religious order priests, on the other hand, take these as vows: literally, promises made directly to God. Regardless of technical definitions, a priest, in strict adherence to either a promise of abstinence or a vow to abstain, is not a sexual threat to anyone. The same holds true for seminarians. Unless such a person holds up a sign proclaiming his sexuality, how would anyone know?

People who prey sexually on prepubescent children are pedophiles. The sex of the child is of no consequence. The fact that the perpetrator is an ordained priest makes no difference, either. About 85% of all pedophiles are white heterosexual married males. The bulk of the sex abuse in the Catholic Church involved teens between the ages of 13 and 16 years of age. This kind of activity falls within the realm of both pederasty and ephebophilia. While not technically the same as pedophilia, both are illegal in the United States when the adolescent is less than 18-years of age.

Not only did these individuals commit social and criminal atrocities, the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States systematically covered it up. Herein is the source of the justifiable outrage aimed at the Catholic Church.

Well-adjusted homosexuals are more of an asset to our society than any mal-adjusted heterosexual is. The only segment of our society in denial of this is the religious segment, which bases its beliefs on religious dogma rather than scientific fact. This same crowd believes God created the Earth ten thousand years ago in seven days. Its members actually believe an old man, floating around the heavens, hurls fireballs at the people who piss Him off. They hold televised “cured” sessions on television where people actually claim to be “former” homosexuals. Get real; this would be like me telling people that I used to be “white.”

Here’s a hint, Your Holiness, if you really want to stop all of the sex scandals within your church, stop covering up the activities of criminals and allow the police and prosecutors to do their jobs! Those who do the cover-up are just a guilty as the direct perpetrators, and this includes you.

Now, on to the Delaware Prison sham…

Please read the Sunday News Journal exposé concerning the state of Delaware prisons. It’s a revelation but falls short of being a surprise. I have no love lost for Governor Minner and even less for State Correction Commissioner Stan Taylor. He’s no more than one more crony member of Ruth Ann Minner’s clueless club.

This week’s piece, I’m afraid, is just the tip of the iceberg. I know people confined to Delaware prison locations. The horror stories are legend. People convicted of felonies and sent to prison are there for punishment. Forget rehabilitation. However, there is a huge difference between punishment and state sanctioned torture. If this article is only ten percent true, we should impeach the governor and the Attorney General should bring criminal charges against the commissioner. Time will tell, but I suspect that nothing will ever come of it. That’s just the way it is in Delaware politics.

Finally, I am developing a web page, www.thetruefacts.com, at the suggestion of many readers of this column. It is under construction as I type this. The BLOG will continue, even after the web site is completed. However, I intend to change the format of the BLOG and make it a link on the web page. You can view the web page anytime by clicking on the above link. Once on the site, follow the links and you will find directions to link back to the BLOG.

Have a great week.

Joseph Walther is a freelance writer and publisher of The True Facts. Send email to: publisher@thetruefacts.com