by Rick Cullen

THE IMMACULATE PERCEPTION:
MYOPIA, CONFLATION, AND CONFUSION

'If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year,
Do you suppose,' the Walrus said,
'That they could get it clear?'
'I doubt it,' said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

-- Lewis Caroll

I have assiduously followed the response of the GLBT Community "leadership" and its "media moguls" to the ongoing sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church, in particular the Church's perceived attempt to blame homosexual priests for the entire mess. I have also followed the general political, legal and religious responses to this scandal. I shed a bitter tear!

It seemed to me that the recent meeting taking place at Community House of Long Island (CHOLI), attended by approximately 30 people according to Newsday, whose penchant for sympathetic coverage is well known, and its apparent resolve to picket the Rockville Centre Diocese in Mineola claiming that the GLBT Community was again being victimized by a historically persecuting Church, was of the knee-jerk variety. The "issues" were much too complex and conflated to reach such a conclusion after one short meeting filled, I am sure, with enthusiastic, well-meaning political and otherwise uninformed opinions.

I also read with interest the comments of LIGALY's (Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth) David Kilmnick to the effect that the Church, which traditionally ignored the presence of gay priests in its ranks, gratefully acknowledged their "pandemic" presence and blamed them exclusively for the present plight of the Church.

Alternatively, Tom Hroncich, Editor of Outlook Long Island, in his April/May 2002 unlabeled editorial (Vol. 3, Issue 5, p. 2), castigated D.A. Denis Dillon for his allegation that it was likely the problem was homosexual priests since clergy sexual abuse predominantly involved sex by male priests with adolescent males. Hronchich concluded that, "...the perception of gay men as pedophiles will not only remain but grow..." and will have a negative impact on all queer folk in professions dealing with youth.

In reality, Nassau D.A. Dennis Dillon, to his lasting political regret, did attempt to distinguish pedophilia from ephebophilia.

Alternatively, Suffolk D.A. Thomas Spota called for a special Grand Jury to inquire into whether the Diocese of Rockville Centre had covered up repeated cases of sexual abuse, reassigned accused priests, and lied, thereby putting children at risk. This appeared to me to be the most on-point response by any of the political or legal pundits.

To clarify this psychological distinction, it should be noted that the American Psychiatric Association, which the GLBT Community regaled for its belated declassification of homosexuality as a mental disorder, defines "pedophilia" as "recurrent, intense, sexually arousing fantasies, sexual desires or behavior involving sexual activity with prepubescent children", which is classified as a "disease."

In fact, Dr. Fred Berlin of Johns Hopkins University characterizes "pedophilia" as a "distinct sexual orientation marked by persistent, sometimes exclusive, attraction to pre-pubescent children." Further, Dr. Berlin holds that pedophilia is a chronic but treatable disease akin to alcoholism, 68% of which is perpetrated by parents (presumably heterosexual) and relatives and 33% by non-relatives.

Alternatively, according to the APA, ephebophilia, defined as an attraction to post-pubescent teenagers, is not classified as a "disease." It was ephebophilia rather than pedophilia which Dillon sought to hold gay priests responsible for, that is, homosexual relations with teenagers rather than pedophiliac relations with prepubescent children. It is difficult for me to imagine any but gay priests engaging in homosexual relations with teenagers; it is further difficult for me to imagine the entire GLBT Community being held responsible for the hateful acts of these few gay priests, which Dillon did not do.

The Church, on the other hand, focuses on the "celibacy problem," that is, the ban against marital relations for priests! Secondarily, it focuses on the financial consequences of its management fiasco. Thirdly, it focuses on the problem of homosexuals in the priesthood, especially the seminaries, which are described as queer seraglios! In no case has the Church substantially focused on its criminal failure to properly supervise all priests in all sexual matters. It should be noted, further, that there are no factual statistics on the sexual activities of priests in general or the number of gay priests in the Church, an embarrassment considering that allegations of sexual relations between priests and children have been rampant throughout my life.

Almost none of the responses by the major players, from the Cardinals to the Pope to the lawyers to the media pundits, offered anything but belated mechanical apologies to the victims of the abuse scandal, almost as a secondary matter. To me this is the greatest outrage of this entire scandal. It appears that all the major players are attempting to shift the blame for this entire mess. Each says, in one form or another, "It's not our fault. Look over there at gays/celibacy/the seminaries /mistaken managerial choices/financial repercussions/homophobia/the degenerate Church." Does anyone care about the victims or are they all too busy covering their own collective and individual asses to be bothered?

First, as to the "facts." The present Church scandal revolves around what I now label "child sexual abuse" by priests in its ranks including ephebo- and pedophilia. Most of the abuse seems to center on priests having sex with teenage and prepubescent boys, notwithstanding that there is some evidence of occasional heterosexual non-celibacy, an entirely different, adult matter. This is clear from the notorious allegations against, inter alia, Fathers Geoghan and Shanley in Boston and James Porter in Maine. I have never heard any allegation that a nun has engaged in sexual relations either with children or adults, homosexual or otherwise, though I am sure there must be at least one such case in the wings somewhere!

The number of priests so accused seems to increase almost daily. Recently, one of the accused committed suicide and another was shot by one of his victims. In short, it is pedophiliac behavior by male priests with prepubescent boys or ephebophiliac behavior by male priests with post-pubescent teen-aged boys which is involved, all of which constitutes "homosexual activity" in the popular mind, notwithstanding the subtle but real psychological distinction between the two. Perhaps it is the fact that all the sexual relations complainted of to date are between males, notwithstanding the age of the perpetrators or victims.

Further clouding the issue are American social attitudes to any type of adult sex with children, an unadulterated taboo (unlike more tolerant European attitudes), and age of consent laws, reflecting and conditioning those attitudes and defining who is a child. No one in our Community is unaware of the long-standing controversy concerning the embarrassing NAMBLA organization. It's existence and genesis cannot be denied. In fact, our Community was so embarrassed by its very existence that the Executive Committee of the Stonewall 25 International Parade, at its Atlanta Conference, was afraid to bar that organization's participation due to "free speech" considerations and, instead, passed a unanimous caveat which banned any organization that promoted sex or other abuse of children, a definition which fit NAMBLA alone. In short, most in our own GLBT Community are afraid to tackle this topic forthrightly without flinching. It has been alleged that Father Shanley was one of the greatest promoters of NAMBLA in its early days.

The issue then becomes, what is the proper manner in which to respond to this unprecedented sex scandal in the Church, meaning, of course, the Roman Catholic Church. The only true and consistent term for the behavior at the core of this scandal is "child sexual abuse," whether labeled pedophilia or ephebophilia.

The only true and consistent crime of the Church is its failure to properly supervise the sexual behavior of its priests and to unflinchingly punish perpetrators of either pedophilia or ephebophilia. But, as we have seen, it is not only the Church or its minions that have to date failed and refused to deal with these issues unflinchingly. We are all guilty and we are all too busy pointing fingers at everyone and everything else to consider our failure to do so, individually and socially.

First, we should all condemn any form of child sexual abuse, no matter how difficult or inconvenient this may be when considering older teen hunks. Second, we should prohibit any and all sexual activities by priests of any type with anyone unless and until celibacy is renounced by the Church and in that case, all non-marital sex by priests. Third, we should demand that the Church properly supervise its priests and toss anyone out who engages in prohibited sexual activity without exception. Fourth, we, individually and as a society, should insure that the response to this scandal and subsequent policing of priestly sexual activity does not turn into a witch hunt against those of any sexual orientation. Orientation is not the problem; it is a form of behavior - that is, sex with children - which is the problem.

Last, but most emphatically not the least, we should care for the current victims of any type of child sex abuse by priests. Not by second thought, general apologies but by and with all social, medical, and psychological tools at our command. We should immediately enter into conscientious dialogue with the victims, recognize fully the terrible assault on their individuality, and assure them of our support and desire to assist them to overcome the terrible trauma each of them has suffered. Who among us would not be traumatized by being sexually abused by an adult we were taught all our lives to listen to and obey because he was God's chosen agent? Such betrayal deserves more than secondhand thoughts and goes beyond merely financial analysis. We must stop pointing fingers and start mopping the beach so we can see and act more clearly to insure that this tragedy never repeats itself and that we need not "shed a bitter tear" in the future.

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