The following comes from a Nov. 22 story in the Army Times.
After a married same-sex couple at Fort Irwin, Calif., claimed a chaplain banned them from an Army marriage enrichment program because of their sexual orientation, post officials said they were scrambling to accommodate the couple.
Fort Irwin officials said Nov. 22 they are seeking a chaplain from outside the isolated post to lead a Strong Bonds retreat that could accommodate couples regardless of their sexual orientation. The religious beliefs of the chaplain originally set to lead the retreat did not permit him or her to provide services to same-sex couples.
The post’s news statement came a day after Shakera Leigh Halford said her wife, a soldier at the post, approached a chaplain at Fort Irwin through a coworker about participating in a Strong Bonds retreat at the base but was told the couple is “ineligible” because of their sexual orientation.
“That’s not fair,” Halford, 28, told Army Times. “Even though it’s a same-sex marriage, we have the same issues as other couples. What are we supposed to do, just suffer and try to figure out our issues on our own? What are we supposed to do? It’s just very upsetting.”
Halford recently joined her wife at the post, which is home to the National Training Center and located in the Mojave Desert. She was looking forward to accessing government-provided counseling and other resources as a couple, she said, but when they asked on Nov. 19 about the couples retreat in mid-December, the message was wait until the leader is replaced by a more accommodating chaplain in a few months.
“It came from a co-worker, but it was very clear, we were definitely not allowed to go because we are same-sex,” Halford said.
Strong Bonds is a unit-based, chaplain-led program aimed at building family resiliency. The Southern Baptist Convention, which provides the largest share of active-duty military chaplains, has barred members from taking part in weddings, counseling sessions and couples retreats for same-sex couples. Similar restrictions apply to Roman Catholic chaplains….
Pamela Portland, an Army spokeswoman at Fort Irwin, said in a statement the post’s remote location and limited pool of chaplains “created a temporary situation where same-sex married couples could not currently be supported with internal assets, so the command and the chaplains acted immediately.”
NTC commander Brig. Gen. Ted Martin has directed his command chaplain to bring in a chaplain for a temporary duty assignment to lead the retreat. Martin met with three affected couples to offer reassurance the command was working to provide them the same access as same-sex couples, according to Portland.
Portland said same-sex couples could be accommodated at a separate retreat offered in San Diego in December and January….
To read entire story, click here.
Diabolical disorientation marches on. As the compromised leadership within the Church goes, the world goes. Our armed forces have also misplaced their priorities. The military is also rendering itself weak, vulnerable and helpless to defend our country from the enemies who seek to destroy this once God fearing nation. Many of our compromised bishops and cardinals are also scrambling to appease political causes that have absolutely nothing to do with the salvation of souls. Many are now scrambling to retain the religious freedoms that are steadily being removed due to the many years of spiritual neglect. The military is scrambling to appease acts that are clearly offensive to God. And both are fooling themselves if they think that God is pleased with their compromises and misplacement of priorities. How ridiculously absurd and mocking to God to read about a woman calling another woman her wife. There is no doubt that they all need help. We have yet to witness the military forces unite and scramble to find out the real reason why those brave soldiers were killed in Benghazi. We have yet to witness our bishops fully uniting to defend, to teach and uphold the Fullness of Truth. We have yet to witness the uncovering of the real reasons why the horrific sex abuse scandals took place. The wisdom of the world has quickly become a dangerous and perilous foolishness to God. Only the self-deceived have the appalling arrogance to say, “God Please Protect Us And Please Protect Our Nation While We Daily Neglect You And Mock You Daily.”
We have yet to witness our bishops fully uniting to defend, to teach and uphold the Fullness of Truth. We have yet to witness the uncovering of the real reasons why the horrific sex abuse scandals took place. Katherine: …………………….If you really want to know why the abuse scandals took place? READ the files that have been released on the 2007 abuse scandal for starters. You will find out why Cardinal Mahony didn’t want anyone to read them along with the Vatican. What happened to the abused Catholic children was pure evil. Even Pope Francis has not started to address it, because it most surely turns his stomach into knots just thinking about it. Listen to some victims. Let them tell their stories and maybe some day you will finally understand what went wrong with the Church, and why the Hierarchy is unable to fix it.
Thank you Steve!
In response to your post. I realize that the scandals are part of the chastisement for the apostasy within the Church. St. John Eudes said, “One of the surest signs of God’s displeasure with mankind is to allow bad clergy.” Stephen Brady worked tirelessly to expose the reason why the sex abuse scandals took place. Stephen Brady told me that an investigation was being done in OC and San Diego. His investigation revealed there were breeding “nests” of homosexuality. Are you familiar with his work? Also a relative of mine who worked in the District Attorneys office in LA educated the person who was assigned to head the DA’s investigation. My relative asked him to read Michael Rose’s book Goodbye Good Men. We also contacted the FBI to investigate corruption in our own diocese. Due to the involvement of the laity, a dangerous predator was removed.
Please Search ‘Roman Catholic Faithful to dissolve. – Fish Eaters” …
Noted Catholic activist Stephen Brady has decided to dissolve his Petersburg, Illinois-based organization Roman Catholic Faithful.
catholicforum.fisheaters.com/index.php?topic=3423182.0
Please search: ‘Roman Catholic Faithful A Few Blunt Words to Catholics’
Steve, I have met and spoken with victims. I have also spoken with their parents. It is pure evil and the causes are still being swept under the rug. There is still a pattern of silencing and covering up which leads to the like-minded promotions of the disobedient. Those in authority who reject Church teaching have been given the power to control what is taught and what is not taught. Hence the silence about the years of watering down the faith. Father Hardon SJ wanted the laity to speak up about the corruption within the Church. Father Hardon SJ wanted the laity to speak up when the pagan looking structure was being built in L.A.
So, your solution is blame it on the homosexuals and then wash your hands of it. You have not learned a thing about why the abuse scandal happened and why it still continues to go on all over the world, let alone in your backyard. Out in the regular world it is the heterosexuals that do almost all the abusing of children and adults not homosexuals. The understanding of the abuse is within the clergy from top to bottom. That is one of the many reasons Pope Francis is trying to make a course correction in the present day church. I wish him well.
Goodbye, Good Men is in many ways an unfortunate book. It is unfortunate because the story of the problems in American seminaries needed to be told, but it needed to be told with scrupulous concern for accuracy and truth. It needed to be told in such a way as to elicit more than righteous indignation from the faithful. It also needed to be told with more nuance and penetration. It is also unfortunate because Rose’s failure to make distinctions will actually distract attention from the real remaining problems in American seminaries. Rose’s credibility problems and his relative lack of analysis do little to shed light on what may be done to strengthen our seminary system. Only in the last two chapters does he have anything to say about what factors come together to make a good seminary. Goodbye, Good Men
Here is a list of books that will answer all your questions:
Berry, Jason. LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION. New York. Doubleday, 1992.
Cozzens, Donald. SACRED SILENCE: DENIAL AND CRISIS IN THE CHURCH. Collegeville MN. Liturgical Press. 2002.
D’Antonio, Michael. MORTAL SINS: SEX, CRIME AND THE ERA OF CATHOLIC SCANDAL. New York. St. Martin’s Press. 2013.
Dokecki, Paul. THE CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE CRISIS: REFORM AND RENEWAL IN THE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY. Washington DC. Georgetown University Press. 2004.
Doyle, Thomas, Sipe, A.W. Richard. Wall, Patrick. SEX, PRIESTS AND SECRET CODES: A COMMENTARY ON CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE LEGISLATION. Los Angeles. Bonus Books. 2006 Frawley-O’Dea, Mary Gail. PERVERSION OF POWER: SEXUAL ABUSE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. Vanderbilt University Press, 2007.
Freiberger, James. CLERGY PEDOPHILES: A STUDY OF SEXUALLY ABUSIVE CLERGY AND THEIR VICTIMS. Bloomington, In. Authorhouse. 2010.
Hamilton, Marci. GOD VS. THE GAVEL: RELIGION AND THE RULE OF LAW. New York. Cambridge University Press. 2005.
Hidalgo, Myra. SEXUAL ABUSE AND THE CULTURE OF CATHOLICISM: HOW PRIESTS AND NUNS BECOME PERPETRATORS. New York. Haworth Press. 2007.
Mouton, Ray. IN GOD’S HOUSE. UNITED KINGDOM. Head of Zeus. 2012.
O’Gorman, Colm. BEYOND BELIEF. London. Hodder and Stoughton. 2009.
Robinson, Geoffrey. CONFRONTING POWER AND SEX IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia. John Garrett Publishing. 2007.
Robinson, Geoffrey. FOR CHRIST’S SAKE: END SEXUAL ABUSE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH FOR GOOD. Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia. Garrett Publishing. 2013.
Shupe, Anson. IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT’S HOLY. London. Praeger. 1995
Sipe, A.W. Richard. SEX, PRIESTS AND POWER. New York. Brunner-Mazel. 1995
Sipe, A.W. Richard. CELIBACY IN CRISIS: A SECRET WORLD REVISITED. New York. Brunner-Routledge. 2003.
Whitfield, Charles, Silberg, Joyanna, Fink, Paul Jay. Editors. MISINFORMATION CONCERNING CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE AND ADULT SURVIVORS. New York. Haworth Press. 2001.
Steve states: “Out in the regular world it is the heterosexuals that do almost all the abusing of children and adults not homosexuals.”
I reply: Steve’s implication that it is inaccurate and unfair to “blame it on the homosexuals” isn’t supported by facts.
There are more heterosexuals in the general population than homosexuals, which would make it statistically probable that there would be a greater number of incidences of heterosexual abuse. However, statistical evidence demonstrates that homosexual men molest boys at grossly disproportionate rates in comparison with the rates at which heterosexual men molest girls.
A study published in 2011 by The National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) indicates a significantly smaller number of “gays, lesbians and homosexuals” than is usually claimed in the media. The study shows that only 1.4% of the population identifying with same-sex orientation.
Even sources that are “gay friendly” now admit that the one in ten people are gay myth, is just that: a myth. According to a report released by the Williams Institute, a think-tank devoted to LGBT research at UCLA, approximately 9 million Americans (or nearly 4 percent of the total population) say they identify as “lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender”. Bisexuals comprise a little more than half of that group, 1.8 percent of the total U.S. population, and those who identify as bisexuals are much more likely to be women.
Homosexual apologists frequently argue that the majority of child molestation cases are heterosexual in nature. While this is true in terms of absolute numbers, the argument completely ignores the fact that homosexuals make up a tiny percentage of the population.
Men are usually the perpetrators of sexual abuse. Up to one-third (or more) of reported sexual abuse cases are committed against boys. At most, four percent of the population (and probably less than that) identify as homosexuals. Therefore, a small percentage of the population (homosexual men), commit one-third or more of reported sexual abuse cases.
How does this relate to sexual abuse within the Catholic Church?
A 2004 study of the Catholic sex abuse scandals by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice revealed that 81.9 % of sex crimes committed against young people by Catholic priests during the previous 52 years involved men engaging in sexual contact with boys. Only 5.8% of victims were under age 7; 16% percent were between ages 8-10; and over 78% were between the ages of 11-17. More than one person accused 44% of the accused, and contrary to the suggestions implied by the media, most of the victims were not preadolescent children (which would be pedophilia); they were generally teenaged boys (which involves homosexual ephebophilia, or pederasty).
Finally, despite the assertions of many of the authors cited by Steve (some of whom are known dissenters), celibacy is not the issue.
The most reliable studies reveal that Catholic priests have never committed sexual abuse at a higher rate than religious leaders from other denominations (including those where celibacy is not a requirement) and have actually abused at a rate far lower than that of men of the general population. [See: TheMediaReport.com’s “Fast Facts”]
Celibacy is not a requirement among schoolteachers, yet child sex abuse is rampant in our nation’s public schools.
A U.S. Department of Education report published in 2004 demonstrated that “the most accurate data available” indicates “nearly 9.6 percent of [public school] students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career,” This statistical significance prompted the study’s author, at a later time, to say: “Think the Catholic Church has a problem? The physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.”
What MJCMT forgets in his or her long rant below are two important facts: LGBT people have been at the forefront of exposing the sexual abuse of minors, which is an unlikely scenario of we are all the child molestors that he pretends we are. And secondly and even more importantly, what makes the catholic clergy abuse the most egregious set of abuse cases is that the church hierarchy was actively involved in covering up for the abusers, knowing the abuse was happening, yet moving them from parish to parish to try to keep their abuse from leaking into public knowledge but doing little if anything to protect the victims. Even today, dioceses prefer to go bankrupt rather than provide the victims with just compensation for these crimes.
LGBT people have been at the forefront of exposing the sexual abuse of minors??? Really! YFC, You mean as opposed to the permission slip given to consenting LGBT adults who are sinning up a storm as long as they mutually consent to commit mortal sin while calling themselves practicing Catholics? Both of these examples are offensive to God. You refuse to uphold Church teaching on chastity so in essence you are part of an egregious cover up when you fail to help your brothers and sisters in Christ by covering up the necessary truths to gain eternal life.
YFC writes, “And *secondly* and *even more importantly*, what makes the catholic clergy abuse the most egregious set of abuse cases is that the church hierarchy was actively involved in covering up for the abusers, knowing the abuse was happening, yet moving them from parish to parish to try to keep their abuse from leaking into public knowledge but doing little if anything to protect the victims.” = So true and preaching to the choir. Next….
SECONDLY?
YFC, If it is more egregious and *even more important* that the hierarchy was covering up then you should have written that fact period. The reason you didn’t is that you were much much more concerned with 1st protecting the image of the false god of homosexuality, even more than protecting the truth that we are all made in the image and likeness of God. It is NOT homosexuality or gender disorders that are at the forefront of promoting truth. It is courageous individuals who exposed the truth. Many Catholics have spoken with homosexual SNAP members who have exposed molesters and that part IS good but due to years of abuse and spiritual neglect many are still unable to see or admit that homosexuality often affects how the faith is taught and defended and perceived. Also if in each diocese the Catholic teachings are being hidden, manipulated and distorted by homosexual clergy then it is also illogical to think that it is the objective disorder or a gender disorder that is at the forefront of bringing order. The Fullness of Truth brings order. It was evil and wrong to cover up the sex abuse scandals and it is egregiously wrong to cover up the truth by distorting the Church’s teaching regarding homosexuality.
Catherine, I wrote what I wrote because it is true.
” LGBT people have been at the forefront of exposing the sexual abuse of minors” LOL LOL LOL LOL what a lode of garbage….
YFC says:
“…LGBT people have been at the forefront of exposing the sexual abuse of minors, which is an unlikely scenario of we are all the child molestors that he pretends we are.”
Perhaps these souls who are supposedly at the forefront of exposing sexual abuse are at the forefront because many of those same souls were sexually ABUSED as children. When those children grow up they repeat the behaviors that they have learned or perhaps suffer from disordered ‘attractions’ because of said abuse…. instead of everyone supposedly being ‘born that way.’
That said, there is the reality of hormone imbalance and other physiological factors that come into play with a person’s sexuality. That is true. But not everyone falls under this category. Not at all.
The Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute notes that 90% of child molesters target children in their network of family and friends. Most child molesters, therefore, are not gay people lingering outside schools waiting to snatch children from the playground, as much religious-right rhetoric suggests.
Ann Malley, No scientifically sound study has linked sexual orientation or identity with parental role-modeling or childhood sexual abuse. The American Psychiatric Association noted in a 2000 fact sheet on gay, lesbian and bisexual issues that “no specific psychosocial or family dynamic cause for homosexuality has been identified, including histories of childhood sexual abuse.” The fact sheet goes on to say that sexual abuse does not appear to be any more prevalent among children who grow up and identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual than in children who grow up and identify as heterosexual. Similarly, the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization notes on its website that “experts in the human sexuality field do not believe that premature sexual experiences play a significant role in late adolescent or adult sexual orientation” and added that it’s unlikely that someone can make another person gay or heterosexual. With regard to Schumm’s study, critics have already said that he appears to have merely aggregated anecdotal data, a biased sample that invalidates his findings.
MJCAT, Gay priests are no more likely to molest children than heterosexual clergy, a preliminary report commissioned by U.S. Roman Catholic bishops on the roots of the clergy sex abuse scandal found.
No data indicating that homosexuality was a predictor of abuse was found by the report’s authors at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
‘What we are suggesting is that the idea of sexual identity be separated from the problem of sexual abuse,’ said Margaret Smith, 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.’
Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1228853/Gay-priests-likely-molest-children-straight-ones-U-S-report-finds.html#ixzz2meGoXaRh
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Steve, thank you for your reply quoting scientifically ‘sound’ studies. While I respect your looking to science to some degree, I turn rather to experience, that is of parenting. Children are the grandest of imitators. That’s why you get the saying, “Monkey see, monkey do.” No parent needs a scientific study to explain this ‘phenomenon’. If that sounds facetious, I apologize, but it is the truth.
That said, scientific studies are the same that led women away from breast feeding. Scientific studies are the same now that are pushing for breast feeding. Scientific studies are the same that had parents laying their babies to sleep on their back for fear of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Scientific studies are the same that had them doing precisely the opposite after – guess what – research revealed that parents should lay their baby to sleep on their stomach instead. The same can be said for the benefit of eggs, meat, and milk in a persons diet.
Translation: Scientific studies are skewed, crazy making exercises that contradict each other as a witness for the prosecution can refute a witness for the defense. And they do every day. The grand qualifier being – credibility.
Now, as a Catholic, that is a believing one, I would opt for the word of God above it all. He’s the Creator after all. So, while you cite studies I’ll stick with God.
Homosexuals Comprise Less than 3 Percent of the Population
Relying upon three large data sets: the General Social Survey, the National Health and Social Life Survey, and the U.S. census, a recent study in Demography estimates the number of exclusive male homosexuals in the general population at 2.5 percent, and the number of exclusive lesbians at 1.4 percent.
A study of the sexual behavior of men in the United States based on the National Survey of Men (a nationally representative sample comprised of 3,321 men aged twenty to thirty-nine, published in Family Planning Perspectives), found that “2 percent of sexually active men aged twenty to thirty-nine . . . had had any same-gender sexual activity during the last ten years. Approximately 1 percent of the men (1.3 percent among whites and 0.2 percent among blacks) reported having had exclusively homosexual activity.
J. Gordon Muir, writing in The Wall Street Journal, discusses a number of studies that have found that homosexuals comprise between 1 to 3 percent of the population.
In a survey of studies on homosexuals in different populations, the Archives of Sexual Behavior reported a random sample of Hawaii State residents interviewed by telephone. The study found “just about 3 percent of males and 1.2 percent of females as having engaged in same-sex or bisexual activity.”
However, this relatively higher number is attributed to the fact that the study was not limited to exclusive homosexuals, but included all those who at some time in their lives engaged in same-sex activities.
Homosexual Pedophiles are Vastly Overrepresented in Child Sex Abuse Cases
Homosexual pedophiles sexually molest children at a far greater rate compared to the percentage of homosexuals in the general population. A study in the Journal of Sex Research found, as we have noted above, that “approximately one-third of [child sex offenders] had victimized boys and two-thirds had victimized girls.” The authors then make a prescient observation: “Interestingly, this ratio differs substantially from the ratio of gynephiles (men who erotically prefer physically mature females) to androphiles (men who erotically prefer physically mature males), which is at least 20 to 1.”
In other words, although heterosexuals outnumber homosexuals by a ratio of at least 20 to 1, homosexual pedophiles commit about one-third of the total number of child sex offenses.
Similarly, the Archives of Sexual Behavior also noted that homosexual pedophiles are significantly overrepresented in child sex offence cases:
The best epidemiological evidence indicates that only 2 to 4 percent of men attracted to adults prefer men (ACSF Investigators, 1992; Billy et al.,1993; Fay et al.,1989; Johnson et al.,1992); in contrast, around 25 to 40 percent of men attracted to children prefer boys (Blanchard et al.,1999; Gebhard et al.,1965; Mohr et al.,1964). Thus, the rate of homosexual attraction is 6 to 20 times higher among pedophiles.”
Anti-gay activists who make that claim allege that all men who molest male children should be seen as homosexual. But research by A. Nicholas Groth, a pioneer in the field of sexual abuse of children, shows that is not so. Groth found that there are two types of child molesters: fixated and regressive. The fixated child molester — the stereotypical pedophile — cannot be considered homosexual or heterosexual because “he often finds adults of either sex repulsive” and often molests children of both sexes. Regressive child molesters are generally attracted to other adults, but may “regress” to focusing on children when confronted with stressful situations. Groth found that the majority of regressed offenders were heterosexual in their adult relationships.
A Record of Sexual Abuse of Boy Scouts by Homosexuals
https://www.americantraditions.org/Articles/A%20Record%20of%20Sexual%20Abuse%20of%20Boy%20Scouts%20by%20Homosexuals.htm
Report on ‘The Gay Report’
https://www.narth.org/docs/reporton.html
The stark imbalance between homosexual and heterosexual child molestationswas confirmed in the Archives of Sexual Behavior study itself, which divided 260 pedophile participants into three groups: “152 heterosexual pedophiles (men with offenses or self-reported attractions involving girls only), 43 bisexual pedophiles (boys and girls), and 65 homosexual pedophiles (boys only).”[19] In other words, 25 percent of the offenders were homosexual pedophiles–or 41 percent if those who molest girls as well as boys are included.
Other studies report an unusually high percentage of child molestations by homosexual pedophiles:
A study on pedophilia in the Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa reported: “According to the literature, findings of a two-to-one ratio of heterosexual to homosexual pedophiles have been documented.”
The Journal of Sex Research reports a study that included “199 offenders against female children and 96 offenders against male children. . . . This would indicate a proportional prevalence of 32 percent of homosexual offenders against children.”
A study of male child sex offenders in Child Abuse and Neglect found that fourteen percent targeted only males, and a further 28 percent chose males as well as females as victims, thus indicating that 42 percent of male pedophiles engaged in homosexual molestation.
Depicting gay men as a threat to children may be the single most potent weapon for stoking public fears about homosexuality — and for winning elections and referenda, as Anita Bryant found out during her successful 1977 campaign to overturn a Dade County, Fla., ordinance barring discrimination against gay people. Discredited psychologist Paul Cameron, the most ubiquitous purveyor of anti-gay junk science, has been a major promoter of this myth. Despite having been debunked repeatedly and very publicly, Cameron’s work is still widely relied upon by anti-gay organizations, although many no longer quote him by name. Others have cited a group called the American College of Pediatricians to claim, as Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council did in November 2010, that “the research is overwhelming that homosexuality poses a [molestation] danger to children.”
Why are homosexual advocates so fixated on rebranding rational concern, logic, and Catholic Truth with overly dramatic aspects of feeeeeeeear. The drama is nauseating.
“…Depicting gay men as a threat to children may be the single most potent weapon for stoking public fears about homosexuality.”
Vincent Price isn’t lurking in the shadows awaiting his cue from conservatives to demonstrate common sense, Steve. We don’t need fear. We need a clear head and common sense.
Ann Malley, do not we preach a particular judgement? In other words and in this example, if there are members of a group who participate in a particular evil activity, it does not logically follow that the perpetrators are guilty, not the group? Why are innocent members of this group being smeared and tarnished because some among them may engage in this vile behavior? According to your “common sense”, we should not have priests because they will molest children and then cover up for each other. No, we don’t do that. We seek out the guilty and prosecute them. That is what we should do. We should not pretend that good and innocent priests are guilty. Nor should we presume that good and innocent gay people are guilty of molestation either.
Homosexuals are not the problem. The Hierarchy is the problem from top to bottom. The worldwide coverup of the child abuse scandal by the Church Hierarchy is a house of cards that is in the process of coming down. The Hierarchy is incapable of fixing this problem they have caused, because they are still unwilling to face the consequences of their actions. All they are trying to do now is stay out of jail and that is why they elected Pope Francis. I still wish him well. That’s the truth with a very large dose of common sense. Take it or leave it there it is before you.
boohoo
My parents’ standard answer to “That’s not fair” was always, “Life’s not fair, get used to it.”
This type of thing seems to be in the news more and more. It’s as if these poor innocent victims (NOT!) were victims of unjust discrimination (they are not) instead of people making noise at every opportunity. They need to be told that a) marriage between members of the same sex is not marriage, but a parody of marriage, and b) that when in doubt, remember that they may have a legal status, but have not in any true meaning of the word, a marriage. I would add that their “arrangement” is a mockery of marriage and as such it’s downright evil.
Perfectly stated, Ted!!
Nonsense.
peter?
Truth is brutal isn’t it….
I think you’re missing the point of the article, if you’re gloating over “life is tough”.
The fact is, the lesbian couple here actually has the legal footing. The chaplain is leading a marriage retreat, not a religious ceremony, and a remedy to appease the chaplain is only going to be a temporary one.
Ultimately, this is going to result in similar activities not being hosted by Southern Baptist chaplains, or anyone claiming grounds for discrimination against now legally protected service members, and it’s the chaplains that are going to need to accept and adapt.
When married couples abandon contraception, the confusion of what constitutes a marriage will go away. Abandoning God’s principles on any level has consequences.
Thank you for your clarity, Tracy. That says it all.
US Army, you need to get it straight and live up to the former code of the US Army; otherwise you are turning into a bunch of immoral pansies and only the US Marine Corps that stands up against this onslaught of homosexual political correctness will draw the real men and women into their ranks and keep them. Only our Marines will be successful in completing their assigned combat and non-combat missions. Only our Marines will earn the respect and love they deserve. The US Army on the other hand will lose all respect and our enemies will know they can’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag. What a bunch of pansies the US Army leadership has turned into. I would never want my children to join the US Army for fear of being molested, and because their is no strong and moral leadership in the US Army any longer that is willing to do anything against this immoral homosexual behavior. May God forgive them.
IF I might speak for San Diego, we don’t want these lesbians and homosexuals here in San Diego. It is an insult to our fine city to welcome their sinful life styles. It is an insult to Saint Didicus (San Diego) and a grevious offense to God Almighty.
Well fortunately Tom B, you do not speak for San Diego. It is estimated that San Diego has the seventh largest LGBT population in the country, with about 62,000 LGBT people, constituting just under 7 % of the population. They are your neighbors, your nurses, your waiters, your enlisted men and women, your students, your children, and on and on. And, they are your fellow catholics.
“…They are your neighbors, your nurses, your waiters, your enlisted men and women, your students, your children, and on and on. And, they are your fellow Catholics.”
And that is why, YFC, these poor souls, like all of us poor souls who cleave to all manner of disorders, deserve to know and be brought to Truth. Even the hardest Truths. Not lied to.
The Holy Father’s equating the Church with a battlefield is so true, and yet the confusion comes with clergy attempting to treat deadly sin with morphine instead of manning up to cut it out so the patient will live. The cleric won’t be popular. Not by a long shot as folks clamor for the morphine. I could use a whopping dose myself at times. But it’s the cleric who helps us to navigate the suffering while telling the Truth that is our true brother.
You are right Ann Malley that gay people ought not to be lied to. They should be treated with dignity, respect, and with the sure knowledge that the fact that they are gay is neither a sin nor a choice.
It’s interesting, YFC, how you pick through my postings and attempt to twist their meaning. If you’re such an advocate for the homosexual community, why keep lying, YFC?
“…with the sure knowledge that the fact that they are gay is neither a sin nor a choice.”
Sure knowledge? Not a choice? This last bit is a lie, YFC. Unsubstantiated at best.
In many cases, it is a choice, a choice to ‘try’ that which is forbidden. To give in because one simply cannot help one’s ‘nature.’ That is a person choosing to act on the inclination to engage in sodomy. It can start with a fleeting thought, a dare, a desire to be rebellious, feelings of rejection, jealousy of others, attention seeking, sexual abuse, encouragement, being pigeon holed, derided, many things. Much like an extramarital affair can start. Unplanned, yes, but that’s as far as the lack of personal culpability goes.
Just as it is a choice for heterosexual couples to misuse their bodies to engage in activities that are sexually disordered. And they do ALL THE TIME. And these too are grave sins.
These activities are habit forming, YFC. Not integral to the person who is made in the image and likeness of God.
That’s why if you really desire to advocate in a Catholic manner for homosexuals, I wish you’d put it out there that not all those who suffer homosexual attraction do so by their very nature. That is, they were not just born that way. Much like men in general are not all born cheaters, incapable of remaining faithful or limiting their sexual encounters with their wives to that which is ordered toward procreation.
Ann Malley, what I wrote is not a lie. It is Church doctrine.
All major professional mental health organizations are on record as stating that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.
It is true that LGBT people suffer higher rates of anxiety, depression, and depression-related illnesses and behaviors like alcohol and drug abuse than the general population. But studies done during the past 15 years have determined that it is the stress of being a member of a minority group in an often-hostile society — and not LGBT identity itself — that accounts for the higher levels of mental illness and drug use. Richard J. Wolitski, an expert on minority status and public health issues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, put it like this in 2008: “Economic disadvantage, stigma, and discrimination … increase stress and diminish the ability of individuals [in minority groups] to cope with stress, which in turn contribute to poor physical and mental health.”
Anti-gay groups want not only to depict sexual orientation as something that can be changed but also to show that heterosexuality is the most desirable “choice” — even if religious arguments are set aside. The most frequently used secular argument made by anti-gay groups in that regard is that homosexuality is inherently unhealthy, both mentally and physically. As a result, most anti-gay rights groups reject the 1973 decision by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. Some of these groups, including the particularly hard-line Traditional Values Coalition, claim that “homosexual activists” managed to infiltrate the APA in order to sway its decision.
“…All major professional mental health organizations are on record as stating that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.”
Steve, all major professional mental health organizations, aren’t onboard with the notion of sin either. So would you say there is no sin? Good grief, man. Where is the logic there?
Steve, ok, for the sake of clarity, let’s say that mental health organizations are correct in saying that same-sex sexual attraction is not a mental disorder. Would you, therefore, have to agree that someone with a clear mind DOES have a CHOICE not to engage in sexual activity? Or are you of the persuasion to believe that it is only those of us who practice celibacy who have a mental health disorder?
This is the sin that you need to concentrate on and stop bothering homosexuals. Remember, the great sin here is the one being committed by the Hierarchy. Is he really going to stop the coverup or will he help them get off? Are you one of the 70%? Pope Francis is creating a new commission to advise the Vatican on how to deal with the ongoing clergy sex abuse scandal, which continues to make headlines in the U.S. Effects from the scandal continue to ripple across the U.S. Catholic landscape. On Thursday, the same day Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley announced the commission’s formation, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis released a list of more than 30 priests it says have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors. The Vatican’s announcement comes after some recent criticism of the pope for not moving more forcefully to confront the problem. Most Catholics in the U.S. say the sex abuse scandal is one priority they want Francis to address. After the new pope was elected in March, 70% of U.S. Catholics said that addressing the abuse scandal should be “a top priority” for him – more than any other potential priority listed in a Pew Research survey.
Bruce ~ My father (Vietnam) and one of my brothers (Gulf War I) are Marine Vets. They don’t agree with you. The day after DADT was repealed, Marine recruiters in a Midwest city set up a booth in the LGBT Community Center. Katie Miller who resigned from West Point in protest of DADT will enter USMC OCS next year. If I hadn’t been too old when DADT was scrapped I would have considered the Corps. I think I’d have been a great Food Service Officer. Semper Fi!
According to worldpopulationstatistics.com: The most current record of the population of San Diego in 2013 is estimated to be approximately 1,326,000, which is an increase of about 1.1% from the last record of the population. San Diego is the second-most populous city in the state of California and the eighth-most populous city in the entire country of the United States of America.
Now if we could presume to believe YFC’s estimated 62,000 LGBT population in San Diego, then the percentage of homosexuals would be 62,000 divided by 1,326,000 which equates to 4.675%, NOT the 7.0% falsely claimed by YFC. Giving YFC the benefit of the doubt and allowing him to revise his stance for San Diego County instead, then with a county population of 3,177,063 from the US Census Bureau in 2012, these 62,000 homosexuals divided by 3,177,063 San Diego County citizens equates to 1.95% which according to world statistics is in the ball park. Shame on you YFC for deceiving innocent people who don’t check up on your rhetoric. But that is what liberals count on swaying: uninformed people unwilling to dig up the real truth.
On the other hand if we use the 1.95% world statistics estimate of homosexuals in the greater population in our fair city of San Diego, 1.95% times 1,326,000 equates to 25,857 homosexuals, less than half of the 62,000 homosexuals that YFC falsely claims.
Tom B., I most certainly did not try to deceive people about the population of San Diego city vs San Diego county. Why would I even want to do such a silly thing, and why is it that a fellow catholic can’t be given the benefit of the doubt, but you IMMEDIATELY assume I try to deceive. If I inadvertently switched city and county populations, I made a mistake.
I’m not sure at the moment what source I used for the numbers I’ve cited, but here is another source, the UCLA School of Law, which shows that counts 2.8% of SD countiens, or almost 61,000 individuals as being LGB. Here is the source, so you can check the methodology for yourself. https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Gates-Ramos-CA-Snapshot-Oct-2008.pdf
But regardless of what the exact numbers are (we don’t and can’t know what the exact numbers are, after all), the point is that there are tens of thousands of LGB San Diegans, and you they live and work and serve and worship ALL AROUND YOU. So, you might want to start thinking of them as your neighbors.
Tom B., thank you so much for your post. A simple mathematical equation definitely says it all!
If a homosexual soldier comes for counseling, does this mean a Southern Baptist or Roman Catholic chaplain cannot counsel the soldier?
This is sort of the impression I got from reading the article.
If you made your own bed, then be prepared to lie in it. There is no such thing as same-sex marriage, except in fantasy.