from Theological Issues
By Frank York
In March, 2004, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued a report entitled, "The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States."
The study, which was originally commissioned in 2002 by the USCCB, was conducted by John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
According to Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons, in an interview published by Zenit.org on May 1, 2004, the USCCB report "has revealed clearly that the crisis in the Church is not one of pedophilia, but of homosexuality. The primary victims have not been children, but adolescent males."
Dr. Fitzgibbons urges the Church to conduct a thorough screening process of every candidate who wishes to enter the priesthood to discover possible same-sex attractions. He notes that two recent studies have found that answers to a small number of questions about childhood and adolescent experiences, included within a larger questionnaire, can help an interviewer determine (with 90% accuracy) if a person has homosexual attractions.
Fitzgibbons notes: "When the evaluation reveals probable same-sex attractions, the candidate is not automatically excluded from consideration. If he is willing to do the hard work required to come to overcome his emotional pain of male insecurity, sadness and anger, his same-sex attractions could be resolved. After he no longer identifies himself as a homosexual, he could reapply. The Church should not take the moral risk of allowing someone who identifies himself as a homosexual to enter the seminary."