1. March 15, 2002
Stop Scapegoating Gays
By Mary Louise Cervone
The horrible truth that some Catholic priests have abused their power by abusing our children, exposed all
involved as unforgiving as the nakedness of Adam and Eve, post-apple. Yet after the allegations of abuse
surfaced, the holy and the holier-than-thou are trying to pin it on a scapegoat by falsely linking pedophilia
and gay priests.
As a devout Catholic, and an out and proud lesbian, I have long ago reconciled my personal truth of who I
am, made holy in God’s image, and my responsibility to the Catholic Church. My faith and sexuality,
both of which I love and could never change, have solidified the person I am. Both truth and
responsibility are extremely important to me and in the lives of all people of faith because it is through
them that we see into the soul of a person, illuminating his or her true character.
From the individual priests, to the Archdiocese in Philadelphia and Boston, to the Vatican, to those who
have written and reported the story in the media, we continue to be witnesses to a character test and
unfortunately, many are failing.
On March 6, in this paper, guest columnist John Ziegler, who often uses gay and lesbian people as a
target, led readers down his path of homophobia, using clergy sexual abuse of children to color his
commentary.
Even in an opinion piece, readers should expect a columnist to be responsible and present truthful
information. Ziegler, however, distorts the facts by using misleading statistics, employing experts with no
names, and creating hypotheses from thin air.
Mr. Ziegler carefully crafted his hollow sentences to hide the truth: that this issue is about a deeply-rooted
problem within the "secret society" of the Catholic priesthood, not about an individual priest's sexual
orientation. Study after study for years and years have concluded that most pedophiles are heterosexual
men. Further, Mr. Ziegler fails to mention the young girls who have been victims of these men. Therefore,
Ziegler's completely false premise that gay priests are more likely to be pedophiles is untrue and
irresponsible.
The Church's response was a wide-open window into the character of its leadership and is perhaps the
most unconscionable act of irresponsibility. While these children, some now grown and parents
themselves, suffer with the grief, the breakdown of a sacred trust and the agony of putting their lives back
into some sort of normalcy, the response to "the flock" has been filled with scapegoating and insults.

2. C. Ress – page 2
The Vatican continues to conspire with its silent denial of the enormity of the issue and the systemic
problem the church faces. Turning its sights on "the homosexual", Joaquin Navarro-Valls, Pope John Paul
II's spokesperson told the New York Times, "People with these inclinations just cannot be ordained...you
cannot be in this field." The Vatican is clearly signaling that no matter the facts, the culprits are "them",
not "us."
The crisis facing the church is not about gay men and lesbians; it's about a repressive system which uses
fear and control, and values preservation of a hierarchy over the dignity of an individual - and in the case
of the pedophilia accusations, over the welfare of children. From the very beginning this scandal signified
a gross abuse of power with multiple layers of lies that leaves most people unable to fathom its scope.
There is no single simple solution to this crisis. Ultimately, the Church must acknowledge that change
must come from within; it must take sexual abuse allegations seriously; it must tear down the veil of
secrecy used to protect the guilty; and it must stop offering up innocent people as the culprits. When a
need of self-preservation becomes more important than self-respect, the expedient solution tends to be the
path of least resistance, that is, colluding Cardinals, a Pope in denial, sexual predators shuffled about,
misleading and misinformation in the media, and children robbed of their innocence. This cannot
continue.
My son, Danny, is six years old. I once told him that being Catholic is an expression of universal love and
a deep faith in and devotion to God. He could have been one of the abused children who will live the rest
of his life traumatized. When he gets older, I will explain this tragic situation and hope he does not turn
his back on his faith. But for now, I can only teach him truth and responsibility of God, self and others.
Mary Louise R. Cervone is the President of Dignity/USA and a resident of Philadelphia.