Joe, er Benny - It's Me, Mound. Let's Chat.

You've really pissed in the pickles this time Joe. You've lost control of the whole kid diddling scandal. The tide has turned to the point where it's a distinct possibility even your saintly ass might be hauled before a court of law.

You have only yourself and your underlings to blame by comparing your critics to anti-Semites or blaming the scandal on Zionists or dismissing it as "petty gossip" or trying to write it off as a gay problem. One by one your straw men collapsed before you had a chance to knock them down.

C'mon Joe. I know it. The whole world knows it. You know it too but you won't admit it. The problem, Joe, is your church's fanatical obsession with clerical celibacy. Celibacy is the Titanic of the Roman Catholic Church. You're sinking.

Celibacy attacks the church at every turn. Perverse as this might seem, it even attracts gay men to the priesthood. One gay priest explained it very clearly. The priesthood was the obvious "way out" for a closeted homosexual wishing to escape exposure or dodge a mother otherwise desperate for grandchildren. They don't go in yearning to get at the altar boy's ass, not at all. They believe that getting closer to their faith will actually help them overcome temptation. Later, for some, it turns out they guessed wrong.

Don't lay this all on the gay clergy either. There are plenty of hetero priests who also mistakenly believe they can suppress their sexuality. Priests do diddle girls too.

You see, Joe, gay or straight, men all have a physiology they can't park at the door upon getting ordained. If they're going to stay celibate, they're going to struggle with it - forever. Some win, some lose and, there's no getting around this, you're setting up some of them to lose and then shirking all responsibility for the devastation that creates. You and your cronies are spinning so hard your pointy heads are going to burst trying to pin this on anti-Semites or Zionists or gossipers or homosexuals or whatever you can come up with today and tomorrow and you're beginning to sound downright ridiculous for that.

Here's the deal, Joe. If you're going to insist on celibacy you're going to have to accept personal
(as in "you") responsibility for the consequences. Stand up, be a man. If you really believe this celibacy bullshit is divine, prove it by accepting responsibility.