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Massachusetts bishops warn of increase in hate crimes because of Vatican's anti-gay statements
2002-278-1
12/10/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
The Episcopal bishops of the Diocese of Massachusetts have publicly warned of an increase in hate crimes because of statements by Vatican officials about gays in the priesthood.
Bishops M. Thomas Shaw and Roy Cederholm Jr., as well as bishop-elect Gayle Harris, all said that the danger to gays and lesbians is so great that they felt compelled to speak out, despite reservations about commenting on controversies in another church. Shaw said that he was particularly upset by a report that Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez said that gays are 'not suitable to receive the sacrament of holy orders.'
Shaw said that the bishops are also expressing alarm because of news reports that the Vatican is preparing a document that would propose a ban on gay seminarians. 'I'm really concerned about hate crimes and homophobia that comes from supposedly responsible people making statements like this,' he said. The bishops expressed their concern in an opinion piece in the December 10 Boston Globe. 'Suggestions that gays molest children lead to homophobia and create a dangerous atmosphere in which hate crimes flourish,' the bishops said. Shaw said that he was aware of only two instances of priests in his diocese abusing minors in recent years and that both were heterosexuals.
The statement was welcomed by Dignity USA, a ministry with gay and lesbian Roman Catholics. 'We have long said that this focus on gay priests as a cause for the sexual abuse scandal is nothing more than a smokescreen to deflect attention away from the complicity of the hierarchy in creating this scandal,' said executive director Marianne Duddy. 'I applaud the Episcopal bishops for speaking out on a matter of justice that is important to the vital ministry of any Christian Church.'
But Deal Hudson, editor of the conservative Catholic magazine Crisis, said 'there is credible research that suggests the homosexuals are three times more likely to be pedophiles than the general population.'
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