I debated which forum to post this. It’s pointless, and I MUST share, so MPSIMS won. I heard a statistic today on Paul Harvey (seems pretty reliable, but who knows…) that Catholic Priests are contracting AIDS at four times the rate of the general population. Thought it was an astounding number. Are there a disportionate rate in the priesthood of hemophilia, or is everyone assuming what I think they are?
Sara, here’s a link to a rather old article from The National Catholic Reporter. It is dated April 18, 1997, so it’s a bit old, but it suggests just what you think everyone is assuming. The National Catholic Reporter is an independent journal that reports on stories of concern to those of the Roman Catholic faith. While they are independent of any offical Catholic auspices, they claim to promote and report on catholicism with objectivity. I have no opinion as to their veracity.
“Many count their chickens before they are hatched; and where they expect bacon, meet with broken bones.”
–Miguel de Cervantes–
It was some tv news program sunday night with the scoop on it. Some guy interviewed lots of priests & 25% of them were HIV positive.
Today, on the CBS morning show, there was an interview with an ex-priest who wrote a book about the subject and he claimed that about 14% of priests are homosexual and another 5% are bi-sexual.
I won’t go into my views on Catholicism, but those are interesting statistics, if they’re true.
Neil, Neil, orange peel!
There was an article in my local paper today about this very thing.
According to one priest they spoke to (sorry, I’m at work, paper’s at home), the reason more priests are showing up with AIDS (compared to the general population) is that because of the nature of their “profession” they had to choose some not-so-safe outlets for their desires. I mean, your local parish priest can’t just have a boy/girlfriend come over and satisfy him.
The priest (in the article) points out that many priests who feel that they must have a sexual outlet will resort to methods such as prostitution. And underground, less-safe-than-usual prostitution at that. The article I read didn’t place the emphasis so much on homosexual priests, just priests who had utilized the seedier aspect of the sex industry to satisfy a desire that could not be fulfilled elsewhere.
The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they’re going to be when you kill them.
As someone who has had sex with priests and monks (consensually), I would say that the homosexuality percentage amongst the brotherhood is much higher. They just tend to be more closeted. I actually know of a monastary in Texas where the entire brotherhood is gay. (Yep, 100% of them) I don’t think all priests are gay just a higher percentage. It is one of the stereotypical gay carreers falling shortly behind florist, hairdresser, and choirboy.
HUGS!
Sqrl
Gasoline: As an accompaniement to cereal it made a refreshing change. Glen Baxter