Fr. Wehmeyer now faces child porn charges.
A priest who had been charged with criminal sexual misconduct now faces 17 counts of possessing child pornography, Ramsey County authorities said Tuesday.I may be wrong, but I think there may have been some people who would not have recommended that Wehmeyer be ordained.
The complaint filed Monday details pornographic images showing nude prepubscent boys alone and engaged in sexual acts with each other.
Investigators allegedly found the videos and photos on the priest's laptop computer, in a closet in the rectory, while executing a search warrant last July. - StarTribune
I think men who have sexual impediments, sexual disorders, or sexual disabilities - call it what you will - should have the honesty, integrity and generosity of spirit not to pursue priesthood. I think vocation directors and seminary rectors and spiritual directors need to be much more vigilant about ordaining men with homosexual tendencies. Few young people today even realize that at one time a man who had the habit of masturbation would not even be considered for seminary, much less ordination. That was way before the days of Internet porn, or any thought of acceptance of ssa candidates.
If adult men diddling boys is a homosexual problem, then adult men diddling girls is a heterosexual problem.
ReplyDeleteConversely, we could separate pedophilia for what it is- and what it is not.
Thom OFS writes : "then adult men diddling girls is a heterosexual problem."
ReplyDeleteCorrect, it is a heterosexual problem. It's a disorder of the appetite to it's proper object.
Terry Nelson writes : "men who have sexual impediments, sexual disorders, or sexual disabilities - call it what you will - should have the honesty, integrity and generosity of spirit not to pursue priesthood."
A priest I know was once approached by a mother who said she thought her son had a vocation because he did not like girls.
Father's reply was that far from being a sign of a vocation, it was a sign of a problem.
And a friend of mine who is a priest, when approached by a vocations director, (he had two older brother in the priesthood), replied he did not have a vocation because he absolutely loved women.
The vocations director's reply was that was good, your a man, we all do.
If that woman could get it wrong, and the boy with older brothers could get it that wrong, then I don't expect others pursuing the priesthood to get it right. Getting it right is up to those in authority who are all too often not only getting it wrong, but intentionally getting it wrong.
nailed it, love the girls.
DeleteBtw, my brother has all kinds of friends going into the priesthood - and they are all about as normal and heterosexual as one can imagine - it's a healthy sign, I think, connected to the priest's role as a father.
The only problem is, my brother is as much of an obsessive scrupe as I am, and now agonizes over whether something is wrong with him because he doesn't want to be a priest like his friends. He wants to be married, but is afraid he'll be letting God down.
It's a tough thing, when you know someone with a vocation - "why not me?" can itself lead to a vocation, or to lots and lots of fear and anxiety that one has to be a priest or else.
nailed it, love the girls.
DeleteBtw, my brother has all kinds of friends going into the priesthood - and they are all about as normal and heterosexual as one can imagine - it's a healthy sign, I think, connected to the priest's role as a father.
The only problem is, my brother is as much of an obsessive scrupe as I am, and now agonizes over whether something is wrong with him because he doesn't want to be a priest like his friends. He wants to be married, but is afraid he'll be letting God down.
It's a tough thing, when you know someone with a vocation - "why not me?" can itself lead to a vocation, or to lots and lots of fear and anxiety that one has to be a priest or else.
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ReplyDeleteAs such things as these are in the realm of the internal forum, it's difficult to formally deal with both as a seminarian and a formator. I once began to raise the general issue of the struggle with purity to a staff member of a seminary and he cut me off and moved the conversation on. I appreciated the respect he had for the internal/external thing, but it had me wondering at what point they cross over.
ReplyDelete