Pope Francis said “If we do not oppose evil, we feed it with our silence.”

I agree.

Once I asked Mark Shea what an ordinary person could do to stop an evil he was writing about on his FB page.  He said to keep blogging or posting about it, in order to keep it in the public eye - the more people who are aware of it, the more likely something can be done to stop it.  I liken it to the importunate widow who nagged the Judge to rule in her favor - the Judge relented because she wore him out.  That's what we do when we post about the sexual abuse crisis, the homosexual connections, and the cover up by those who are supposed to be responsible for the souls in their care, and those affected by the scandal.

Ampleforth and Downside.

The scandal emerging from the abbeys in the UK remind me of the scandals surrounding St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.  Years ago when I was with the Trappists it had the reputation of being a hot-bed of homosexuality.  Monks were seen regularly at the gay bars in Minneapolis on the weekends, when those who were priests were in town to help out with local Masses.  (Some of these guys eventually leave monastic life to serve as diocesan priests - which is one reason I'm against admitting formerly active homosexuals to monastic life, BTW.)

A friend sent me a Tweet posted by Fr. Ray Blake of St. Mary Magdalene Blog:

raymond blake In the UK today fresh revelations about abuse at Downside and Ampleforth schools I have taken part in the Requiems of boys from these schools who killed themselves.

Voris is right, any toleration of abuse leaves blood on our hands and the Church.

Infinitely sad.

How many victims of abuse have committed suicide?  How many murdered?  My friend asked me that, pointing out that these deaths are not simply a statistic but affect family and friends and others, so scandalized they may have lost the faith, turned to some sort of addiction, or simply ended in lifelong depression.

Sometimes it angers me, but mostly it just makes me sad.  I'm always surprised when over the years I have heard priests and vocation directors say that a monastery seems to be the traditional home for men who have repented and left the homosexual life behind.  At one time perhaps that was the assumption, that penitent could do so safely?  Many think they can do that, or they think religious life is the only means they have of salvation.

A few years ago a reader told me he was investigating religious life and one of the groups he looked into would not accept ssa/gay men.  To my surprise he said he would look for a group that would.  I know that happens.  It's too bad.  It is not fair to the candidate to give such bad direction or false hope concerning vocation.  I know this from my own experience.  Not everyone is like me, to be sure, but many seem like a re-run I've seen before in my experience of fellow novices, and fundamentally, it's too similar for comfort.  In my case, at least four of us had 'same-sex-attraction' (gay) along with the novice master - in a class of seven men.  (One normal man persevered - and died a saintly death as well.)  For the most part I had no idea about the others until years after I left.

The way gay monks and gay priests have been transferred around to other dioceses or monasteries, and sometimes given desk jobs or chaplaincies, is a huge part of the scandal - to this day.  To. This. Day.

We either believe what the Church teaches - or we don't. 

Homosexuality is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil...

And don't be fooled,

it really is a problem of homosexuality, McCarrick.