I don't know if this is the answer many U.S. Roman Catholic bishops were looking for. After the sexual assualt crisis broke, part of the response of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was to spend $2 million to commission a study to get a better idea of the root causes of sexual assaults by clergy. An Associated Press article provides a summary report of the study findings as they were presented to USCCB member bishops at their meeting in Baltimore. The authors reported that the study shows that homosexuality is NOT a predictor of sexual assaults by priests - gay priests are no more likely than heterosexual priest to molest children.* Virtually anyone with even the slightest knowledge of the issue knows that sexual assault is a crime based on power, not a crime based on sexual desire or sexual orientation. I could have told the bishops that for the cost of a plane trip to and from Baltimore and a nice meal.
*Whenever I write about this issue, I remind readers that priests that commit sexual assaults represent an incredibly small percentage of all priests.
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