Gay and Abuse Issues Confront the Church

Re “A Hypocritical Church’s Sex Lessons,” Commentary, May 24: Robert Scheer certainly has it correct! The Catholic Church’s outdated view of sexuality does so much harm and only creates more abuse by its priests and nuns. It does nothing to alleviate the skewed view of gay men and women, not to mention stifling the natural sexual feelings of many Catholic men and women, leading to more problems.

Coral Norton

Port Hueneme

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It is obvious that the Catholic Church places more value and concern with protecting the institution than protecting its parishioners. This raises the question: Where does the actual personification of the church reside and from which source does it derive its authority? Is it within the souls and faith of the millions of its faithful members or merely with a select number of ordained yes men (no women here), from the pope down?

My guess is that the real core and soul of the church resides within its members, and they are being poorly served indeed.

Tom Pontac

Seal Beach

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Scheer certainly has the right to discuss the Catholic Church’s mishandling of the sexual abuse crisis, but his attempt to draw parallels between pedophile clergy and the church’s moral position on homosexuality defies logic. What, if anything, will Scheer’s hostile, arrogant and politically correct recommendations do to put an end to pedophilia? Nothing.

The problems the church faces have far more to do with a spiritual and moral crisis within the United States and the world than any notion of sexual repression. Could this spiritual crisis be rooted in many of the positions Scheer has staked out over the years?

When focusing energy on the crisis in the church, we would do well to remember that the vast majority of clergy are not involved in child molestation. It is time we celebrated the good work that the majority of priests, nuns and brothers perform year in, year out, indeed every day of the week.

Nathan Post

Santa Barbara

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It’s utter lunacy to have a church, inextricably mired in one of the most abysmal and systemic histories of child abuse, covered up for years, now trying to dictate who should and shouldn’t be allowed to marry.

And it’s a perfect example of the brilliance of our founding fathers, who were so adamant about the separation of church and state. Are you listening, strict constructionists?

Ron Hardcastle

Los Angeles