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1. Cardinal Turkson is seeing what he wants to see and that is not reality.
   Ghana is so poor and history says there is even more abuse in poor communities, because they can get away with it easier, but on the website above you will see that there is alarm about abuse in Ghana.
   Also homosexual behaviour is everywhere and I do not believe it is the cause of sexual abuse.
   It is documented that sexual abuse is for power and control. Not all sexual abuse is between the same sex.
   Sexual abuse is everywhere and it is dangerous and completely unrealistic to presume it isn't.

   Posted By: Cate Wallace

2. Just another reason why we should not be too quick to pray for a Pope out of Africa.
   This sort of thinking is but one reason why people are leaving the church in droves.
   People may not speak of such things in Ghana but believe me, Eminence, homosexuals exist in Africa as well as they do in the rest of the world.
   And it really is time to start accepting that heterosexuals are just as guilty of paedophilia as homosexuals.
   As usual, though, the church hopes that blaming one portion of the clergy for the ills of all the clergy will take the focus off their lack of suitable response over the millennia. No, we are not that desperate to want Card Turkson or his ilk as yet.

   Posted By: Roxy

3. A brave man is Cardinal Turkson, to abandon political correctness, and say what has to be said.
   If only all our leaders could be moved by the Spirit to lead us as fearlessly.
   It doesn't take a rocket scientist, or a Doctor of Theology to know this; one has to just open his/her mind to the truth, and read the scriptures.
   We need to ramp up our prayers for the Church, so that the Bride of Christ does not become subjected to the same humiliation that has befallen our unfortunate society.

   Posted By: Peter Shafton

4. The fact is that most child molesters are heterosexual.
   hy isn't Peter Turkson ministering in his native Ghana instead of enjoying the comfortable, priviledged lifestyle in Rome.
   It's no wonder that most people out in the parishes take no notice of what pronouncements come out of Rome.
   If this man were to be elected pope, which is probably unlikely, I would definitely walk ot of the catholic church for good!

   Posted By: Anthony

5. If anyone wishes to find more information they just need to google sexual abuse in Ghana and you will see that it is a big problem.
   I am not particularly talking about the church, but generally.
   I am so disappointed with the Cardinal's denial.
   

   Posted By: Cate Wallace

6. The comments attributed to Cardinal Turkson are offensive and do not accord with reality.
   They give succour to misinformation (or disinformation) that those who are attracted to the same sex, obviously referring to some priests (in an attempt to shift the blame perhaps?), are alone responsible for paedophilia. His statement, if true, is wrong in fact and he should retract it.
   A propos to his attitude on this issue, I am reminded that the Cardinal comes from a society where authoritarianism is the norm and the where women are subservient to men.
   I agree with the comments from Roxy and Cate Wallace.

   Posted By: Jeff Kevin

7. Sounds like just the man we need. Rightly or wrongly, he is not afraid to raise the issues.
   The clerical abuse thing aside, his views on homosexual practices are well known and are in line with biblical morality.
   He took such a bashing when he commented on Muslims that I am surprised to see him featured here.
   It appears he is a very brave man uncontaminated and indeed undaunted by western values.
   Good luck to him.

   Posted By: B T Walters

8. I think that Cardinal Turkson's view has developed in the light of what the US John Jay Study of 2004 revealed - the only extensive and rigorous study of clergy abuse ever done which examined a cohort of 110,000 men.
   It was commissioned and paid for by the US Catholic Church to get actual data rather than rely on the possibly erroneous 'prevailing wisdoms' and it was completely independent.
   The clergy studied were only Catholic clergy - no other denomination or faith has ever commissioned or done a comparable study.
   So we cannot compare clergy abuse across faiths or denominations, as there is no other comparative data available on other clergy.
   The findings of that one study done were that very few accused Catholic priests were paedophiles (in the sense of having abused a minor under the age of puberty).
   In the US, the great majority of sexual misconduct actually involved older boys often aged between 15 and 17. The old lay term for that is pedestary, the medical term is ephebophilia.
   This does not excuse that behaviour in any way - it is still illegal, sinful and harmful.
   I believe this is why Cardinal Turkson talks specifically of homosexuality in an interview about Catholic clerical abuse

   Posted By: Meg

9. A disgrace! Cd Turkson could take time to read a fellow African churchman’s view on this.
   ArchBp. Desmond Tutu sees things quite differently: We struggled against apartheid in South Africa, supported by people the world over, because black people were being blamed and made to suffer for something we could do nothing about -- our very skin. It is the same with sexual orientation. It is a given. I could not have fought against the discrimination of apartheid and not also fight against the discrimination that homosexuals endure, even in our churches and faith groups... Opposing apartheid was a matter of justice. Opposing discrimination against women is a matter of justice. Opposing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a matter of justice.
   It is also a matter of love. Every human being is precious. We are all -- all of us -- part of God's family. We all must be allowed to love each other with honor. Yet all over the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are persecuted. We treat them as pariahs and push them outside our communities. We make them doubt that they too are children of God. This must be nearly the ultimate blasphemy...
   ...The Jesus I worship is not likely to collaborate with those who vilify and persecute an already oppressed minority. To discriminate against our sisters and brothers who are lesbian or gay on grounds of their sexual orientation for me is as totally unacceptable and unjust as apartheid ever was.
   

   Posted By: Christopher McElhinney

10. The reason why there is a linking of pedophillia to homosexual behaviour is because the bulk of abuse in the Church is 'man on boy' abuse.
    Perhaps this is because most altar servers for example are boys so are more readily available for abuse.
    Paedophillia is grossly aberrant sexual behaviour and has no direct link to either hetreosexual or homosexual activity per se. It is self-indulgent, self-satisfying, authoritarian sexual activity which can be carried out by a person of any sexual orientation.

    Posted By: deric davidson

11. Cardinal Turkson didn't mention, apparently, the high incidence of sexual abuse of women in the African church.
    We all remember the passionate protests of leaders of women's congregations in Africa. It was quite common for priests to ask for young Sisters to be made available to them as they'd be unlikely to have AIDS. The strongly patriarchal culture meant that the young women acceded to their requests, which seemed natural to them, with only a short history of the value of the celibate life.
    (The priests usually did pay for the abortions, though).
    The Vatican instructed the Leaders involved that this was a local matter and they must turn to their Bishops for help.
    These priests were guilty of sexual abuse. They violated the trust of those less powerful than themselves, as well as their own vows.
    If the Cardinal thinks that clerical abuse is confined to the West, or to abuse of children, or to homosexual priests, he's strangely unaware of what's happening in Africa.

    Posted By: Joan Seymour

12. How interesting that B T Walters comments unfavourably on western values as if those values were intrinsically wrong.
    I would respectfully ask: is it wrong to want real equality for women in countries like Ghana and have an education system for all?
    Ghana is a patriarchal society; hence women have suffered oppression and domination by men since time immemorial.
    His eminence can criticise western values but traditional Ghanaian practices such as polygamy, early marriage, and illiteracy are not mentioned in his condemnation of those values. American Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once pointed out: “Sir, you are entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts!”
    There is a little of that going on here.

    Posted By: Jeff Kevin

13. Any form of stereotyping, or so we learn as we gain in moral understanding and ethical discernment, is intrinsically flawed, apart from being damaging to our neighbour by reducing them to the status of being less than human.
    For centuries, women and people with a dark skin have had to battle the prejudices of others to gain equal treatment.
    This is still the case in many parts of the world.
    Although it comes as a shock, it's no different within the Church.
    As a person of colour in a white society, I have noticed and experienced racism, as well as witnessed men from the developing world who are ignorant of and disdainful of women in their own as well as in the developed world.
    As a closeted gay person, I came out to promote the dignity often denied to my homosexual and lesbian brothers and sisters, and which is rife in the Church and the developing world.
    On a daily basis gay people are demeaned, bashed, imprisoned and murdered in various parts of the world, especially in the Middle East and Africa.
    The simple fact is that, contrary to the assertion of homophobes, both within the Church and outside, there is no correlation between child-abuse and gayness.
    In my view, Cardinal Turkson's outburst should disqualify him from papal office and foreground the Church's teaching for urgent updating.
    The same should be the case for the current Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone, who has also expressed a similar viewpoint.

    Posted By: Michael Furtado

14. No wonder the Church got away with the abuse for so long when major leaders are so quick to pass the buck and blame someone else... nearly all, if not most of the abuse cases were in the hands of heterosexual men... and not always against children or boys but women were also abused!
    It will be a sad day for Africa to have their first Pope who is so quick to point the finger in the wrong direction.
    As a Pope or leader, it would seem he is not prepared to look into the whole question of why there was a need for priests to find sexual release in this way rather than to look at the whole question of sexuality in the celibate life!
    It would seem that this aspect of Church has not really grasped the seriousness of what abuse and mistreatment of thousands means!

    Posted By: Rose MaryHarbinson

15. Meg: Thank you for your refreshingly objective, fact-filled post.
    It's a shame that others have chosen to post their own views without regard to the truth about the ugly reality that was sexual abuse in the Church. Supporters of homosexuality need to be a little more discriminating in their attacks, methinks, and a little more supportive of Cardinal Turkson, who is undoubtedly a supporter of homosexuals.

    Posted By: Paul Keen

16. The position of the Church in relation to homosexuality is stated in paragraphs 2357-2359 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
    It is not realistic to expect a Pope to reverse Scripture and Tradition to appease some political agenda.
    Some people want Church approval of men marrying men, and women marrying women, and the adoption of children by homosexual couples. Nothing less will satisfy them.
    Some cannot see the problems in these actions, to society and children. Churches which buckle under to passing fads and whims soon lose respect and members.
    Do whatever you think is right in your own life, but please don't ask our Pope and our Church to line up with your thinking if it is contrary to our Bible and Christian faith.

    Posted By: Jeff D

17. I can remember the 1970s when the coming of the third-world church was longed for by all true progressives. It is really quite amusing to see how it has turned to racially condescending outrage.

    Posted By: Peter

18. The cardinal needs to be more explicit as to what he means by Africa's hostility towards homosexuality.
    He could proudly cite how employmnet and housing discrimination are widespread; imprisonment, and death. Are these the pratices of hostility which the cardinal lauds? Is this the Church which Rome celebrates?
    Catholicism, of a sort, might be doing well in Africa as it successfully competes with other violent religious systems in its chest beating attitudes, but we again see why Catholcism is near its death in the West.

    Posted By: Mark Johnson

19. By the way Jeff D, the church does change its laws.
    When my parents were married in 1941 the non catholic party was made to feel inferior by not being allowed to marry in front of the high altar, they were married in the sacristy. Thankfully not the case these days. Anyone who didn't hold with catholic doctrine or who questioned it was burt at the stake often watched by an array of clerics in full pontificals. Not the case any more. Peter Turkson may be well educated and have degrees in this, that and the other thing but he's obviously ignorant about human nature and human sexuality.

    Posted By: Anthony

20. Nothing cheapens this exchange more than Peter's insinuation that criticism of Cardinal Turkson's crude remarks are racially motivated. The Vicar of Christ, and those who aspire to step into his shoes, as Cardinal Turkson has expressed his readiness to do, is called to serve the entire Church and World and not just one section of it.
    It isn't, in other words, time for a Pontifical Obama but for a person whose wholeness and holiness, wisdom, knowledge and prudence are beyond reproach for fear of bringing the Papacy into disrepute, as has already taken a terrible toll at various times in history and more recently on the good reputation of the Church on many questions of human relationship, power and gender.
    Moreover, as Prefect of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Turkson is not expected to speak as an African, a Roman or any other kind of constituency-representing candidate for higher political office but to promote a living body of Church teaching, drawn from Scripture and the Social Encyclicals, that is regularly updated and which offers guidance to Catholics and others on crucial contemporary issues to do with social and cultural questions. He has clearly compromised his position on this front.
    He is, instead, expected to observe the same dignity, grace and other qualities that people expect not only of the best of politicians but of the Office of the Papacy itself. His Africanism has nothing to do with it, nor ought it to be used as an excuse!

    Posted By: Michael Furtado

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