Somewhere over the rainbow

When I see a headline in the Age today saying "Vatican intensifies stand against gays", I have a fair idea of what's coming: Vatican, er, confirms traditional Church teaching on gays. The Age's habit of quoting the most ludicrous assertions without a skerrick of editorial distance, as long as those assertions agree with their own mindset, is in force. They quote a 'gay catholic writer' Michael Kelly asserting that "it was widely accepted now that half the Catholic clergy were gay, and up to 70 percent in some areas". Don't you love that 'widely accepted' and the very scientific-sounding '70 percent'. You might almost think this was based on some kind of research. Here's the result of my own years of research as a participant in the Catholic Church: number of Catholic priests personally encountered, who were gay - zero. Perhaps if I express that as a percentage, it will sound more convincing. Of course, in Australia there was, a few years ago, a certain notorious case of a high-profile gay Catholic priest, but as he is now behind bars for embezzlement, I'm disinclined to think of him as representative of the priestly order.