Another consequence of our cultural decline

SPECIAL REPORT

If television and popular media reflects societal values, we're all in trouble. For years conservatives have made noise about the utter lack of shame and wanton immorality thrust upon the public, especially our children, from many different sources in many different areas of our lives. We knew that our children were not immune to these influences, simply because they are so impressionable in their formative years.

It appears our worst fears are coming to fruition.

The Red Star reports, via AP: "More women trying bisexuality, study finds". This is the type of story the Red Star likes to print, because they are frequent champions of alternative lifestyles. Rambix has written about that in the past.

More women — particularly those in their late teens and 20s — are experimenting with bisexuality or at least feel more comfortable reporting same-sex encounters, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Where there used to be shame, there is now acceptance, especially for women:

It wouldn't surprise Kat Fowler, a 27-year-old art student who dates both women and men, if men were less likely to talk about their experiences.

"There's a certain higher level of discrimination (for men). It's a lot easier for women to have these kinds of experiences and be open about it because it's more accepted,'' said Fowler, who attends the University of Florida.

It's more accepted because everytime one opens a newspaper, or turns on a television, they are greeted with media output that wouldn't have been thinkable even 10 years ago. There has been a pernicious drive to normalize alternative lifestyles, particularly homosexuality.

The sheer volume of this content emanating from popular media gives the impression that these behaviors exist in greater proportion than the actual numbers support. This creates a veneer of normalcy and leads to acceptance. Despite what you're told, the homosexual "civil rights" argument is not about civil rights, it's about the desire for lifestyle acceptance.

The trend among college women has prompted some sexual behavior experts to light-heartedly refer to the term "LUG,'' or "lesbian until graduation,'' said Craig Kinsley, a neuroscientist at the University of Richmond who studies the biology of sexual orientation and gender.

The obvious implication is that choice is involved. The women are not behaving this way out of an innate drive, but rather out of influence by popular culture.

How deep have the purveyors of the homosexual lifestyle pervaded into our societal institutions? The New York Times reports "Vatican to Check U.S. Seminaries on Gay Presence":

Investigators appointed by the Vatican have been instructed to review each of the 229 Roman Catholic seminaries in the United States for "evidence of homosexuality" and for faculty members who dissent from church teaching, according to a document prepared to guide the process.

They wouldn't initiate this step unless there was a serious problem. It appears there are many priests who do not follow church doctrine, and the Vatican is serious about rooting out the offenders.

In a possible indication of the ruling's contents, the American archbishop who is supervising the seminary review said last week that "anyone who has engaged in homosexual activity or has strong homosexual inclinations," should not be admitted to a seminary.

Of course that's right; if one doesn't follow church teachings, one should be released from duty. The unspoken reality:

The issue of gay seminarians and priests has been in the spotlight because a study commissioned by the church found last year that about 80 percent of the young people victimized by priests were boys.

This is incredible, if true:

It is unknown how many Catholic priests are gay. Estimates range widely, from 10 percent to 60 percent.

This falls in line with the growing frequency of young folks experimenting with bisexuality and homosexuality. The nature and rapidity of these developments calls for serious changes in oversight of the influences on our children, particularly within the popular media and the urch.

UPDATE:

In a 1986 Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith titled "On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons", JOSEPH CARDINAL RATZINGER [then] Prefect, and ALBERTO BOVONE Titular Archbishop of Caesarea in Numidia Secretary lay out the moral teachings of the church vis a vis homosexuality. Some excerpts:

To chose someone of the same sex for one's sexual activity is to annul the rich symbolism and meaning, not to mention the goals, of the Creator's sexual design. Homosexual activity is not a complementary union, able to transmit life; and so it thwarts the call to a life of that form of self-giving which the Gospel says is the essence of Christian living. This does not mean that homosexual persons are not often generous and giving of themselves; but when they engage in homosexual activity they confirm within themselves a disordered sexual inclination which is essentially self-indulgent.

As in every moral disorder, homosexual activity prevents one's own fulfillment and happiness by acting contrary to the creative wisdom of God. The Church, in rejecting erroneous opinions regarding homosexuality, does not limit but rather defends personal freedom and dignity realistically and authentically understood.

And here's the tie in to the popular culture trends:

...increasing numbers of people today, even within the Church, are bringing enormous pressure to bear on the Church to accept the homosexual condition as though it were not disordered and to condone homosexual activity. Those within the Church who argue in this fashion often have close ties with those with similar views outside it. These latter groups are guided by a vision opposed to the truth about the human person, which is fully disclosed in the mystery of Christ. They reflect, even if not entirely consciously, a materialistic ideology which denies the transcendent nature of the human person as well as the supernatural vocation of every individual.

The Catholic church is feeling the adverse effects of the societal free-for-all, anything goes, shameless culture which is enveloping our children, families and cultural institutions. The Catholics are not alone in feeling the pressure to conform the church to society, but the question remains: will 2000 years of tradition be sufficient to offset the cultural juggernaut?

UPDATE II:

More news from the Vatican, "Pope bans homosexuals from ordination as priests":

Pope Benedict XVI has given his approval to a new Vatican policy document that bans men with homosexual tendencies from being ordained as priests, reports Catholic World News.

The policy statement is a direct result of the pope's concern about the pedophilia scandal in the church – especially in the U.S.