Late Episcopal Bishop: Did he prey on young priests or was he just "a sexually active gay man who lived in an era of unfortunate boundaries."

The Roman Catholic Church has been reeling from revelations of predatory priests and homosexual activities in their seminaries. When I was a child, growing up in a heavily Roman Catholic city, we learned early on to never, never, never be alone with a Catholic priest because we all "knew" what happened to little boys and altar boys who weren't careful, and this was in the 60's. Back then, Episcopalians used to say that our Church was immune from those problems because our priests could be married (to women), and that if the Roman Catholics would simply allow their priests to marry, all of their problems would go away.

The story of the late Episcopal Bishop of New York, Paul Moore Jr., being a promiscuous bisexual has been bouncing around for the past ten years , but it recently resurfaced with new allegations of his predatory behavior towards young priests and others in this story from The Salt Lake Tribune. His story shoots our childish Episcopalian theory down in rainbow colored flames,

...the scope of Moore's abusive sexual misconduct has become known only this year, notably at a Catskill Mountains retreat in the spring attended by clergy from the New York diocese.At one session, participants were invited to share stories about difficulties they faced in their ministries. Among those at the event was the Rev. Alison Quin, rector of Christ the King Episcopal Church in Stone Ridge, New York.As recounted by Quin in a May 6 sermon, one female priest arose to denounce Moore as a serial exploiter who had affairs with many young priests and lay people. Quin said a male priest in his 60s came next, saying, "I was one of Paul Moore's boys — he seduced me when I was a new priest. It nearly ruined my life."

Obviously, sexual deviancy is not confined to supposedly celibate Roman Catholic priests.

Meanwhile, the late Bishop's daughter had an interesting rationalization to offer for her father's sins,

Honor Moore (the Bishop's daughter), in an interview, said she was dismayed that her father was the only person named in (Bishop) Dietsche's letter and objected to the label "sexual predator." 

"It doesn't seem like a fair term," she said. "He was a sexually active gay man who lived in an era of unfortunate boundaries."

All I can say is, "Wow."

With that kind of reasoning, what should we say about today's priests and bishops, be they Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, or pick your denomination? Are they fortunate gay men and women who live in an era of virtually no boundaries except for those defined by the "#MeToo" movement?

Nowhere in all of these reports from clergy and letters from bishops do you hear the words of Jesus calling us out for our post-fall problems with human sexuality, reminding us of what we should aspire to,

“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Matthew 19:4-6

 Churches need to get rid of the perps, but we live in new era of unfortunate boundaries where what used to be called sinful behavior is now celebrated and even elevated to a rite in many denominations, an era in which those most prone to predatory sexual behavior are welcome into the priesthood, to eventually become the next generation of predatory bishops. There is no way to totally eliminate the problem, but to minimize it at this point would require a purge on an unimaginable scale of those whose clerical robes are covering up their sexual deviancy.

It seems far easier to flee these failing institutions in order to try to create a new system of governance that will be able to tackle the inevitable occurrences of sexual misconduct that will be found in a fallen people.