I totally agree, Being gay has nothing to do with pedophilia. The monsters that prey upon children do it not because of a certain sexual orientation but because of the weakness of children. These person are weak themselves and molesting children is the only way they can dominant.

I believe somewhat that many of these men have gone into the priesthood because they had a belief this was a way to cut off their deviant sexual fantasies and desires. The priesthood teaches discipline and these men were seeking control over their feelings. The problem of course is that it actually placed them in a position to act on their feelings. Everyone trusts priest. People trust them with their children. Children are taught at an early age to respect and trust a priest. Long story short, molestations occurred and it was so wrong for the Church to allow these men to go unpunished.

If I have another criticizm of the Catholic Church, it's that they place too much power in their priests. Priests are just men, not any different from any other man. Although clergy should be respected, they do not stand above any one person, we are all equal (this includes gays and straights) in the eyes of God. As men, priest have the ability to sin and the Church body needs to wake up and realize this. What self-respecting parent would allow their sons (and daughters) to go off on over night camping trips etc with a 40 year old guy and no one else. Because he is a priest it's OK? We all have the ability to sin. What the fear of God does is keep us from acting on temptation and those desires. It's hard, even for the most discipline among us.