The New York Times broke news this week that Pope Benedict (formerly Cardinal Ratzinger) played a heavy hand in dismissing a Wisconsin case against a priest who had raped over 200 deaf boys at the religious school where he ministered.

The American priest Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy worked at a school for the deaf in Wisconsin from 1950-1974. During that time he raped and sexually mollested over 200 students.

The Catholic Priesthood is breeding grounds for child rape. First, the priesthood attracts gay men because it is offered as the only viable vocation for a gay Catholic teenage boy. Studying in the seminary, living with other gay men does not help their situation either. Secondly, the Catholic Church requires all their followers (but especially priests and nuns) to refrain completely from masturbation. This unnatural request leads to a sexual build up that is truly unhealthy when trying to live a life without the opportunity for sexual release. Sexual release is a natural need of the human body. Wet dreams are the body’s way of satisfying this need if it is not dutifully taken care of. Thirdly, when you combine homophobia and this unhealthy view of masturbation and sex with settings where priests are in unsupervised contact with young naive children (who are not taught about sex and masturbation) you end up with a lethal cocktail of child rape.