Gordon+ offers a good defense of males-only as priests and
bishops.  I don't remember the scriptural reference regarding
women being ordained deaconesses -- assume it is there
somewhere that does not require an extreme stretch in
interpretation.

Then the campaign  against pedophilia in the RC priesthood
rears its head again & the whole defense is lost. The facts have
been documented again and again.  Denying them has not made
them go away thus far and will not, if the denials are simply
repeated.  Let's see one court decision disproven, or accept
the well documented facts as facts.  Convince me that any
kind of bishop enjoys giving money to attorneys.

Denying the RC problem with pedophilia makes as much
sense as denying homosexuality in ECUSA.  To deny either is
to play the fool.  Rome is not cursed with denial, just with
ignorance of the difference between lust for persons of one's
own sex and lust for small children.  Ignorance makes the
solution of either problem difficult, but Rome is really trying.

Boston's RC++Law did not understand and the Vatican still seems
unaware of the vast difference.  Homosexual sinners can be
helped, can repent their sin, and they can live normal lives.

Pedophiles, even if they are priests, can only be kept away from
children.  Denial does not make solution difficult, it makes it
impossible.  If someone has seen a pedophile who has been helped,
I would like to see the documentation.  In my years in practice, I did
not see one, never heard of one, & never read of one in the literature.
(We are not talking about two young kids experimenting.  We are
talking about an adult male OR FEMALE sexually abusing a child of
either sex.)

As with Addiction Disease, denial is not a river in Egypt.  It is a killer.

It is difficult to understand why Anglican clergy blindly defend brother
priests in another jurisdiction (just because they are brother priests)
when we have problems of our own (that we all know something about)
that need to be addressed.

OTOH, I can understand RC hierarchy attempting to sweep this under the
rug.  In fact, trying to ignore it, they swept until the rug got way too 
lumpy
and the courts started sweeping the other direction.

Too bad the courts have never looked at RC infallibility!  There is no
worthwhile fee related to "ex cathedra" to motivate attorneys.  There is a
worthwhile fee with innocent children whose lives have been and are
being destroyed without the relief of death, by men who were supposed
to pray with them, not prey on them.

That RC priests have preyed on kids is fact-not fanciful hope. It's time to 
pray
for them & to force them into treatment with mental health professionals who
know what they are doing, who know what they are talking about, and are not
just piously hoping.

Will+