Gibson reports on latest from the clergy sex abuse study by the folks at John Jay, presented to the USCCB yesterday:

“What we are suggesting is that the idea of sexual identity be
separated from the problem of sexual abuse,” said Margaret Smith, a
researcher from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York,
which is conducting an independent study of sexual abuse in the
priesthood from 1950 up to 2002. “At this point, we do not find a
connection between homosexual identity and an increased likelihood of
sexual abuse.”

A second researcher, Karen Terry, also cautioned the bishops against
making a correlation between homosexuality in the priesthood and the
high incidence of abuse by priests against boys rather than girls — a
ratio found to be about 80-20.

“It’s important to separate the sexual identity and the behavior,”
Terry said. “Someone can commit sexual acts that might be of a
homosexual nature but not have a homosexual identity.” Terry said
factors such as greater access to boys is one reason for the skewed
ratio. Smith also raised the analogy of prison populations where
homosexual behavior is common even though the prisoners are not
necessarily homosexuals, or cultures where men are rigidly segregated
from women until adulthood, and homosexual activity is accepted and
then ceases after marriage.

How about some reax from a bishop or two? What do they make of this?