It appears that some pundits believe the only acceptable response to the Catholic sex abuse crisis would be for the Pope to say, "You know, 2000 years has been a good run. We're out. Peace!" Then he would close the doors of the Catholic Church forever. This mentality can be seen by those who think the recent Vatican statement on homosexuals in the priesthood is somehow metaphysically about the sex abuse crisis.

The new rules basically say that active homosexuals or those supportive of gay culture (such as advocating gay marriage) cannot be ordained. In short, priesthood candidates need to live the doctrine of celibacy and be prepared to accept Catholic moral teaching. Current priests who are gay are unaffected, contrary to news reports that couldn't manage to find a quote from anyone in support of the new rules. There may be two sides of every story, but only one side apparently has enough merit to warrant quotes.

Eric Naing seems to think the new rules are about the sex abuse crisis. He also has found people to be homosexuals in almost every column this year based on inane details. It is no wonder Eric is worried about the difficulty of defining homosexual tendencies when he seems to think footwear choice is a matter of sexual orientation.

Pope John Paul II called for a study on the question of whether to admit homosexuals into the priesthood in 1994. The year 1994 is also known for being approximately eight years before the sex abuse crisis.

The rule on the books since 1961 was an outright ban on homosexuals for priestly ministry. The new edict has been called an attack on gays and an attempt to distract from the sex abuse crisis. If so, why is the new rule loosening the discipline instead of reaffirming it?

The Church has responded to the crisis by suspending any priest even credibly accused of abuse, some without trial. Potential seminarians have to go through more paperwork and background checks than I had to go through in the military to get security clearance to have access to nuclear weapons. The scandal is being addressed - to say otherwise is to be factually and indefensibly wrong.

When the Catholic Church started talking about pro-choice politicians receiving the Eucharist, some pundits attacked the Church saying it no longer had any moral authority. Some of those same pundits are saying that the Church is scapegoating homosexuals for the crisis. The Catholic Church's stance on homosexuality is well known. It isn't out of line to expect our clerics to actually live Catholic doctrine.

While there is room for outrage on what has and has not been done in the scandal, some seem to use this as an opportunity to launch another attack on the Church with motives unrelated to protecting children. When hyperventilating college columnists have to equate any suggestion that homosexuality might be wrong with the beheading of homosexuals in Saudi Arabia, it suggests less of an intellectual argument and more of a desperate attempt at demagoguery or pathological paranoia. Perhaps both.

The number of cases in the Catholic Church of alleged abuse recorded between 1950 and 2002 is around 11,000, according to a John Jay study. The estimate is that 1 in 6000 children in the Catholic Church may have been abused. Compare this to numbers included in "The Handbook on Sexual Abuse of Children." About 82 percent of women who graduate high school report sexual harassment or worse by teachers. Over 13 percent of the girls reported intercourse with a teacher.

Another study called "Sex Abuse and the Single Girl" showed that the number of cases of child sexual abuse on girls covered up by Planned Parenthood in Illinois in one year was roughly equal to the number of accusations against the Church in all fifty states in fifty years.

When the saber-rattling ideologues claiming to be defending children start going after those who abuse children in far greater proportions like public schools and abortion clinics, maybe then we can talk about moral authority. Until then, we're stuck with the panting Prada pundits.

John Bambenek is a University employee and a graduate student. His column appears every Friday. He can be reached at opinions@ dailyillini.com.