Update on the lawsuits -- L.A., San Diego

The San Diego Union-Tribune did an update the other day (click on this post's title) on the status of the many sex abuse lawsuits pending against the Diocese of San Diego and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Here is an excerpt:

"A Union-Tribune accounting of the San Diego diocese's properties placed tax-assessed value at more than $500 million. 'And the appraised/market value is two to three times that,' said Irwin Zalkin, an attorney representing many of the San Diego plaintiffs. 'Couple that with their insurance policies and there are ample funds to settle these suits without affecting schools or parishes.'"

Given that most of the lawsuits involve homosexual crimes, we can formulate a lesson that many U.S. bishops, including those in California, refuse to admit: Admitting homosexuals to seminaries and ordaining them as priests is expensive, because many commit crimes.

You would think this would go without saying, but some people still dispute it.

No one has a right to the Sacrament of Holy Orders or to the religious life. God calls; He says, You did not choose Me, I chose you. Is it really likely that God calls to His priesthood and the religious life those who have, as the Church calls them, disordered inclinations?