Sipe had concluded that the church’s determined portrayal of the priesthood as a brotherhood of men who readily accepted celibacy had always been a myth. He estimated at least half of all American priests were sexually active during some or all of their careers. At any given time, he said, at least 20 percent of the nation’s priests were engaged in a sexual relationship with a woman. He believed another 20 percent were gay or inclined to homosexuality, and that at least half of them were having sex with other men. Only 2 percent of the priests he studied achieved happy, celibate lifestyles. His most frightening finding was that 4 to 6 percent of the nation’s priests were pedophiles and molested children, mostly boys. Because the church had never dealt honestly with the problem, the priesthood had been turned into a perverse “secret society” in which these men kept each other’s secrets, even if that meant covering up for sexual predators.
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