(AgapePress) - An Ohio-based pro-family group says Catholics need to be educated on the depth and scope of the homosexual problem within the priesthood.

David Miller is with Citizens for Community Values, which has launched a national ad campaign in Catholic newspapers hoping to educate Roman Catholics on the depth of the homosexual problem within the clergy. Miller says Catholics have not been told the whole truth.

"We hope that Roman Catholics across the country will see, in black-and-white, the depth of homosexual activity that's currently in the churches in the U.S., and then will voice their opinion," Miller says. "I believe that they do have a strong opinion about this, and we believe that their voice could have an impact -- that it could clean out a lot of the problems in these churches."

Miller says Catholics should let church officials know that they will not tolerate homosexuals in the ministry because it is in conflict with church doctrine.

Writing for AgapePress, columnist R. Cort Kirkwood cites a 41-year-old law from the Canon Law Digest that forbids the ordination of homosexuals. Kirkwood says the church bishops are not telling Catholics about the genuine source of the problem because "it would rattle the Roman Catholic Church down to the catacombs."

Looking Up
As the Catholic Church deals with the priest sex-abuse scandal, a former homosexual who grew up in the Catholic Church says he is not surprised at the large number of people who claim they were sexually abused as children by Catholic priests. Stephen Bennett, who lived as a homosexual for more than a decade before giving his life to Christ, says children in the Catholic Church are taught that priests can do no wrong.

"[We were taught] these men are above anyone," Bennett says. "And of course, when we were growing up, the Bible was not promoted. These were the only men who could interpret in reading the Bible."

"We were taught that when we were out in public and we'd see a priest or a nun ... we had to bless ourselves, because they were very, very holy. We had to make the sign of the cross. It was really a very, very odd thing."

Bennett is no longer a Catholic. He is now a Christian songwriter and musician who travels the country giving his testimony.

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