November 23, 2005
BACK TO THE FUTURE:
Vatican paper surfaces, puts limits on gays in priesthood (Cathy Lynn Grossman, 11/22/05, USA TODAY)
A leaked version of an upcoming Vatican document says men with a homosexual orientation should be denied training for the Roman Catholic priesthood unless they can prove they've been celibate for at least three years and promise to teach Catholic doctrine that gay sex is always wrong.Seminaries should refuse admission to sexually active gay men or those who "support so-called gay culture," according to a version of the document published Tuesday by the Italian Catholic news service Adista. The Associated Press says an official for the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education authenticated the version scheduled for release next Tuesday. [...]
The church teaches that people with a homosexual orientation deserve love and respect but that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered."
What a terrible admission on the Church's part that it needs to remind itself of such fundamental facts. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 23, 2005 7:44 AM
You're right, oj. It's indicative of how far things are gone. For the past 2,000 years, the Church has had no shortage of enemies. But no one ever claimed none of those enemies wouldn't be Catholic. Let the culling begin, for the sake of the children and for the sake of our standing.
Posted by: george at November 23, 2005 10:09 AMIt is indeed sad that such a statement is necessary, but it's indicative of the great struggle going on right now within the Catholic Church between what Malachi Martin calls the "traditionalists" and the "conciliarists." Both sides are apparently of about equal number but the conciliarists get more publicity because of their connections with academic, govertmentsal and humanitarian agencies. The "conciliarists," in Martin's view, no longer view the Church as a sacred institution but rather as a "stabilizing social force." They want to relax Church doctrine about divorce, homosexuality, etc. not out of moral conviction but in order to conciliate the secularists. John Paul II and Benedict XVI are obviously traditionalists. One reason John Paul II created so many cardinals was to stack the College of Cardinals with traditionalists. It will be interesting to see if Benedict XVI does the same.
I'm sure the statement above was directed explicitly at the conciliarists.
Posted by: L. Rogers at November 23, 2005 10:39 AM