Priests are subject to their Bishops. It is not a sin to be gay, it is just not conducive to the priestly life. Being a priest is about pouring your life out in sacrifice for others, it’s not about having yourself and your personal tendencies validated.
I don’t observe Rome micro-managing each country. It seems to give orders and lets the local bishops do the work. The impression the Vatican gives is that this really isn’t important.
OK. So, why the ban on seminarians?
My understanding is that those with homosexual tendencies are more likely to break their vows of celibacy. Apparently, the Church has some statistics in this area.
I reiterate that same sex attraction is not sinful in and of itself and therefore while remaining a disorder does not necessarily need to be overcome. Alcoholism remains a disorder for a lifetime. One is only required to abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage. If a person with same sex attraction is doing that he need not worry about becoming 100% opposite sex attracted. It is homosexual behavior that is immoral.
Unless the statistics include everyone who has ever experienced same sex attraction they cannot be conclusive and definitive.
Bad empirical experience (the bishops’s study, the US scandal and others) indicates that the risk of misbehavior is unacceptably high. Remember these incidents have bankrupted some dioceses and sometimes that is what it takes to propel action, even though it may not be a perfect solution. Unfortunately, to some degree, that means treating all homosexual candidates (that were not only having transitory tendencies) the same. (Just like insurance companies handle young male drivers as if they were all totally irresponsible --it’s because enough of them are.) Plus the theological arguments rule them out.
The very birth of christ is a humble one. Christ is a man of humilty and so is his message.
We observe the Vatican doing nothing about homosxual priests. We observe it banning homosexual seminarians. If it’s OK for homosexuals to be priests, then it should be OK for them to be seminarians.
The Catholic priesthood is one of the most gay friendly occupational fields. I’d say the ban on seminarians looks a bit like PR to keep the support of conservative Cathlics who don’t like gays. At the same time, gay priests are ministering to those same conservative Catholics. The ban on seminarians will be ignored because there are too many gay priests.
What in the world are you trying to say???:ehh:
I guess no more need for confession then. No need to strive for holiness or inner conversion.
Yeah!!! This part struck me as funny too. and the part about he was gay and God called him anyway??? That is not what the Bible says. Not only that, how can you be gay, if you are not active? Isn’t that homosexual tendancies?
That just boils down to semantics. Not everyone understands that. Some people think they must call themselves gay since they feel a certain way- they don’t know any other way to describe it- they may not want to feel that way, and they may be living a chaste life as they are called to do.
“Tolerance is the virtue of a man with no convictions”- G.K. Chesterton
It would be wrong to remove faithful priests from ministry who aren’t doing anything wrong. There was bad catechesis in the late 60’s and the 70’s, and it isn’t perfect even today. It is very possible that a priest would never have heard of the Vatican’s warnings against homosexual priests.
Typical of today’s society. “Everything is tolerated except intolerance. The only thing that is judged is judgementalism. The only absolute is that there are no absolutes.” - Peter Kreeft.
m134e5 said: