What would you say to a homosexual who wants to be a priest in the RCC?

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EOvsRC1054

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If a person who recognizes themselves as homosexual, but also wants to be a priest, what would you say to that person?
Taking this even further, if the person had all the attributes of making a good priest and would willingly commit themselves to chastity, would any of your views change?

I am just curious to see what other people think.

(imagine yourself as the vocation’s director)
 
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Speak to their Vocations Director at the Diocese or at the Religious Order they are thinking of.
 
Each diocese or religious order has guidelines for how they handle such cases. If the person in question meets or exceeds those guidelines, I don’t see why there’d be a problem.
 
They should consider another vocation.

A very non-PC response, I know. But it’s the truth.
 
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I suppose I cannot answer your specific question as I don’t know enough about the discernment process or the rules. I am sort of gender disqualified!

However, my opinion is formed thus:

1 - Same sex attraction in itself isn’t a sin

2 - Straight or gay, a priest vows celibacy…if they break their vow of chastity I feel the gender of the adult other party is irrelevant in that context (rather the homosexual act being a further sin after the sin of the broken vow)

3 - Homosexual does NOT equal Paedophile

So if the church allows those with SSA to be priests subject to the same vows as a straight man then I’ve no problem with that. They could be a great priest!
 
The person needs to talk to the vocations director for the diocese or order he wishes to join.

I am not a vocations director and I do not feel qualified to comment. In addition, the situation is likely to be individualized based on the person, and the circumstances of where they are applying.
 
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mrsdizzyd said:
Each diocese or religious order has guidelines for how they handle such cases. If the person in question meets or exceeds those guidelines, I don’t see why there’d be a problem.
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I agree, assuming the diocese or order is consistent with the guidelines of the Holy See. In the past, it’s pretty clear that on some matters - which may or may not include this matter - Dioceses, religious orders, sort of made their interpretation of the rules.

So start with the Church’s standard, and expect this vocations department will be consistent, unless you see otherwise.
 
I wouldn’t have a problem with it per se, assuming he’s committed to chastity, just like a straight priest. But yeah, it’s a question for a vocations director.
 
It does not matter what anyone except the Church thinks, does it?

If you want to know if there are Catholics who are against the idea as well as those who are for it, rest assured that there are.
 
Would a hardcore, lifelong, exclusively homosexual man — even if he practiced perfect continence both in mind and in body — be regular for ordination in the first place?

And in the Roman Rite anyway, would such a man be able to make the sacrifice of celibacy, in that he is not interested in women, and would be giving up or renouncing nothing that he would “miss” in the first place? To use a homely analogy, I’m not a spectator sports fan. I don’t hate it, but I don’t seek it out. I respect sports, I’m glad other people enjoy them, but they’re not a part of my life, not a part of my cornucopia of interests and hobbies. I had never been to a professional baseball game until I was in my mid-50s. If someone told me “as a condition of doing X, you may never watch spectator sports again”, that would be making no demand or sacrifice of me whatsoever. I wouldn’t care less.

If a man had simply experimented with homosex at a certain point in his life, or if he were overall hetero with just a slight homo “streak”, I don’t think that would make him a homosexual. Again, I have in mind men who are “gay, nothing but gay, and never gonna change”.
 
Quote from
"Instruction
Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations
with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies
in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders
(This document was signed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. )
…
In the light of such teaching, this Dicastery, in accord with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, believes it necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question[9], cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called “gay culture”[10].

Such persons, in fact, find themselves in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women. One must in no way overlook the negative consequences that can derive from the ordination of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies.

Different, however, would be the case in which one were dealing with homosexual tendencies that were only the expression of a transitory problem - for example, that of an adolescence not yet superseded. Nevertheless, such tendencies must be clearly overcome at least three years before ordination to the diaconate.
…
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po18guy said:
If you want to know if there are Catholics who are against the idea as well as those who are for it, rest assured that there are.
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True dat. And honestly, if the priest is not acting on his sexual temptations, whatever they might be, it’s none of our business.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
And in the Roman Rite anyway, would such a man be able to make the sacrifice of celibacy, in that he is not interested in women, and would be giving up or renouncing nothing that he would “miss” in the first place?
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There are heterosexual people who don’t find giving up marriage and sexual relations to be a huge cross to bear.

It is necessary for unmarried priests, and other members of religious orders who take vows of celibacy, to be celibate. It is not necessary that they find it a big sacrifice.
 
JGD said:
cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called “gay culture”
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That’s the concept I was looking for. Makes perfect sense.
Tis_Bearself said:
There are heterosexual people who don’t find giving up marriage and sexual relations to be a huge cross to bear.

It is necessary for unmarried priests, and other members of religious orders who take vows of celibacy, to be celibate. It is not necessary that they find it a big sacrifice.
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Almost 14 years into a divorce situation, I find it no cross to bear whatsoever. I like my life, I’m enjoying my retirement as a home educator, caregiver, and hobbyist of very modest means, and I don’t feel like I’m “missing” anything. I would like a traveling companion, but my circumstances don’t allow much traveling anymore, so it’s a moot point. I’m too set in my ways in the first place. Old and ornery.

I just thought I recalled reading or hearing one time, that celibacy has to make some kind of demand of a man, be some kind of sacrifice, to allow for a man to be ordained in the first place.
 
The 2005 Vatican document on this matter does not provide a definite answer for all situations.

Somebody who has same-sex attraction might be admitted to the seminary at the discretion of his Ordinary.

However, for most people who are exclusively same-sex attracted (i.e. who have deep seated tendencies), I think it’s fair to say that any vocation to the priesthood is ruled out. Even though a celibate person who is same sex attracted might make a good priest, they may struggle with issues pertaining to this and may have personal struggles that make them unfit to be priests. Hence, for most same sex attracted people, I think they will find a vocation elsewhere (as celibate lay people, for the most part).

The 2005 document therefore does not rule out such people becoming priests in all situations but advises against it for a variety of reasons - the Church has spoken.

A person who is same-sex attracted is profoundly respected by the Church - but I think that for them their vocation is not to Holy Orders.
 
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And what about men who realize they are deeply-seated homosexuals after they are ordained?

And yes, I do believe that people can “become gay”. The constant drumbeat of the modern media and culture, and possibly even demonic influence, could very likely prompt such a change. I have to think they could even undergo some kind of neurological or hormonal change, perhaps a trauma, that would bring this about.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
Would a hardcore, lifelong, exclusively homosexual man — even if he practiced perfect continence both in mind and in body — be regular for ordination in the first place?

And in the Roman Rite anyway, would such a man be able to make the sacrifice of celibacy, in that he is not interested in women, and would be giving up or renouncing nothing that he would “miss” in the first place? …
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Huh? Who honestly thinks that the only sacrifice a man makes when he answers the call to the priesthood is the sacrifice of not marrying and being open to the blessing of children? If that sacrifice is not necessary because of the radical personal availability that is required of a priest, that would imply that the sacrifice of celibacy something of an arbitrary restriction, wouldn’t it?
 
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PetraG said:
Huh? Who honestly thinks that the only sacrifice a man makes when he answers the call to the priesthood is the sacrifice of not marrying and being open to the blessing of children?
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Furthermore, if that were a requirement, then our married priests in the Eastern churches and those who have converted from Protestant clergy to Catholic clergy would be failing the “sacrifice” test because they have wives and often, children.

Lots of other sacrifices one must make when one becomes a priest.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Furthermore, if that were a requirement, then our married priests in the Eastern churches and those who have converted from Protestant clergy to Catholic clergy would be failing the “sacrifice” test because they have wives and often, children.

Lots of other sacrifices one must make when one becomes a priest.
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Exactly. A discipline that could be changed could hardly represent the main sacrifice involve in a commitment to answer the call to the priesthood–I mean such that someone not attracted to marriage could be assumed to be making a sacrifice.
 
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