Vatican to Check U.S. Seminaries on Gay Presence

NY Times ^ | 9/15/05 | Laurie Goodstein

[justanotherfreeper]

Both the Nazis and the Communists used to accuse people of being homosexual to discredit them, as a propaganda tool. So JPII's experience had him inclined to view people accused of homosexuality as victims of a hideous smear campaign. How times have changed -- now telling people you're a homosexual is a sign of moral superiority. / sarcasm

[Van Jenerette]

...reading file.

[NewJerseyJoe]

They're also going to close the barn doors now that all the horses have escaped.

[nonsporting]

Badly thought out policy. The seminaries' problem is not that they are attracting homosexuals but that they're attracting pedophiles ...

My impression is that the Catholic church is suffering from a pederast priest problem. Most victims are pubescent males. There may indeed be some small percentage of victims who are pre-pubescent, but the overwhelming majority are not prebies (prepubies?).

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity...

We are told by the homophiles that homosexuals, because they are born that way, cannot (or should not) change. Just as alcoholics should not frequent bars, pederast priests should not be involved with oversight of young males. Even the Boy Scouts understand this.

[aimhigh]

Thanks for the further information.

[The Cuban]

No a homo-promo did not write this. It is the official text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Have a little respect.

[Mrs. Frogjerk]

Well said.

I do not believe that not allowing a homosexual into the priesthood is unjust. As you said, you do not have a right to be a priest, it is a privelage that should be given to those most Holy and whose lives and souls closely mirror that of Christ's.

What do people want from the catholic church? They are trying to solve the problems that are currently going on in the Church. They have admonished the Bishop's responsible for the cover-ups, and now they are trying to weed out potential victimizer's.

Let us step back and look at the situation at hand. The children being assaulted are mostly boy's(teenage), and they are being assaulted by the priest's not the nun's. There is a real problem in the clergy when it comes to those with homosexual tendencies be it latent or outright.

You cannot argue that "celibacy" is the root cause of the assault's because as I said, the victim's are boy's assaulted by men, not girl's assaulted by men.

[longtermmemmory]

a newspaper with a significant number of homosexuals in their employ, the NYT, objects to the church purging homosexuals from the priesthood.


No wonder that homosexual denomination is advertising so much on TV.


Who wants to bet the "source" for the NYT is another homosexual.

[longtermmemmory]

the pedophiles WERE homosexuals.

In the priesthood, the homosexuals ARE the pedophiles.

Homosexuals do not belong in the priesthood in ANY capacity.

[Salvation]

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[Salvation]

for once the NYT did not have this story first!

Vatican to Start U.S. Seminary Evaluations
Apostolic Seminary Visitation To Begin This Fall
U.S. Bishops to Begin Inspecting Seminaries
Prelate Says Gays Shouldn't Be Ordained
American overseeing Vatican evaluation of US seminaries says gays should not be ordained

Vatican to Check U.S. Seminaries on Gay Presence

[pissant]

As Cardinal, Benedict had already started pushing for this, as well as for a cleanup of the idiocy at some of the "Catholic" universities. Good News!

[Mrs. Don-o]

The problem here is the ambiguity of the word "homosexual." The Church teaches that homosexual acts ar alwsys immoral, but that a homosexual personality tendency is a disorder which leads to morally dangerous temptations, which the homosexual is morally obliged to reject.

Thus, people with a same-sex orientation deserve respect (just like people who struggle with any temptation); but they who PRACTICE perverted sex (the key word in the scripture quote) are condemned.

[Mrs. Don-o]

This is no "Inquisition." It's a matter of pastoral sensitivity toward people who are striving for holiness, as I would hope any candidate for the priesthood would be.

Everyone struggles with sin. A "struggler" could be one who struggled with homosexuality, or the more typical kinds of lust, or alcoholism, or any other moral difficulty. It DOES include everybody: even Jesus was "tempted in every way that we are" and is even said to have "suffered" from it (See 2 Corinthians 1:3-5.)

I guess it could be argued that since we're all strugglers, then men who struggle with homosexual tendencies shouldn't be excluded from consideration as potential priests, any more than any other man who struggles with "commonplace" lust, or alcohol (the Venerable Charles de Foucauld comes to mind on both counts) or any other besetting weakness.

On the other hand, the priesthood is a confraternity of men who often live together in close circumstances: in the seminary, for sure; in the monastery if they are in religious orders; and even in the rectory, where priests may live together in 2's or 3's or more, for years on end. This would present a life-long exposure to temptation, and thus (severe) suffering and (severe) moral risk, for a man who experienced acute emotional and sexual urges toward other men.

In all justice, you don't put a same-sex oriented man in a seminary, or an alcoholic in a brewery, or a carb-addict (like me) in a retail Krispy Kreme.

Not if you love him, respect him, and care for his soul's salvation.

[longtermmemmory]

I think this pope sees homosexuality as a BEHAVIROR CHOICE and the PC police have been pushing the propaganda lie that homosexuality is "born" via some gene. (no science just propaganda BS)

Seems to be that he has cut through the spin is is looking to a real solution. The fact he is looking should also discourage homosexual advocates from looking to the priesthood as a job.

[al_c]

WOOHOOO!!! Go get 'em, Benedict!

[al_c]

Badly thought out policy. The seminaries' problem is not that they are attracting homosexuals but that they're attracting pedophiles just like coaching and teaching jobs tend to do.

"and for faculty members who dissent from church teaching" covers a broad spectrum of behavior.

[numberonepal]

All good points, but apparently you missed the humor in my post.

[xsmommy]

you are incorrect. homosexuality is the problem, NOT pedophilia. have you read this book?

[Dominick]

From the CCC:
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity

This is precisely the issue. A person who has engaged in homosexual practices, which may not include a physical act with another person, is unfit for Public Ministry because they did not make the mundane calling of celibacy with respect to people of the same sex.

To turn it around, a womanizer would also be a unwise choice as a priest, as the risk to begin womanizing again would be too great! It is irrelevant that they may now repudiate that lifestyle which is just as sinful as any other deviant lifestyle, the fact remains that the ex-womanizer would be at risk to take a job as a public minister of God.

Most pedophilia cases were actually cases of pedastry, not actual pedophilia, and pedastry falls into the modern homosexual lifestyle, as was mentioned earlier. It is correct to say homosexuals are not pedophiles, per se, even though pedophiles may be homosexuals. However, many homosexuals do seek out younger males, just as older men and women like to meet younger members of the opposite sex.

It is also abuse when a Priest has having sex with a vulnerable woman from his Parish, or when a Doctor would have sex with patients. The betrayal of a sacred trust is what is at stake here.