Gay-hunters May End up Shooting Down Church Morale

St. Louis Post -Dispatch ^ | 9/28/05 | Bill McClellan

[bornacatholic]

Can you think of a large paper that employs as its religion writer an Orthodox Catholic? All the Catholic writers I have read are clearly CINO.

If they were authentic Catholics, they'd not be employed by large newspapers.

I hope they enjoy the fruits of their labor right now because they can't take that filthy lucre with them to their particular judgement where they will have an opportunity to explain to Jesus why it was a good idea to accept a job with the media and publicly lie about the Doctrine of the Church He established.

[kittymyrib]

I'm sure the Episcobaalians would welcome more rump rangers into their ministry since they don't pay attention to anything in the Bible they disagree with anyway.

[eastsider]

Any point of view that slightly differs or is critical of the current teaching on homosexuality is automatically excluded from discussion.

The cafeteria is closed.

[BizzeeMom]

Oh, McClellan isn't the religion writer....that's Tim Townsend and he's really not too bad. McClellan simply never passes up an opportunity to use his column to bash the Catholic Church.

[MortMan]

A census is not a poll.

[little jeremiah]

Homosexual Agenda Ping.

A poster child of exactly why homosexual priests should be eliminated from the priesthood and indeed, any official position within the Catholic Church. He claims to "love" the Catholic Church. Well, he doesn't love the teachings of God in the Bible, he doesn't love the Pope, he doesn't love the traditional moral guidelines, what does he "love"?

The cushy job, the comfort of being the "spiritual authority", lifelong financial support, a brotherhood of similar homosexual men, and the rest - one doesn't want to know.

[Xenophon450]

This is a large problem...These people must see that Homosexuality is a sin along with all the others and they are not above the standard. People and they're insane rationalization.

[BizzeeMom]

"The cushy job, the comfort of being the "spiritual authority", lifelong financial support, a brotherhood of similar homosexual men, and the rest - one doesn't want to know"

Exactly!!

Cuz, see, here's what bugs me: there is NOTHING stopping the hopefully-soon-to-be ousted gay seminarians from serving Our Lord. Nothing. Millions of people everywhere serve Christ quietly, obscurely, in their lives. WHY do these guys act like they can't be followers of Christ if they aren't allowed to be priests?

If you can't be a seminarian and you are gay...you are still welcome in the Church. Live chastely like all the rest of us are commanded to do...all of us. (NB to non-Catholics and others who don't know: under Church teaching, NO ONE is to be sexually active except those who have partaken of the Sacrament of Marriage. NO one.) Serve the poor, feed the hungry, care for the sick...just do it!!

The reason the gay seminarians are so unhappy is exactly what you pointed out.....if they can't be priests, there goes the guaranteed lifetime of being taken care of by the church: pay, benefits, pension, health care, retirement. And the power, the authority.

If they want only to serve Christ, are willing to dedicate their lives to Him, let them do it. That's wonderful! But very few are called to the priesthood, and that's as it should be.

[saradippity]

There is no way that you,Clemenza,have the knowledge/facts to make an "absolute" statement like that. When you,and others,make such unfounded pronouncements you impede your own and others pursuit of Truth.

In our egalitarian new world it is often accepted that every one has the right to their opinion and further,that all these opinions have equal status in the market place. Fortunately that is not true but unfortunately,most people don't realize that. The fact is,only those opinions based on facts and knowledge,in other words truth,have any value.

I,on the other hand cannot state that "there are many who are asexual". Nonetheless,I think it is an issue worth studying.The answer might shine much light on an several important matters in the Church and in society.

[DBeers]

"I am a Roman Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of St. Louis who happens to be gay," he wrote. "When it comes to my Church and her teachings on homosexuality, I cannot help but find myself both hurt and ashamed...

I cannot but ponder how many you have led astray -blinded by your disorder. One who claims disordered sexuality is claimed by it regardless the activity...

[saradippity]

From my own observations,I agree with you and your husbands statements. But as I said to Clemenza in a previous post,it is well worth taking the time to study this. If our obervations are confirmed,and there are indeed a number of persons without sexual inclinations,it would free a lot of "asexuals" from the box society has placed them in.

[NYer]

Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[Iris7]

Those people are utterly committed and believing enemies of the Church. The "ruin of souls". Absolutely.

Their lies had me in their grip for more than half of my life, and only rude reality has opened my eyes.

[connectthedots]

I would not be surprised if the letter to which this writer refers is fiction.

[Rodney King]

I, like so many theologians, fellow priests, sisters, and Americans, find the Church's teaching regarding homosexuality inconsistent with the broader understanding of human dignity, respect and equality.

Aah, the missing 11th commandment. "All other rules, commandments, ethics, and morals don't apply when faced with a broad understanding of human dignity".

[AliVeritas]

Benedict will bring the hammer down... he has no choice.
They have no clue what 'Religious Life' means... or the scriptures for that matter. It's giving up everything...everything, it's not what you want... but what God wants; Either you can deal with that or walk.
Time to clean house... when we have to share one good priest and we can't have mass until Sundays, when we have to walk for miles (like those in other countries), to go to Mass... maybe we will take our faith more seriously.
If anything goes... what's the point.

[Desdemona]

Does anyone actually take Bill McClellan seriously anymore?

[franky]

###"The Church chooses in matters of sexuality to bring very literal interpretations to isolated passages of Scripture as a proof-text for a static, narrow interpretation of natural law".####

St. Paul pulls no punches. The following is certainly not an isolated passage:

God's Wrath Against Mankind

18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.

26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Best we pray for these souls.

[SaltyJoe]

It's a Mel Gibson tactic. Nothing has come yet and what will come is more likely to be a reiteration of what has always been holy and what has always and will always be sinful behavior. Pres. Bush's tactic on reinforcing a ban on same-sex marriages plays the same maneuver. The hype generates free publicity. If this continues, you won't have to buy cable TV to get Catholic news from EWTN, you can just pipe it from a local channel. Drawing evil into the light exposes it for what it really is.

I'm surprised that it follows Exodus. God hardens Pharaoh's heart when Moses demands that Israelites be allowed to go into the desert to pray. "Liberals" are hardened against moral behavior and natural law. The pascal lamb saves Israelites from slaughter and Jesus' Holy Eucharist saves us from God's wrath.

Liberalism's unchristian behavior mocks all Sacraments. We may yet have a Papal decree to renew ourselves similar to how a couple in their 70s renews marriage vows on their 50th wedding anniversary.

[maryz]

I would not be surprised if the letter to which this writer refers is fiction.

I thought it sounded like a form letter myself (possibly a fund-raising letter): "I am a Roman Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of St. Louis who happens to be gay," he wrote. Who introduces himself with a description in a regular letter (if anyone writes regular letters anymore!)?