{"id":4118,"date":"2005-09-29T20:58:26","date_gmt":"2005-09-30T00:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2005\/09\/29\/moj-please-talk-about-gay-pri"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:54:33","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:54:33","slug":"moj-please-talk-about-gay-priests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/09\/29\/moj-please-talk-about-gay-priests\/","title":{"rendered":"MOJ, please talk about gay priests"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

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Since the news reports a week ago that the Vatican is about to ban <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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new gay priests, whether or not they remain celibate (see our prior<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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post<\/FONT><\/A>), I’ve been hoping the thoughtful contributors at <\/FONT>Mirror of Justice<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A> <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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would discuss the topic.  So far, there has only been one MOJ<\/EM> post<\/FONT><\/A><\/FONT>, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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which quotes at length from a <\/FONT>column<\/FONT><\/A> written by a <\/FONT>gay and celibate<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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American <\/FONT><\/FONT>priest, but offers no commentary. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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\"maleSym\" Two days ago, a self-proclaimed “serious Catholic” sent me a link   \"maleSym\"  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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to this <\/FONT>article<\/FONT><\/A> from a website called Spirit Daily<\/A><\/EM>, which was apparently written <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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by its editor <\/FONT>Michael H. Brown<\/FONT><\/A> — “If the Church Gets Tough — Very Tough — <\/EM><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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with DEVIANCE, Pope Will Make His Mark<\/EM>.”   The sender declared that <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“it is an excellent article, written with honesty and a clear understanding of <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the Church’s teachings.”  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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The message of the article is, to my mind, quite remarkable and sad.  After <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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declaring <\/FONT>that homosexuality is a “deviance,” caused by “demonic” forces, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the article <\/FONT>states <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“the truth is that those who are homosexual grapple with a<\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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disorder that requires deliverance. It is a spiritual issue. And <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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while they struggle with that disorder they do not belong in a <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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position of any spiritual authority.”<\/EM>  <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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After recommending a purge of homosexuality from the clergy, it concludes: <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“We must purify the Church at all costs. Nothing else will <\/FONT>work. A gay should <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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not become a priest. He should seek out a good priest for help and deliverance.”<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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To me, this message is hateful and not the least bit “Christlike.”   Jesus, who <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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loved <\/FONT>sinners, surely loved non-sinners who merely had tendencies<\/EM> — biological <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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urges <\/FONT>and preferences apparently given to them by their Creator.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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As a Catholic grammar school pupil, I was taught by nuns and priests that any<\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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sin of a sexual nature — including  <\/FONT>“impure thoughts” not immediately purged <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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from <\/FONT>our minds — was a mortal<\/EM> sin (leading to eternal damnation if not confessed <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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before <\/FONT>death).   I guess the Vatican believes that gays can never win the fight <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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against such impurity, and that merely abstaining from acting on the impulses <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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is not enough.   I would hope that this kind of thinking is quite worrisome to the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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thinking Catholic, even those who pledge their obedience to their Pope.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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\"one  It’s estimated that perhaps as many as 30% of <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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priests <\/FONT>are gay.   For generations (centuries?), an adolescent <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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male’s <\/FONT>lack <\/FONT>of normal teenage interest in girls was seen by his <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Catholic family and clergy as<\/FONT> a sign that he might have a <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“vocation” <\/FONT>from God to enter the priesthood.  Ironic, huh?<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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As a former Catholic, I know my perspective may not be clear or objective <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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enough.  That’s why I hope to hear from practicing, serious Catholics on <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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this subject.  Help me understand.  Better yet, help your Pope avoid the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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turning of an <\/FONT>ancient form of fear and discrimination into a policy that should <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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have no place in the Church that <\/FONT>claims to speak for Christ on earth.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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                                                                                                                 \"Benedict16\"<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the news reports a week ago that the Vatican is about to ban new gay priests, whether or not they remain celibate (see our prior post), I’ve been hoping the thoughtful contributors at Mirror of Justice would discuss the topic.  So far, there has only been one MOJ post, which quotes at length from a column written by a gay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-14q","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13004,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4118\/revisions\/13004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}