In a post entitled "Two Seminarian Candidates," Andrew Sullivan is right on target about the Vatican's hateful and un-Christian stance on gay clergy. Since Mr. Sullivan's permalinks link to the whole day of posting rather than to an individual entry (God only knows why), I'm going to reprint this particular post in toto.
Let me put that another way. You have two seminary candidates in front of you. One seems uptight, and says he may have had transitory gay feelings a while back, but they're gone now, or briskly denies any same-sex attraction at all and says he finds gayness repulsive. The other is a young man who clearly tells his superiors that he is indeed gay, but understands the Church's teachings on sexual expression, and has no more intention of violating his commitment to celibacy than if he were straight. Which one is less likely to act out sexually in self-destructive or immature ways? It seems to me that if the Vatican were really serious about its own doctines about gay sex, it would want many openly gay priests. Those priests would serve as role models of chastity, while also being the least likely to act out from some repressed impulse. They could also help gay Catholic lay people grapple with the Church's teachings on sexuality. Wouldn't that be a much healthier situation than the one we have today? And a more Christian one?
Post a Comment