Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Catholics Hate Homosexuals

Vatican to Check U.S. Seminaries on Gay Presence
Investigators appointed by the Vatican have been instructed to review each of the 229 Roman Catholic seminaries in the United States for "evidence of homosexuality" and for faculty members who dissent from church teaching, according to a document prepared to guide the process.

The Vatican document, given to The New York Times yesterday by a priest, surfaces as Catholics await a Vatican ruling on whether homosexuals should be barred from the priesthood.

Edwin O'Brien, archbishop for the United States military, told The National Catholic Register that the restriction should apply even to those who have not been sexually active for a decade or more.

The issue of gay seminarians and priests has been in the spotlight because a study commissioned by the church found last year that about 80 percent of the young people victimized by priests were boys.

Experts in human sexuality have cautioned that homosexuality and attraction to children are different, and that a disproportionate percentage of boys may have been abused because priests were more likely to have access to male targets - like altar boys or junior seminarians - than to girls.

But some church officials in the United States and in Rome, including some bishops and many conservatives, attributed the abuse to gay priests and called for an overhaul of the seminaries. Expectation for such a move rose this year with the election of Pope Benedict XVI, who has spoken of the need to "purify" the church.

But one gay priest, who said he would not give his name because he has been told by his order not to speak out, said the seminary review would demoralize gay priests.

"It says to gay priests, many of whom are hard-working, faithful men who live their promises of celibacy with integrity, that you should never have been ordained," he said.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It has been a while since the Church had a witch hunt or an inquisition- somehow it just seems like it's time. It is weird, though, they're hunting for gays and not pedophiles or priests prone to coverup.

Anonymous said...

2 quick comments (and 1 opinion) on the Catholic church from my many years of CCD. I'm pretty sure they are still correct, but who knows what the archbishops and cardnials were doing when no one was looking.

1. Catholics do not have to agree with the Pope's view on everythying.

2. The Catholic Church does not think being gay is wrong. The Church teaches (or should be teaching) that Catholics believe people can be born homosexuals, but they have a higher calling to remain celibate their entire lives. I'm not saying I agree with it, but this is what I was taught.

3. Not really a fan of the new guy.

-LT