3 Responses to “Gay Watch in Religious News”

1. mousehounde Writes:
   August 28th, 2005 at 1:43 pm

   More zaniness:

   Vatican plan to block gay priests.

   “The new Pope faces his first controversy over the direction of the Catholic church after it was revealed that the Vatican has drawn up a religious instruction preventing gay men from being priests. “

   But it’s not because they feel “homosexuality is immoral”, not at all. They are just trying to be fair.

   ” The instruction tries to dampen down the controversy by eschewing a moral line, arguing instead that the presence of homosexuals in seminaries is ‘unfair’ to both gay and heterosexual priests by subjecting the former to temptation.

   ‘It will be written in a very pastoral mode,’ Haldane said. ‘It will not be an attack on the gay lifestyle. It will not say “homosexuality is immoral”. But it will suggest that admitting gay men into the priesthood places a burden both on those who are homosexual and those they are working alongside who are not.’ ”

   I was under the impression that the Catholic Church already had a shortage of priests. This doesn’t seem to be too bright a move if that is the case.

   But Pope B is clever, if not too bright. He doesn’t plan to sign it himself. He’s is going to make a cardinal do it. That way, when it gets published it won’t reflect badly on him personally. He wouldn’t want people to think he is anti-gay, because he is not. He just thinks that gays are immoral and deviant and shouldn’t have any rights.

   This comment was written by mousehounde.
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2. Rock Writes:
   August 28th, 2005 at 4:19 pm

   I hate to think it but some of the phobia may be from wrongfully associating Gay with child molestation. Forget that girls were molested by some Priests as well. The Church feels the need to do something in the face of many pressures and demands. The problem is that one cannot eliminate bad Priests (which are a small minority) and will never quiet the fears of the ultra conservatives. What to do? I move for sitting down and eating together. It is hard to make a good decision when one is fearful. It is also hard to discriminate when you see the person you are judging as yourself; eating together has a way of bringing folks to see each other in this light. Fears just seem to go away over a hearty French onion soup dripping with Gruyere and a crusty baguette. That would be a decree that many could support; a “Diet of Gummy Worms” (pun intended) weekly setting the table with those we think are different, it would not be long and we would see that we are the same, and the fears would go that way too. Blessings.

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3. Father Tom Writes:
   September 16th, 2005 at 2:41 pm

   As a celibate gay priest, I see the Vatican’s “pastoral visitations” to seminaries as a civil rights matter. Face it: the Church has a dysfunctional view of gender and sexuality.
   Let Cardinals and Bishops be interviewed to see if they are gay. Won’t happen. The time may come–and it may come soon–when all gay priests will need to come out–especially the thousands who are not sexually active. Loving the Church as I do, I regret this intrusion into the privacy of good people. But I urge all gay priests to be prepared to
   take action. The march for civil rights in the US has always been marked by non-violent but public demonstrations. How can we sit by and watch the Church discriminate against
   gays who want to enter seminaries? I want to see the document and make a decision. Yes, perhaps the Vatican
   document will be counched in “pastoral terms.” Bigotry is bigotry–no matter how it’s expressed. The time for action
   may be drawing near.

   This comment was written by Father Tom.
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