Home Forums All Things Catholic Bishop vows support for gay priests

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  • #5795

    Hi MClare – thanks for sharing all that. It looks like you got the link to work. <img decoding=” title=”Smile” />

    #5796
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    More…here is a link to the Courage website and an interview with Father John Harvey…his views of the Vatican instruction on homosexuality and the seminaries…

    http://www.couragerc.net/SSA%20&%20Seminaries.htm

    I hope this comes through…the last one did, Jon…thanks!

    I also checked over the Narth website: http://www.narth.com and they have an article on homosexual behavior in animals…very good information and especially the last parts which argue that animal behavior should not be used as a measure of human behavior which is governed by philosophy and ethics…

    There is a LOT of information on this website…
    MClare

    #5797
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Thanks MClare. I actually added this website recently to my hundreds of other bookmarks. <img decoding=” title=”Very Happy” />

    Peace be with you,
    ~Victor

    #5808
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Who then among us would be worthy? However, that is not my saying that the Church should accept sin itself into it.

    #5921
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    i’m sorry but i don’t go for priest being gay because God himself don’t like gay outs if you read the old testment. He doesn’t believe in 2 guys only a man and a woman. I don’t think they should have gay priests because of what happen with raping and molestation with young boys. If your gay you shouldn’t be a priest because of that because Catholic don’t believe that being gay is right because to me it’s sick . Plus a priest suppose to represent Jesus and Jesus wasn’t gay nor married nor a pervert.

    #5929
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    :cry:
    Eighty-one percent of sex crimes committed against children by Roman
    Catholic priests during the past 52 years were homosexual men preying on boys, according to a comprehensive study released yesterday on the church’s sex abuse crisis.
    The John Jay study was commissioned 20 months ago by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in response to hundreds of sex-abuse accusations that were made in nearly every U.S. Catholic diocese. It covered the years from 1950 to 2002 and found 10,667 cases of abuse.
    The USCCB formed a 12-member review board of Catholic laity to conduct its own investigation. The board report was issued jointly with the John Jay study.
    Revelation of the homosexual priest abuse was made at a crowded news conference where Washington lawyer Bob Bennett gave a lengthy summary of the review board’s report.
    Mr. Bennett, a review board member, blamed seminary officials and bishops for not flagging at-risk homosexual seminarians.
    There are “many outstanding priests of a homosexual orientation who live chaste, celibate lives,” Mr. Bennett said, “but … more than 80 percent of the abuse at issue was of a homosexual nature.”
    “There’s an incredibly incongruity of a man of the cloth engaging in this type of conduct. How did they get into the priesthood?”
    Seminaries, he said, allowed in “many sexually dysfunctional and psychosexually immature men,” and did not prepare clergy to survive “particularly in our oversexualized society.”
    The study also found that during the same 52-year period, at least $572 million in church funds were spent in lawsuits or treatment for erring priests. Investigators said this amount was low, as 14 percent of 195 dioceses about 27 did not report dollar figures, nor was a recent $85 million settlement against the Archdiocese of Boston included.
    The review board does not advocate barring homosexuals from the priesthood, he said, but “given the reality that a [seminarian] is entering what is essentially male culture, it is important care be taken in the selection and formation of seminarians so that every priest may honor his commitment to live a chaste and celibate life.”
    “A litmus test would be inappropriate but we must look at the reality of what we are doing.”
    The report itself went further by calling for “a more searching inquiry” of homosexual seminarians. “For those who choose to ordain homosexuals, there appears to be a need for additional scrutiny and perhaps additional or specialized formation to help them with the challenge of priestly celibacy,” it said.
    Matthew Gallagher, executive director for Dignity, a Catholic homosexual caucus, called the findings “discrimination in the name of God.”
    “Bishops are scapegoating gay priests and this is just a way for bishops to deflect tension from their inability to protect children in their care,” he said. “Bishops are not using modern thinking when they say a gay man is more prone to having sex than a straight man.”
    The John Jay study was praised as the first of its kind to study sexually abusive practices among a category of the American populace. The priests involved 4,392 constituted 4 percent of the 109,694 clergy who were working in the Catholic Church from 1950 to 2002.
    The peak year for sexual abuse by the clergy was 1970, according to the report, which said sexual acts against children, defined as those under the age of 18, were often perpetrated over many years. Seventeen percent of the victims had siblings who also were abused.
    The year 1970 was also the peak when abusive clergy were ordained, the report said, adding that more than 10 percent of all priests ordained that year were accused of sexual abuse.
    Abuse was most likely to occur in a priest’s home, in the church, in the victim’s home or in a vacation home. Researchers sorted abuse into 20 categories, ranging from touching beneath the subject’s clothes (57 percent) to anal sex (25 percent).
    The largest group of abusers more than 40 percent were between 30 and 39 years when they first preyed on children. Seven percent of these priests said they themselves had been abused physically, sexually or emotionally as children, and 19 percent had alcohol or drug addictions.
    In Baltimore, there were 226 child-abuse victims and 83 priests were credibly accused; Arlington reported 11 victims abused by nine priests and the District reported 119 victims abused by 26 priests.
    Also, 19 percent of the 10,667 children abused by the priests were girls, a reversal of child-abuse statistics in the general population, according to the John Jay study.
    Police have investigated more than 615 priests because of abuse charges, or 14 percent of the total. Criminal charges were filed in 220 instances, 138 priests were convicted and 100 served prison time.
    Representatives from the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests said yesterday many abusive priests are still at large. They released a statement with names of several clergy convicted of sexual crimes, along with the names of their bishops.
    “The John Jay document is not a study, not a thorough accounting, or God forbid, not an investigation,” said Barbara Blaine, president of the survivors network. “It’s a self-survey [of bishops]. Period. No independent corroboration, no spot-checking, nor verification, no third-party involvement.”
    She called on bishops to establish a database of credibly accused priests so Catholics could determine if such a priest worked with their children.
    Mr. Bennett also blamed bishops for “putting their heads in the sand.”
    “Many bishops certainly not all breached their responsibility as pastors, breached their responsibility as shepherds of the flock,” he said. Many “could not comprehend the extent of the damage. Many bishops didn’t speak to victims because, unfortunately, their lawyers told them not to.”

    #10409
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Okay…isnt the term “gay priest” an oxymoron…how can a gay person be a priest when he is bound to preach the Word of God that says homosexuality is an abomination?

    #10416
    "houseofsaul":3bqps67w wrote:
    Okay…isnt the term “gay priest” an oxymoron…how can a gay person be a priest when he is bound to preach the Word of God that says homosexuality is an abomination?[/quote:3bqps67w]
    One can have a homosexual orientation, but remain chaste (like all unmarried people are called) and not commit homosexual acts. Church teaching supports this.
    #10426
    Anonymous
    Inactive
    "Jon":22obynd7 wrote:
    One can have a homosexual orientation, but remain chaste (like all unmarried people are called) and not commit homosexual acts. Church teaching supports this.[/quote:22obynd7]
    If one is of homosexual orientation, then one believes homosexuality is okay and permissable. How can one teach and preach the Word when ones basic morals are blurred.
    #10427
    "houseofsaul":234e7sz6 wrote:
    If one is of homosexual orientation, then one believes homosexuality is okay and permissable.[/quote:234e7sz6]
    Not necessarily. There are many chaste homosexual people living good and holy lives within the Church.

    "houseofsaul":234e7sz6 wrote:
    How can one teach and preach the Word when ones basic morals are blurred.[/quote:234e7sz6]
    The Catechism teaches this:
    [quote:234e7sz6]Chastity and homosexuality

    2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.”142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

    2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

    2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.[/quote:234e7sz6]
    So, even the magisterium agree that it is entirely possible for a homosexual person to “approach Christian perfection.” Never underestimate the power of God to work through any person he calls to be his messenger.

    #10429
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Church Documents on Priestly Formation found under Vocations on catholic.org “Catholic Online”

    ◦Congregation for Catholic Education, .Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders. (2006)

    2. Homosexuality and the Ordained Ministry

    In the light of such teaching, this Dicastery, in accord with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, believes it necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question[9], cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called “gay culture”[10].

    #10432
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I think it is very important for us to understand in full context what the Church teaches, and what the disciplinary practices of the Church are.

    Anyone who attempts to enter into religious life in the Catholic Church, be it the priesthood, or as a lay brother, nun or lay sister is bound not only to Chastity, but to a celibate life.

    Everyone who professes the Catholic Faith, and wishes to live according to the moral teachings of the Faith must live or strive to live a life of chastity.

    Chastity according to one’s lifestyle means that if one is not married, they will refrain from sexual activity period. If one is married, they will only engage in morally licit sexual activity with their spouse, and not seek sexual satisfaction outside of their marriage bed.

    While the discipline regarding unmarried deacons, priests, Religious brothers, sisters and nuns is that they may not engage in sexual activity, homosexual or heterosexual period, (as they have vowed to God that they will not. It is possible for someone who has previously engaged in sexual activity, within or outside of marriage to enter Religious life, or the diaconate or priesthood in the Latin Rite. The Church has specific requirements regarding these people.

    If a man or woman was married and their spouse has died, they have no minor children whom they are responsible to raise, they may after a period of time specified by their bishop or the superior of their order enter into formation for religious life. If someone who was not married, and does not have obligations to minor children, but has been sexually active after a conversion of his or her life to practicing a moral lifestyle, wishes to enter into Religious life, they may with the approval of their bishop or the Religious superior.

    Since homosexuality carries both social and moral stigmas to it, the Church has specifically stated that they are to have remained chaste usually for a period of five years.

    Now we have to remember that being chaste is not just not acting out sexually, but how we behave and believe by our other actions. So if someone has simply not had sexual activity, but has promoted something sinful as being moral, they would be excluded from religious life. As an example, if someone heterosexual or homosexual was to not have sexual activity, but support immoral lifestyles, such as encouraging or offering support to groups which endorse unmarried co-habitation, or sexual behavior outside of marriage, they would not be seen as morally or spiritually fit for Religious life. To not engage in sin, but encourage it in others is just as damaging to one’s soul as to engage in the sin ones self.

    Most Eastern Rite Catholic Churches allow a married man to be ordained as deacon or priest, however bishops must either be widowed or celibates. In the Latin Rite the practice is for permanent deacons to be either married or celibate when they are ordained, if they are married, and their wife dies, they revert to the celibate lifestyle. Some former protestant ministers who convert and were married while they engaged in their previous ministries, some have been allowed to retain their wife and be ordained as Catholic Priests. This is allowed after a period of time which the local bishop feels sufficient for them to understand the moral and spiritual requirements, as well as hardships they may face as priests, which they did not face as a Protestant minister. But even in these cases, they are expected to remain faithful to their spouse, and if their spouse dies to not marry another wife if their spouse dies after ordination occurs.

    Sadly I do have to add that there have been Religious who have not lived up to the moral standards they have freely chosen to accept and vowed to follow. Over the past 40 years or so there have been many who have openly defied the moral and dogmatic teachings of the Church, and claim that their new and modern understanding of morals or dogma which defy authentically Catholic teachings are correct. While some have maintained their posts, since they do not teach in communion with authentic Catholic teachings, we must defy or ignore those things they propose when we know them to be contrary to what the Church teaches, regardless of any title or position they hold. It is Christ Jesus we will answer to, not a bishop, priest or nun who teaches in opposition to what the Church teaches.

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