The "outcry" against the Vatican document on admitting homosexuals to the seminaries is so utterly predictable. Here's a Reuters report containing the obligatory teeth-gnashing about "witch hunts", etc., blah, blah, blah.
Here's a quote from Fr. Tom Reese, reminding us why he was cashiered as editor-in-chief of America:
But Father Tom Reese, a U.S. Jesuit scholar and author, said the Vatican had not necessarily done its homework on the issue.
"The Vatican is making decisions about the appropriateness of ordaining homosexuals in total ignorance of how many current priests are homosexuals, how well they observe celibacy and how well they do ministry," he said.
Reese, who lost his job as editor of the U.S. Jesuit weekly America because the journal displeased Pope Benedict, said the Vatican appeared to be missing the point.
"If someone is called to the priesthood by God but denied it by church officials, then it is not a violation of a human right, it is a violation of a divine right--the right of God to call whomever he chooses to the priesthood," he said.
Au contraire, Fr. Reese -- I think the Vatican is precisely aware of the extent of homosexuality in the clergy. Hence, the long-overdue action to check that phenomenon.
An orthodox Anglican Church official took the opportunity to laud Rome and fire a short across Cantebury's bow:
Conservative Catholics have cheered the document, as did some sectors of the Anglican Church, which itself has been split by over the issue of ordaining openly gay clergy.
"That's a policy that we have been promoting and that we support whole-heartedly," said Canon Tunde Popoola, director of communications for the Anglican Church of Nigeria. "It gladdens my heart to hear others coming up with such a policy."
One day as catholics we will have to question the schizophrenic position of homosexuality is not a sin but behavior is. Is like telling a left handed person that it is ok to be left handed but using the left hand to write is sinful. The consequences of this are incredible in the church.
Posted by: Jean | Friday, December 02, 2005 at 03:19 PM
I'm glad they fired Reese. Intelligent peplple have no right telling what the Church should think.
Posted by: Czechmate | Tuesday, December 27, 2005 at 06:50 PM