Bishop Says Edict Allows Some Gay Priests

The Washington Post ^ | 11/30/2005 | Alan Cooperman

[tuesday afternoon]

U.S. Catholics at Odds Over Interpretation of Vatican's New Directive

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said yesterday that under a new Vatican directive on homosexuality, men with a lasting attraction to members of the same sex can still be ordained as priests, as long as they are not "consumed by" their sexual orientation.

Bishop William S. Skylstad's flexible interpretation of the document, which was officially issued in Rome yesterday, was sharply at odds with the position of some other U.S. bishops. They said the Vatican intended to bar all men who have had more than a fleeting, adolescent brush with homosexuality.

"I think one of the telling sentences in the document is the phrase that the candidate's entire life of sacred ministry must be 'animated by a gift of his whole person to the church and by an authentic pastoral charity,' " Skylstad, the bishop of Spokane, Wash., said in an interview. "If that becomes paramount in his ministry, even though he might have a homosexual orientation, then he can minister and he can minister celibately and chastely."

Skylstad's comments are the opening salvo in what promises to be a wide-ranging battle within the U.S. church over the document's implementation. Bishop John M. D'Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., said yesterday that Skylstad's interpretation is "simply wrong" -- a rare public clash among bishops, who usually go to great lengths to preserve an image of collegiality, even when they disagree.

"I would say yes, absolutely, it does bar anyone whose sexual orientation is towards one's own sex and it's permanent," D'Arcy said of the document. "I don't think there's any doubt about it. . . . I don't think we can fuss around with this."

[sageb1]

"But in Rome, the head of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, said that the problems of homosexual and heterosexual candidates are not equivalent. Although many people think homosexuality is a "normal condition of the human person," he told Vatican Radio, it "absolutely contradicts human anthropology" and violates "natural law."

"Excellent!"

I agree.

[babydoll22]

Being an ex Catholic, I have to laugh when I see them try to put canons on a pinhead.

This is nothing more than pure obfuscation on their part. They are trying to change the subject. The problem is not one of homosexuality. If a priest has a homosexual relationship with another gay adult, I couldn't care less. Let him rot in hell.


What they do not want you to see is behind curtain number 2. That's the dirty little secret: pedophilia.The sooner they can make us think they have a homosexual problem rather than a pedophilia problem, they win the argument.

It's like when Barney Franks had a sexual relationship with a page. They spun it as him being homosexual and not a pedophile.

[SoothingDave]

I would say the USCCB has outlived its usefulness, but that would imply that it has once been useful.

Don't they have an important nuclear freeze or global warming paper to work on?

SD

[wideawake]

That's been pushed back so they can work on their campaign for legislatively-imposed "living wages."

[Restorer]

OK. You convinced me.

[pgyanke]

I'm sorry you have such loathing for the Church. However, your assessment is born out of hysteria, not the facts. There was an article on FR not long ago that showed that 80% or more of the pedophilia problem was actually same sex. Now when you consider the reality that homosexuals are a minority of any subset group, it doesn't take a great leap to see that the great concentration of problems originated from this one group. You can't eliminate sin from any whole group of people but most of the reported problems will be solved by removing the homosexuals from their temptation.

The Church makes it very clear that this "policy" is for the benefit of the Church and the individual homosexual. We would do a great disservice to their souls to put them into such temptation.

[Antoninus]

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said yesterday that under a new Vatican directive on homosexuality, men with a lasting attraction to members of the same sex can still be ordained as priests, as long as they are not "consumed by" their sexual orientation.

No, your excellency, that's not what it said. Please re-read. If you still don't get it, report to Sister Mary Rita's rumedial reading comprehension class with the rest of the 4th graders.

[Antoninus]

On the whole, the organization is about as helpful to Catholic orthodoxy as the UN is to world stability and peace.

The time is coming when the conservative bishops should break away and form their own conference. At that moment, the USCCB will become even more impotent than it already is.

[Antoninus]

The American hierarchy is testing Benedict's commitment to collegiality right out of the chute.

Testing nothing. They are opposing Peter behind his back, disputing the Vatican's right to call the shots on matters of faith and morals. In another age, we'd refer to them as heretics. The lot of them are as phony as Texas deacons.

[MEGoody]

Except that it might simply be said that one is a perversion and one is not.

Heterosexual sex outside of marriage is a perversion according to the bible.

[Antoninus]

Thanks for posting that transcript. Father Fessio should be Archbishop or Cardinal Fessio.

Archbishop Levada's former see of San Francisco is still open, I believe....

[FerdieMurphy]

... men with a lasting attraction to members of the same sex can still be ordained as priests...

Sorry "Excellency" but you're full of crap!

[pgyanke]

The lot of them are as phony as Texas deacons.

THAT could leave a mark!!

[sageb1]

"FATHER KEITH PECKLERS: There's a certain implication in the document that homosexuals, gays and lesbians, are not capable of living affectively mature -- emotionally mature lives. And, of course, we know from modern psychology and just from the lives of gay men and lesbians that many do indeed live very faithful, generous lives."

Many 5 year-olds can be faithful and generous. But they are hardly mature. REV. JAMES MARTIN: "...gay men can be celibate..."

No. "Gay" denotes a choice to perform a certain action. It is not a state of being. As Rev. Fessio said, "it is an affective disorder." Those who choose to not fight the disorder are not mature enough to be priests. If they cannot or choose not to fight sin in themselves, they can have no moral authority at all.

[FerdieMurphy]

The American bishops believe they have a franchise with terms as loose as their Roman collars. They are, in the main, out of step with the Roman Catholic Church!

[Antoninus]

What they do not want you to see is behind curtain number 2. That's the dirty little secret: pedophilia.The sooner they can make us think they have a homosexual problem rather than a pedophilia problem, they win the argument.

Uh, clinical pedophilia is described as an act with a pre-pubescent child. In the vast majority of the Catholic sex abuse cases, the victim was a post-pubescent young man, otherwise known as ephebophilia.

The problem within the Church IS a homosexual problem. Homosexuals, with very few exceptions, like to prey on young men. Ask your average homosexual when he had his first sexual experience--the answer may enlighten you. Most of these guys were molested as children themselves.

[Semper Paratus]

Fr Martin on the other hand loaded his speech with qualifiers and watered down any Gospel message.

I remember seeing Bishop Fulton J Sheehan on TV every week at the height of the Cold War and there was no ambiguity in his talks.

[irishjuggler]

Archbishop Levada's former see of San Francisco is still open, I believe....

Yep, it sure is. And Fessio knows the S.F. archdiocese well, as he lived there for most of his life. It'll never happen, but wouldn't it be nice if it did?

[pgyanke]

Fr Fessio studied under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger... I'd say he has connections...

[sageb1]

You can laugh all you like, but this is not spin and it IS about priests and homosexuality.

The Catholic Church is hardly the only institution that has been hit by pedophilia scandals. It is a worldwide problem and must be dealt with wherever it occurs. The Church has paid a heavy price. I would suggest that your glee is showing.