"If a gay man feels called to the priesthood, [under the proposed new ruling] he must dissemble, or even lie, about his sexual orientation," Appleby said. "In a sense, the Church would be complicit in a lie."So if you think God's calling you to something, you're required to lie in order to bring it about. Sounds like cutting-edge moral theology.
Appleby said throughout the 20th century, when priests were asked why they joined the priesthood, their "number one reason was to save their immortal souls, which means to become holy and do Christ's work."What's the point, that if you want to be a priest but get turned down for some reason Appleby thinks is OK, you're a kleptomaniac or misogynist or have an IQ of 70 or whatever, then that shows the Church and Appleby have decided Christ can't transform your life?The proposed restrictions are a commentary on this concept, Appleby said.
"What the Church seems to be saying is Christ can transform the lives of sinners who are heterosexual, but not those who are homosexual," he said.
Appleby was one of the two speakers the bishops chose to address them at the big pow-wow they had about the Scandal a couple of years ago. The other was even worse. Makes you wonder. Or maybe it doesn't make you wonder.
McBrien said the restrictions would "of course" worsen the current priest shortage facing the U.S.What does mathematics have to do with it? The guy sounds like a clerk of some sort. If there's a definite identity to being a priest, and men admire that identity, then men will want to be priests."If a significant number of gay priests decide to leave the priesthood over this matter and if gays leave the seminaries and others no longer apply for admission, mathematically this will deplete the number of priests and future priests," he said.
The nuymbers game is what got the bishops in trouble thirty years ago. Fact is that in 1960 there probably more priests than were needed, or at least needed in the places they were. After so many seminarians left in the late '60s and early '70s, along with many priests, the bishops panicked and began to admit men who earlier would not have made the cut.