The long-awaited "gay doc"

INSTRUCTION CONCERNING THE CRITERIA OF VOCATIONAL DISCERNMENT REGARDING PERSONS WITH HOMOSEXUAL TENDENCIES IN VIEW OF THEIR ADMISSION TO SEMINARIES AND HOLY ORDERS

In continuity with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and, in particular, with the decree Optatam totius on priestly formation, the Congregation for Catholic Education has published various documents to promote an adequate integral formation of future priests, offering guidelines and precise norms concerning its different aspects. The Synod of Bishops in 1990 also reflected on priestly formation in the current circumstances, with the intention of complementing the conciliar teaching on this issue and make it more explicit and incisive in the contemporary world. Following this Synod, Pope John Paul II published the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo vobis.

In light of this rich teaching, the present Instruction does not intend to dwell on all the issues in the affective or sexual realm that require attentive discernment throughout the entire period of formation. It contains norms regarding a particular issue, made more urgent by the current situation, and that is the admission or not to Seminaries and Holy Orders of candidates that have deep-seated homosexual tendencies.

According to the constant Tradition of the Church, only baptised males validly receive sacred Ordination. Through the sacrament of Orders the Holy Spirit configures the candidate, with a new and specific designation, to Jesus Christ: the priest, in fact, sacramentally represents Christ, Head, Shepherd, and Spouse of the Church. Because of this configuration to Christ, the entire life of the sacred minister must be animated by the gift of his entire person to the Church and by authentic pastoral charity.

The candidate for ordained ministry, therefore, must attain affective maturity. Such maturity will allow him to relate properly with men and women, developing in him a true sense of spiritual fatherhood for the ecclesial community that will be entrusted to him.

Since the Second Vatican Council up until today, various documents from the Magisterium – especially the Catechism of the Catholic Church – have confirmed the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. The Catechism distinguishes between homosexual acts and homosexual tendencies.

Regarding acts, it teaches that, in Sacred Scripture, these are presented grave sins. Tradition has always considered them as intrinsically immoral and contrary to the natural law. As a consequence, they can never be approved under any circumstance.

As regards to deep-seated homosexual tendencies, which are present in a certain number of men and women, these also are objectively disordered and are often a trial for such people. They must be accepted with respect and sensitivity; every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfil God’s will in their lives and to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter.

In the light of such teaching, this Dicastery, together with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, deems it necessary to clearly affirm that the Church, even while deeply respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to Seminary or Holy Orders those who are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay culture.

Such people, in fact, find themselves in a situation that seriously obstructs them from properly relating to men and women. The negative consequences that can result from the Ordination of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies should not be obscured.

When dealing, instead, with homosexual tendencies that might only be a manifestation of a transitory problem, as, for example, delayed adolescence, these must be clearly overcome at least three years before diaconal Ordination.

There are two inseparable aspects of every vocation: the free gift of God and the responsible freedom of man. The vocation is a gift of divine grace, received through the Church, in the Church, and for service of the Church. By responding to the call of God, man offers himself freely to Him in love. The mere desire to become a priest is not sufficient and there is no right to receive sacred Ordination. It rests with the Church – in her responsibility to define the necessary requirements for reception of the Sacraments instituted by Christ – to discern the suitability of the one who wishes to enter the Seminary, to accompany him during the years of formation, and to call him to Holy Orders, if he is judged to possess the required qualities.

The formation of the future priest must articulate, in an essential complementarity, the four dimensions of formation: human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral. In this context, it is important to recall the particular importance of human formation as the necessary foundation of all formation. To admit a candidate to diaconal Ordination, the Church must verify, among other things, that the candidate for priesthood has attained affective maturity.

The call to Orders is the personal responsibility of the Bishop or the General Superior. Keeping in mind the view of those to whom they entrusted the responsibility of formation, the Bishop or General Superior, before admitting the candidate to Ordination, must arrive at a morally certain judgment regarding his qualities. In the case of a serious doubt, he must not admit him to Ordination.

The discernment of the vocation and the maturity of the candidate is also the grave duty of the rector and other formators in the Seminary. Before every Ordination, the rector must give his judgment on the qualities of the candidate required by the Church.

In discernment of the suitability for Ordination, the spiritual director has an important task. Even though he his bound by secrecy, he represents the Church in the internal forum. In meetings with the candidate, the spiritual director must clearly recall the Church’s demands regarding priestly chastity and the specific affective maturity of the priest, as well as help him discern if he has the necessary qualities. He has the obligation to evaluate all the qualities of the personality and assure that the candidate does not have sexual disorders that are incompatible with priesthood. If a candidate is actively homosexual or shows deep-seated homosexual tendencies, his spiritual director, as well as his confessor, has the duty to dissuade him, in conscience, from proceeding towards Ordination.

It remains understood that the candidate himself is primarily responsible for his own formation. He must offer himself in trust to the discernment of the Church, of the Bishop that calls him to Orders, of the rector of the Seminary, of the spiritual director, and of any other educator in the Seminary to which the Bishop or General Superior has given the task of forming future priests. It would be gravely dishonest for a candidate to hide his own homosexuality, regardless of everything, to arrive at ordination. Such an inauthentic attitude does not correspond to the spirit of truth, loyalty, and availability that must characterise the personality of one who considers himself called to serve Christ and his Church in the ministerial priesthood.

This Congregation reaffirms that it is necessity that Bishops, Superior Generals, and all those responsible carry out an attentive discernment regarding the suitability of candidates to Holy Orders, from the admission to Seminary to Ordination. This discernment must be done in light of a concept of ministerial priesthood that is in conformity with the teaching of the Church. Bishops, Episcopal Conferences, and Superior Generals should assure that the norms of this instruction are faithfully observed for the good of the candidates themselves and to always assure for the Church suitable priests, true shepherds according to the heart of Christ.

The Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI, on 31 August 2005, approved this Instruction and ordered its publication.

A simple rehash of what the Church has previously taught, with some PC crap thrown in as a non-sequitor about how we respect everyone and shouldn't kick a gay person when we meet him in the street. Not one word of practical advice from the congregation in charge of seminaries about how to interview prospective candidates regarding their attitutes toward homosexuality and sexuality in general, nor anything about the problem of effeminism. Likewise, nothing at all about those already ordained, especially those who have publically identified themselves as gay, and what should be done with them. Most disturbing of all, no catalog of penalties to be applied to bishops and seminary officials who choose to ignore Church teaching regarding homosexuality or who knowingly accept gays into the seminary -- which I'm sure they will continue to do, since the document mandates no enforcement mechanism. And why should it? It doesn't really give us anything to enforce.

This is a document written in the style of Paul VI: a beautifully crafted but naive restatement of doctrine, perfectly orthodox from beginning to end, but rendered impotent by (1) the striking lack of enforcable canons, (2) a date by which they must be implimented, and (3) the penalties to be applied for disobediance. In other words, a document that will change or improve nothing whatsoever.

"A document with no link, and no way to check it out?"

Its close enough in translation to the official version for it to make no difference.

And, yes, it is a totally inadequate, ineffectual waste-of-time document which is already being ignored by the bishops (you should see the official press release of the English idiots), and it will do nothing whatsoever to remedy the situation.

Another grand failure of fatherhood by these pathetic eunuchs who are supposed to be our spiritual fathers. May it be unto them as it was unto Sodom & Gomorrah!

The Long-Awaited Document:

http://www.adistaonline.it/congregatio.PDF?PHPSESSID=b5c1aad6ca6b54c5c323932f7993ed10

Waited for what? This?

Deep-rooted? Tendencies? Transitory problem of homosexuality?

Who will make the decisions? Spiritual Directors? Whose work is Sealed in Confessional Secrecy? They are to persuade "deeply rooted" and direct
"un-deeply rooted" homosexuals in conscience and in secrecy?

Where's the MORAL teaching? WHERE IS THE MORAL TEACHING???

NOTHING HAS CHANGED!

Dust in the wind.

Thanks for providing the source for the original, as I had failed to do so.

And, yes, I agree: not teeth means no progress. IMHO, this document was crafted by someone who wanted to remain faithful to the long-held teaching of the Church, but whose primary audience was the editorial directors of the NYT in the vein hope of them recognizing how compasionate and understanding we all are.

Why not just paste a "kick-me" sign on your rear end?

Tomorrow morning (Nov. 23) NPR's "Morning Edition" will have a segment on the new Vatican document regarding homosexuals in the seminary. Michael S. Rose, author of "Goodbye, Good Men" will talk about the whole business.

Another English translation available at NOR:
http://www.newoxfordreview.org/article.jsp?did=1105-vatican

This is a document written in the style of Paul VI

Say no more! The piecese are all beginning to fall into place now.

"Archbishop Jean Jadot, Pope Paul VI's apostolic delegate to the United States from 1973-1980, has no regrets about the spate of bad bishops he infficted on the Catholics of this country."
Still Proud Of Bishops He Gave U.S.

So, it was Pope Paul VI who opened Pandorra's box and is ultimately responsible for all the novelties, liturgical abuses and lost catholic souls!

"Unknown | 11-4-95 | CONGREGATION FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION"

Is this your source?

So, it was Pope Paul VI who opened Pandorra's box and is ultimately responsible for all the novelties, liturgical abuses and lost catholic souls!

Bishops who are scrambling to maintain their hold on control of these novelties and liturgical 'norms' in the light brought by Pope Benedict's papacy. Thank you, Archbishop Jadot for that. It seems like the lid to that box won't be closed easily and these Bishops will fight it all the way.

http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=40891

Another take on it from Catholic World News. In their private subscription thread, the overall take is positive. I suppose those who read more "Vaticanese" need to check this over to see how strong it is.

Frank

Setting aside for the moment the fact this alleged document was posted without attribution (which is a fairly serious no-no), it does contain some interesting wording. Much hot air and verbiage has been expended in recent weeks (yes even here on FR) about the fear that those with homosexual inclinations who could remain chaste for three years would be allowed to remain in seminary. This document does not do that. It states...

"When dealing, instead, with homosexual tendencies that might only be a manifestation of a transitory problem, as, for example, delayed adolescence, these must be clearly overcome at least three years before diaconal Ordination."

Overcome means not there anymore. Clearly Rome has opted for a zero tolerance policy. The issue of sanctions are a legitimate point but since the bishops would logically be the ones responsible for enforcement issuing a catalog of anathemas and excommunications is kinda pointless. Rome simply does not have the means to micro manage the world's seminaries. Like it or not it must be handled on a local level. As for a "date effective" clause thats a non issue. In the absence of a specific "effective on" date, all juridical documents issued by the Holy See take effect upon publication.

Not one word of practical advice from the congregation in charge of seminaries about how to interview prospective candidates regarding their attitutes toward homosexuality and sexuality in general, nor anything about the problem of effeminism.

I think you miss the point of this document. It's an "instruction," not a manual. Instructions are on a lesser level than encyclicals but still meant to be general in themes, not specific.

If this is the real document, then I'm really disappointed.

So, I believe the timeline is this:

1961 : Vatican prohibits ordination of gay men

1960s to 2005 : Massive ordination of gay men, resulting in innumerable cases of sexual assault on teenage boys.

2005 : Vatican says, OK, we'll allow SOME gay men to be ordained.

Wow, so by loosening the prohibition against gay ordinations, you hope to achieve WHAT exactly? I am disappointed they didn't simply reissue a complete ban, with the words "THIS TIME WE MEAN IT!" added.

-jtal

Thank you!!!! for the link. Now, coming from the diocese of Albany (and feel free to substitute the names of those bishops elevated by Archbishop Jadot to their current status), there is a problem with this paragraph.

"The call to Orders is the personal responsibility of the Bishop or the major superior. Holding present the opinion of those to whom the responsibility of the formation is entrusted, the bishop or the major superior, before admitting a candidate to ordination, must reach a morally certain judgment on their quality. In the case of a serious doubt in this respect, they must not admit him to ordination. "

For more than 2 decades, our bishop has called to orders only homosexual men. Since the sex abuse scandal when it was discovered that in many of these 'liberal' dioceses, one found the greatest number of abusers, the bishop has placed a very heterosexual and manly priest in charge of eliciting new recruits. The very orthodox catholics distrust anyone who acts on behalf of this bishop. I know of one family where the son felt called to the priesthood, and he explored multiple religious communities before selecting the one where he would attend their seminary.

This will be an immense challenge to those who support a different agenda from that of the Holy Father.

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