Gays Not Excluded From Priesthood, Irish Prelate Claims

Catholic World News ^ | 11.25/05

[marshmallow]

Dublin, Nov. 25 (CWNews.com) - The Archbishop of Dublin has said that homosexual men are not excluded from ordination as Catholic priests, according to a report in the Irish Times.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin made his remarks on November 24, in response to questions about the Vatican Instruction indicating that homosexual men should not be admitted to priestly training. The Irish archbishop said that he could not respond fully to questions on that issue since the Vatican document had not yet been officially released. The document became public after a leaked copy was published in full on an Italian web site earlier this week.

The archbishop's remarks on the Vatican document appeared to contradict the text of the Instruction from the Congregation for Catholic Education. But they matched previous statements from Archbishop Martin, who had earlier told The Tablet: "You don't write off a candidate for the priesthood simply because he is a gay man."

Archbishop Martin commented briefly on the controversy surrounding the Vatican document after delivering a lecture at the National College of Ireland. During his prepared remarks, the archbishop spoke about the problems he saw arising from religious conservatism in the United States; he remarked on the temptation toward "fundamentalism iin a time of insecurity."

[marshmallow]

Sad to see the current situation in Ireland.

A formerly great Catholic country which has produced a multitude of priests who've spread Catholicism to every corner of the world but things have gone badly wrong and the current archbishop is asleep at the wheel.

[TheBlueMax]

"fundamentalism in a time of insecurity."

Yeah, I see a lot of Christian fundamentalist's running around with three kilo's of explosives strapped to their bodies waiting to explode themselves on unsuspecting shoppers! (sarcasm)

[x5452]

I am confused why dissenters like this are not simply defrocked and excommunicated.

[GMMAC]

Apparently, Archbishop Martin then directed further questions to his aides Fathers Gerald Fitzpatrick & Patrick Fitzgerald to more fully explain the fallacy of there being a homosexual problem within the Church.

[Salvation]

Hmmm.

Guess we need to pray for the Catholics of Ireland.

. Patrick, pray for all of us.

[Incorrigible]

Alas, Catholic Ireland...

[little jeremiah]

If you type in some keywords when you post an article it makes it easier to find! (Helpful hint..)

[A.A. Cunningham]

Contact information for the Diocese of Dublin:

http://www.dublindiocese.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=19

Biography of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin was born in Dublin on 8th April 1945. He attended schools in Dublin (Oblate School, Inchicore; De La Salle School, Ballyfermot; Marian College, Ballsbridge). He studied philosophy at University College Dublin and theology at the Dublin Diocesan Seminary (Holy Cross College, Clonliffe).

He was ordained priest by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid in St Patrick’s Training College, Drumcondra, on 25th May 1969. He later pursued higher studies in moral theology at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. In 1973-74 he was Curate at the Parish of St Brigid in Cabinteely. In 1975 he was responsible for the pastoral care of Dublin pilgrims during the Holy Year in Rome.

He entered the service of the Holy See in 1976 in the Pontifical Council for the Family. In 1986 he was appointed Under-Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and in 1994 Secretary of the same Pontifical Council. On 5th December 1998 he was appointed Titular Bishop of Glendalough and received the episcopal ordination at the hands of Pope John Paul II in St Peter’s Basilica on 6th January 1999.

During his service at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Archbishop Martin represented the Holy See at the major United Nations International Conferences on social questions held in the 1990’s. He also took part in activities of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, especially on the theme of international debt and poverty reduction.

He spoke of the Church’s Social Teaching at conferences organised by the Bishops Conferences of the United States, of Australia, of Peru, of Scotland, and by the Council of Latin American Episcopates (CELAM), the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC), and the Commission of the Episcopates of the European Union (COMECE).

He was a member of various Vatican Offices, including the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. In addition he was a member of the Joint Working Group for relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches and a founding trustee of the World Faiths Development Dialogue (established by the Archbishop of Canterbury).

In March 2001 he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop and undertook responsibilities as Permanent Observer of the Holy See in Geneva, at the United Nations Office and Specialised Agencies and at the World Trade Organisation. He led the delegations of the Holy See to the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (Doha, 2001), the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

He was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Dublin on May 3rd 2003. The Liturgy of Welcome presenting him to the faithful of the diocese took place in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral Dublin on 30th August 2003. Dr Martin automatically succeeded Cardinal Desmond Connell as Archbishop of Dublin on 26 April 2004 when it was announced that Pope John Paul II had accepted Cardinal Connell’s resignation.

[A.A. Cunningham]

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[Tantumergo]

"On 5th December 1998 he was appointed Titular Bishop of Glendalough and received the episcopal ordination at the hands of Pope John Paul II in St Peter’s Basilica on 6th January 1999."

Another first class episcopal appointment from the hands of John Paul the Great.......

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Incorrigible, thanks for the ping.

[elhombrelibre]

Martin sounds more committed to seeing things like a good Liberal than as a good Catholic. Thus, he tacks a crack at "fundamentalism" rather than realizing the grave moral and serious economic harm that Gays have caused the Catholic Church. He sounds like he'd risk the destruction of the Church rather than risk sounding like a "fundamentalist." Perhaps a Gay could seduce him with such sophistry.

[elhombrelibre]

I meant "takes a crack," of course.

[A.A. Cunningham]

The same could be said about the selection of Judas Iscariot.

[Colosis]

Thanks for the pimg Irish. Looks like the church is to be cowed.

[livius]

One would hope that Dairmud Martin is about to be cowed. Seriously, unless the Pope cracks down on bishops and actually makes them toe the line - or at least remain silent - he can write as many "instructions" as he wants, and nothing is going to happen.

The problem is that JPII allowed the bishops to get away with anything they wanted, because he regarded himself as simply the Bishop of Rome, a bishop among bishops. I think BXVI realizes that the Pope is something more than just another bishop.

But the question is, what is he going to do about this? Since Martin's leadership has been a scandal to the faithful for years, and recently, because of the gay pederast scandals, has resulted in a plunge in mass attendance and 1 (or was it no?) vocations for the entire country of Ireland last year, I think the Pope like any executive would be fully justified in firing him. With no golden parachute, either, but his choice of penitential monasteries...St. Patrick's Purgatory for life...

[Tantumergo]

"The same could be said about the selection of Judas Iscariot."

True. But at least 11 out of 12 was a pretty good success rate. Maybe someone should have told JPII that the Judas's weren't supposed to make up the majority.

[Colosis]

he mort unfortunate aspect of all this is that the anti-catholic forces have been emboldened and the inevitable attacks on Catholic schools has begun in earnest. Looks like their tolerance of gay seminaries has came back to haunt them. And now the bishop believes the solution is to be more tolerance of gays in the church.

[Colosis]

"he mort" = "The most"

[blackbird149]

I think it all went wrong for him when he led the Vatican forces to the UN conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance - thats where it all went wrong for me. Its a great shame as our country was always the last bastion of conservative Catholicism being the only country to take the Vatican seriously on sexual matters.