Bishop Michael Gerber
Posted on 03/27/2025 4:30:30 PM PDT by ebb tide
In an interview about seminary formation of candidates for priesthood, Bishop Michael Gerber, of Fulda, Germany, supported the idea that gay man can be ordained.
Bishop Michael Gerber
Speaking with Katholisch.de, a major German Catholic news outlet, Gerber, who is also chairman of the Commission for Vocations and Church Services at the German Bishops’ Conference, was asked about his thoughts on the Italian bishops’ conference plan to admit gay men into priestly formation on a case-by-case basis, just as heterosexual men are assessed. Should the Catholic Church in Germany, which is undergoing a process to develop a more uniform, national program for the training of priests, adopt a similar policy, the bishop was asked. He responded:
“We have to address the fact that there are people with different sexual orientations in the seminary during the interview process. We have to do this so that no one isolates their own sexuality according to the motto: What isn’t allowed doesn’t exist. Because that’s good for neither the person nor for pastoral care. My motto is: Does a man find a way to integrate his own sexuality during the course of his priestly training so that he can say yes to a celibate lifestyle? Can someone mature to the point where pastoral care takes place in inner freedom and isn’t sexually connotated? This is also abuse prevention, which applies to every form of sexual orientation. We need a climate where individuals can explore their own sexuality in a safe space and integrate it into their personality. I was in complete agreement on this in my contact with Roman authorities within the framework of their plan.”
How refreshing to hear such a candid assessment about priestly formation from a bishop! He acknowledges that gay men will continue to exist in the seminary and priestly system instead of pretending they are not there. He disparages the often unsaid rule in some seminaries that seminarians should just act as if their gay orientation doesn’t exist. Such an approach is damaging to the candidate and the chruch.
He acknowledges the importance of integration of sexuality into one’s personality. In the past, and even up to the present day in some quarters, much formation of seminarians simply ignore the issue of sexuality. And he recognizes that providing means for such integration would help prevent all sorts of sexual abuse by priests of any sexual orientation.
Most importantly, he stated that “We need a climate where individuals can explore their own sexuality in a safe space and integrate it into their personality.” The power of that sentence rings loud because it is a wish and hope not just for seminarian formation, but a wish and hope that the entire church can be a place for all Catholics to explore, identify, and mature in their sexualities. Our church certainly needs new ways of understanding how to help seminarians accept and affirm their sexuality, but the church also needs to develop a new atmosphere, on all levels and in all contexts, for everyone to understand, appreciate, and celebrate their sexual identity.
Gerber, of course, is a frankenbishop: ordained in June 2013, just three months after Francis assumed the Chair of Peter.
Ping
The Catechism of the Catholic Church on Homosexuality-
“ 2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them
their inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and
sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection”
My understanding as a lay person is that homosexual men cannot be priests as they cannot live in community with other men, which would negate their ability to carry out priestly lives
They should take vows of celibacy
Maybe they should read the Bible.
They want to put a new meaning to “A Children’s Petting Zoo”.
Is this guy yanking us all around or just yanking himself?
The Holy Spirit gives us power to find true sexuality IMHO under the labels of male and female and in the context of marriage.
Satan get behind us.
Get thee to a nunnery!!
“They should take vows of celibacy”
Yeah. Well…they do
Also from Gerber’s diocese:
* * *
https://cathcon.blogspot.com/2022/08/skeleton-parody-of-virgin-mary-in.html
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/4086540/posts
August 18, 2022
Diocese supports voodoo-inspired skeleton parody of Virgin Mary
Irritation over sculptures made of bones in church. The local newspaper writes of “astonishment and sometimes horror” among some conservative Catholics. The Diocese of Fulda, which is responsible for Kassel, on the other hand, welcomed the opportunity for a meeting of cultures through the show. . .
They’re homosexuals. They want to believe the rules against sodomy are wrong so all rules on sex don’t apply to them.
One of many reasons why homosexuals don’t belong in the clergy.
“Get thee to a nunnery!!”
Problem solved 😆
Nothing like including Fudgepacking in the seminary curriculum.
Dear Lord, get rid of this exceedingly cheerful pretender of a bishop!
His face screams creep.
Holy Soirity, cleanse Your Church.
The fact is that a high percentage of Catholic priests are homosexual, everybody knows it, and have been for probably ever. idk what this guy means by integrating their sexuality into their celibacy, sounds like humbug; but it could potentially be a good thing for the formation of seminarians to address the matter of celibacy for both straight and homosexual candidates. How can they pretend to prepare priests for a life of celibacy without it even being discussed?
*Holy Spirit
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