Posted on 12/14/2004 3:09:01 AM PST by NYer
VATICAN CITY, December 13, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - John Thavis, the Vatican correspondent for the Catholic News Service, an agency of the US Bishops Conference, reports that the Vatican will soon publish a document concerning homosexuality and the priesthood. The report notes that Vatican officials are preparing an inspection (or visitation) of US seminaries to commence in the Fall of 2005 and the document is expected prior to the visitation.
Bishop John C. Nienstedt of New Ulm, Minn., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Priestly Formation, said in an interview in Rome, "I think they intend to have it out by the time the visitation begins."
The Vatican has confirmed several times that men with homosexual sexual orientations should not be ordained. The December 2002 bulletin of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments contained a letter signed by Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, who has since retired as the head of the Congregation, which said ordaining such men would be imprudent and "very risky."
A prominent Vatican document dealing with the issue was released as early as 1961. The 1961 document from the Sacred Congregation for Religious prohibits the admission of homosexuals to the diocesan priesthood and religious orders. The document states: "Those affected by the perverse inclination to homosexuality or pederasty should be excluded from religious vows and ordination," because priestly ministry would place such persons in "grave danger".
The document is being prepared by the Congregation for Catholic Education in consultation with several other Vatican agencies, including the doctrinal congregation. In a report earlier this year, the education congregation described it as an "instruction on the criteria and norms for the discernment in questions regarding homosexuality in view of the admission of candidates to the seminary and to sacred orders."
Commenting on the coming document which has been more than five years in the making, Bishop Nienstedt said, ""I think it's going to be a balanced document, because the whole question of homosexuality not only has psychological dimensions but also has varying degrees of a person acting out or not acting out." He added, "So the whole question has to be nuanced considerably: 'What is homosexuality?' 'What are the homosexual attractions?' and that sort of thing. I think this document will be helpful because it is going to address those questions."
Very wise words Black Elk,and reflect my thoughts quite precisely.
Ny'er excellent post and an even more excellent defense of celibacy. Thanks,I get so tired of saying the same thing to the same folks with different pseudonyms.
Salvation,thanks for all the links. Maybe you could save this tape since it contains some very good comments from the usual defenders of the Church's position on celibacy like Ninenot,Desdemona,Arrogant Bustard as well ss all the related articles to which you linked us.. In the future we could just call on you to post the "Ditto celibacy thread" and then many of us could just post a read "ditto tape" comment,just to let them know it has great support from Catholics.
All,just a thought on how we could reduce redundancy and save some precious time by declaring this a kind of quasi-official "ditto celibacy tape".
What an opening line for responding to about half the posts from Catholics on Free Republic. I am reading some material written by Innocent III way back in the twelfth or thirteenth century and getting quite a belly laugh as I recall the techniques used by so many on either end of the Catholic spectrum.
On one hand, I chuckle about how his words could be twisted and spun by the left end,and on the other,wondering how those on the right end could possibly call it clear and unambiguous.
I say a prayer of thanks to the Holy Spirit,Truth,for remaining with the Church,speaking through the Holy Father and the Ordinary Magisterium and staying with me as I struggle to understand it all. But understand it,I do,even if it sometimes takes longer than I'd like. Thanks Colleen.
"One 'discerns' the call before responding. The initial response is one of inquiry. The discernment process includes an understanding of the celibacy mandate. Ordination to the catholic priesthood is a lengthy process. Celibacy is only one part of "The Call"."
Isn't discernment required of all of us? Are we not all told to study to show ourselves approved, and does not "God" do the calling and the choosing? What does it mean when it says that many are called but few are chosen?
Just beautiful! Worth copying and pasting to the multitude of posts that spring up on this topic. Thank you!
excellent, B.E. Thanks for the ping. I wouldn't have missed that for the world. Amen, brother.
*Must they have used heroin to counsel addicts?
That's not even a good analogy. Using heroin is entirely different from marriage. I'll tell you from personal experience when I was single and you'd be discussing marriage and problems in marriage with friends and I would make an observation they'd say how can you know anything about it? You're not married, like I how could I understand some of the problems since I had not experienced them. Once I got married, I no longer got that reply. Now you tell me, If you are going to counsel someone on marriage, who do you think someone is more likely to listen to?. Someone who has experienced the same troubles or someone who is on the outside of the institution of marriage. My personal experience says someone who has been married.
* How much money are you sending them to relieve their hunger?
If the gold was removed from the altar, sold, and used to buy food, the money and food would be quickly consumed depriving God honor due him and depriving generations of poor Christians the beauty of the altar to which they bring their adoration of God, their petitions,prayers of reparations, and prayers of Thanksgiving. You know, the poor themselves were happy to donate the little they had to honor God in these beautiful altars.
* of course it is. The gentleman was claiming one had to experience something before one could counsel another about it.
What about cannibalism? What about necrophilia? The list is quite long; limited only by one's imagnation
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