Replies

It seems to me that during the upheaval after Vatican II, the church may have somewhat welcomed homosexual priests for a reason I haven't seen discussed. Nobody really understands homosexuality, and perhaps the church leaders thought that homosexual priests would be chaste and here comes the kicker:

There was a mass exodus of priests after Vatican II to marry. After going to all the expense of educating and training them, they left, as did lots of nuns.

Perhaps the church erroneously thought that homosexual priests wouldn't cause the scandals that heterosexual priests got themselves into with women.

I would rather have maintained the ideal of celibacy but now I have come to believe that allowing more married priests would increase the pool of worthy men from which to choose.

I would rather have maintained the ideal of celibacy but now I have come to believe that allowing more married priests would increase the pool of worthy men from which to choose.

Indeed it would. It would also create a class of part-time priests, rather than the multitude of good, honorable men we have today who have given their whole lives to Christ. A celibate priest never has to choose between going out at 3 AM to adminster last rights to a dying parishoner, or staying home to care for his sick child.

Personally, I pray that the Church retains the discipline of celibate priests, even if it meant that we are able to recruit fewer of them in our materialist culture. Once the homosexuals are rooted out, there will be a revival. Count on it.

>>Perhaps the church erroneously thought that homosexual priests wouldn't cause the scandals that heterosexual priests got themselves into with women<<

I think this is true in part.

I think there was tremendous underdiscernment of the effects on the priesthood of allowing ten thousand heterosexuals to be forcibly separated in only a few years. This did two things-it greatly increased the proportion of gay priests as a fraction of the whole, and, it decreased the inhibitory effect on them of living and working with a substantial number of straight men.

But this begs the question of why the hierarchy reacted in this way. Many married priests tell the story that they were on the street, homeless and jobless, within 24 hours of announcing their situation.

This is quite a contrast to the situation of the gay child abusers.

Why do the bishops act as if the sin of heterosexual marriage by a priest is so uniquely horrible? I think it's because they truly feel sickened and horrified when a priest marries a woman.

Why they don't feel this way about gay child abusers, I don't know.

I also agree with the idea of cleaning up the pool with some normal, heterosexual married priests.

The problem is that many Catholics pride themselves on their "differences" with protestantism, and the celibate priesthood is one of those differences. Any little thing that strikes of going over to the other side makes them squirm. :)

I still don't understand how anyone can recommend priests being allowed to marry as a "solution." This suggests that being single and abstinent (whether gay or straight) leads to pedophilia!!!.

I have (not exactly on-fire Catholic) extended family members who think the solution is letting priests get married. Truly astonishing......