Raphael Gallagher, Can Gay Men be Prits?, The Furrow, Vol. 57, No. 2 (Feb., 2006), pp. 67-80
Contents:
- WHAT ABOUT ‘GAY’ PRITS?
- CATHOLIC DCE SAYS GAY AND TRANS PEOPLE N'T BE BAPTIZED OR RECEIVE COMMUNN
- CAN A GAY MAN BEE A PRIT?
- ‘IT IS NOT A CLOSET. IT IS A CAGE.’ GAY CATHOLIC PRITS SPEAK OUT
- CAN AN OPENLY GAY MAN BE A CATHOLIC PRIT?: N.J. SE NTU BATE
- I THOUGHT I ULD BE A GAY JU PRIT. I N’T BELIEVE HOW WRONG I WAS.
- OPENLY GAY CATHOLIC PRIT DISCS POPE FRANCIS' APPEAL FOR LGBTQ PROTECTNS
- GAY PEOPLE SHOULD NOT JO CATHOLIC CLERGY, POPE FRANCIS SAYS
- WHY DID SO MANY GAY MEN ENTER THE PRITHOOD THE 20TH CENTURY?
- CATHOLIC PRITS: IT'S 'EMPIRIL FACT' THAT MANY CLERGY ARE GAY
WHAT ABOUT ‘GAY’ PRITS?
Rev. Warren Hall, who was recently removed om the mistry at Seton Hall Universy, me out as gay this week. His revelatn as attus toward gay prits are changg. * can a gay man become a catholic priest *
Then we n exame some relatively recent statements om the Vatin ncerng the specific qutn of ordag men of homosexual orientatn to the prithood. Some felt that so long as a man do not actually engage homosexual activy, the mere fact that he feels clatns that directn should not, and of self, bar him om beg a prit.
In orr to end any nfn, the Vatin’s Congregatn for Catholic Edutn — which has thory matters of semary trag — issued a document signed to clarify the Church’s posn on the issue of homosexual men studyg for the prithood. The Instctn Concerng the Creria for the Discernment of Votns wh regard to Persons wh Homosexual Tennci view of their Admissn to the Semary and to Holy Orrs was approved by Pope Benedict for publitn 2005.
Neverthels, stat unequivolly that the Church “nnot adm to the semary or to holy orrs those who practice homosexualy, prent ep-seated homosexual tennci or support the so-lled ‘gay culture.
CATHOLIC DCE SAYS GAY AND TRANS PEOPLE N'T BE BAPTIZED OR RECEIVE COMMUNN
* can a gay man become a catholic priest *
A man who is judged by his bishop to be of homosexual clatns that are signifint enough to prevent him om beg a prit has no grounds to ntt the bishop’s cisn, and his rights are not beg vlated this se. It do, however, fd necsary the days to assert that the homosexual outlook is fundamentally patible wh the misterial prithood. While the Church asserts that homosexualy is disorred and nnot perm homosexuals to be ordaed, do ntue to pray for their spirual wellbeg — and as Catholics we ourselv should do the same.
Answer:Existg prits who may al wh homosexual tennci yet are mted to a life of chasty and otherwise to the Church’s teachgs n certaly ntue their pritly mistry. Regardg ndidat for the prithood, December 2016 the Congregatn for the Clergy, wh Pope Francis’s approval, reaffirmed that men who live a homosexual liftyle, have “ep-seated homosexual tennci, ” or support the “so-lled ‘gay culture’” nnot be admted to the misterial prithood:.
CAN A GAY MAN BEE A PRIT?
No room for ‘fashnable’ homosexualy and gay prits should be ‘impecbly rponsible’ or leave * can a gay man become a catholic priest *
In relatn to persons wh homosexual tennci who seek admissn to semary, or disver such a suatn the urse of formatn, nsistent wh her own Magisterium, “the Church, while profoundly rpectg the persons qutn, nnot adm to the semary or to holy orrs those who practise homosexualy, prent ep-seated homosexual tennci or support the so-lled ‘gay culture. One mt no way overlook the negative nsequenc that n rive om the ordatn of persons wh ep-seated homosexual tennci” (The Gift of Pritly Votn 199, footnot omted). This document reaffirms that, ntrary to some reports, the Church don’t view the term gay favorably, given s associatn wh livg and promotg a liftyle that is irrencilable wh J Christ and his teachg (see John 8:31-32) you like this ntent?
They also n’t serve as wns at Catholic baptisms or, the guidance says, gay and transgenr people n participate such sacraments if they repent. For gay, lbian, bisexual and queer people, that would mean endg same-sex relatnships, and for trans people, would mean livg as the sex they were assigned at birth, although the guidance says trans people who have unrgone "physil chang to the body" aren’t required to reverse, acrdance wh Catholic doctre, the guidance says children of same-sex married upl n be baptized if they are raised the Catholic fah and tght that same-sex marriage go agast the church's teachgs.
‘IT IS NOT A CLOSET. IT IS A CAGE.’ GAY CATHOLIC PRITS SPEAK OUT
Some Catholic clergy say most prits are gay. * can a gay man become a catholic priest *
’”Marianne Duddy-Burke, the executive director of DignyUSA, which advot for LGBTQ rights the Catholic Church, said the guidance is part of a larger trend of dc’ "makg statements that look like they're tryg to be helpful to gay, queer and transgenr people but that are really dog harm to the spirual, emotnal and physil health of our muny and to fai. An important qutn to be addrsed this ntext is “Do a man, whether straight or gay, who feels lled to prithood, have the pacy to live chaste celibacy?
It says that “those who practise homosexualy, prent ep-seated homosexual tennci or support the so-lled gay culture should not be admted to the semary or holy orrs”. The crern of ‘ep-seated homosexual tennci’ has been terpreted by many bishops and directors of semary formatn, as referrg to men who are unlikely to be able to live a chaste celibate life. There are many prits and relig wh a homosexual orientatn who are emotnally mature, psychologilly healthy, genuely lovg, livg ntented celibate liv, and loved by those to whom they mister.
CAN AN OPENLY GAY MAN BE A CATHOLIC PRIT?: N.J. SE NTU BATE
In regnizg their historil ntributns, many bishops and directors of semary formatn have terpreted the Vatin Instctn of 2005 to mean that if a gay man feels an thentic ll to the prithood, is emotnally mature and n live a celibate liftyle, he n be admted to the semary. ” And yet, thoands of the church’s prits are stori of gay prits are unspoken, veiled om the outsi world, known only to one another, if they are known at than about 10 prits the Uned Stat have dared to e out publicly.
I THOUGHT I ULD BE A GAY JU PRIT. I N’T BELIEVE HOW WRONG I WAS.
But gay men probably make up at least 30 to 40 percent of the Amerin Catholic clergy, acrdg to dozens of timat om gay prits themselv and rearchers. ”Two dozen gay prits and semarians om 13 stat shared timate tails of their liv the Catholic closet wh The New York Tim over the past two months.
He uld lose all three if his bishop fds his sexualy disqualifyg, even if he is fahful to his vows of environment for gay prits has grown only more dangero. McCarrick, the once-powerful rdal who was ocked last week for sexual abe of boys and young men, has flamed accatns that homosexualy is to blame for the church’s rurgent abe crisis.
OPENLY GAY CATHOLIC PRIT DISCS POPE FRANCIS' APPEAL FOR LGBTQ PROTECTNS
And yet proment bishops have sgled out gay prits as the root of the problem, and right-wg media anizatns attack what they have lled the church’s “homosexual subculture, ” “lavenr mafia, ” or “gay bal. He has lled homosexualy “fashnable, ” remend that men wh “this ep-seated tenncy” not be accepted for mistry and admonished gay prits to be “perfectly rponsible, tryg to never create sndal. “The vast majory of gay prits are not safe, ” said Father Bob Bsen, a prit Park Cy, Utah, who was outed about 12 years ago after he held Mass for the L.
GAY PEOPLE SHOULD NOT JO CATHOLIC CLERGY, POPE FRANCIS SAYS
”“You uldn’t have a particular iendship wh a man, bee you might end up beg homosexual, ” explaed a prit, who once nicknamed his iends “the P.
”The sexual revolutn happeng outsi semary walls might as well have happened on the moon, and natnal ton the fight for gay rights, like the Stonewall rts, on prit a ral dce said the l remd him of how his elementary school forced left-hand stunts to wre wh their right hand.
Many gay prits spoke of beg pulled between nial and nfn, fally g out to themselv their 30s or Green was 24 when he realized he was gay and nsired jumpg om his dorm wdow. “There will be a time your life when you will look back on this and you’re gog to jt love yourself for beg gay, ” Father Green remembered this man tellg him. ”One prit, whose parish has no ia he is gay, remembered a backyard cktail party a few years ago where fellow prits were sayg “vile” thgs about a gay bishop.
WHY DID SO MANY GAY MEN ENTER THE PRITHOOD THE 20TH CENTURY?
”Though open, the closet means that many prits have held the most paful stori among themselv for s: The semarian who died by suici, and the match om a gay bar found afterward his room.
”The ia that gay prits are rponsible for child sexual abe remas a persistent belief, pecially many nservative Catholic circl. Wh every new abe revelatn, the tangled threads of the church’s sexual culture bee even more impossible to sort after study shows that homosexualy is not a predictor of child moltatn.
CATHOLIC PRITS: IT'S 'EMPIRIL FACT' THAT MANY CLERGY ARE GAY
“He said, ‘I don’t ever want you to ll me to report about your pastor, unls he is a homo or an alchie, ’” he said, referrg to an alholic. At the largt the Uned Stat, Munle Semary Illois, few ever talk about sexual inty, said one gay stunt, who is aaid to ever e out.
”Blamg gay men for sexual abe is almost sure to be a major topic this week at the Vatin, at a much-anticipated four-day summ on sexual abe.
When the abe crisis broke out aga last summer, the former Vatin ambassador to the Uned Stat, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, acced “homosexual works” of Amerin rdals of secretly workg to protect abers.