Catholic Church to open its doors to gay priests

Casshew · Oct 9, 2005

A Vatican document expected to be made public soon says the Church will allow gay men who have lived chastely for three years to be candidates for the priesthood.

The document, which has been in the works for three years will update Vatican policy which up until now made clear that homosexuals should be barred from the priesthood.

A senior official with the Vatican, who requested anonymity because the document has not yet been released said the new policy will permit candidates who have lived a chaste life for at least three years before their admission to the seminary.

The Italian weekly Panorama said in its Friday editions that Pope Benedict XVI approved the document during the summer.

In a similar report Friday, the National Catholic Reporter said seminary officials will be asked to exercise "prudential judgement."

Vatican teaching holds that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered." The Church, however, says that homosexuals should be treated with compassion and dignity.

Article

Norma · Oct 9, 2005

Vatican teaching holds that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered." The Church, however, says that homosexuals should be treated with compassion and dignity.

And to provide them access to lots of little alter boys to play with.

Oh - I know that being a homosexual doesn't mean you're a child molestor, but the church does not have a good track record on this.

dakini · Oct 9, 2005

Pook said:
And to provide them access to lots of little alter boys to play with.

Oh - I know that being a homosexual doesn't mean you're a child molestor, but the church does not have a good track record on this.

that is very offensive to me.

reb · Oct 9, 2005

i guess molesting and raping little boys and girls counts as "living chastely"....

poco · Oct 9, 2005

Casshew said:
A Vatican document expected to be made public soon says the Church will allow gay men who have lived chastely for three years to be candidates for the priesthood.

Article

This is a NEW thing??????

Casshew · Oct 9, 2005

poco said:
This is a NEW thing??????

No actually it's not. But now it's official.

reb · Oct 9, 2005

LOL!! that's what i thought too. that's, like, OLD news folks, we already knew that... DUH.....!!

dakini · Oct 9, 2005

reb said:
LOL!! that's what i thought too. that's, like, OLD news folks, we already knew that... DUH.....!!

What is your interpretation of treating an entire group of people "compassionately and with dignity?"

Nova · Oct 9, 2005

Pook said:
And to provide them access to lots of little alter boys to play with.

Oh - I know that being a homosexual doesn't mean you're a child molestor, but the church does not have a good track record on this.

Pook, I know you don't mean to be cruel, so let's be clear: in the absence of women as a sexual outlet, a significant percentage of men will respond sexually to other targets, including children and other men. Prisons (and the military whether we admit it or not) prove this all the time.

There's no reason to believe priests who molest male children are necessarily homosexual. All that is required is that male children be more available to them than, say, adult women, female children, etc.

Norma · Oct 9, 2005

There's no reason to believe priests who molest male children are necessarily homosexual.

Then what are they??

I'm sorry, I mean no harm at all to anyone who's gay. One of my dearest friends was gay, and we had kids only a few days apart. I trusted her with my son more than I trust anyone else, as she also trusted me.

What I have a problem with is an organization with a horrible record for protecting children, be they male or female, who looked the other way the whole time. And they still are. And this is also an organization that states that being Gay is wrong in the first place. Why would I want to support anyone who says that?

The whole point of becoming a priest, according to the catholic church, is that you give up sex for God. Period. Until they change that, there will continue to be problems.

Maral · Oct 9, 2005

Pook said:
Then what are they??

I'm sorry, I mean no harm at all to anyone who's gay. One of my dearest friends was gay, and we had kids only a few days apart. I trusted her with my son more than I trust anyone else, as she also trusted me.

What I have a problem with is an organization with a horrible record for protecting children, be they male or female, who looked the other way the whole time. And they still are. And this is also an organization that states that being Gay is wrong in the first place. Why would I want to support anyone who says that?

The whole point of becoming a priest, according to the catholic church, is that you give up sex for God. Period. Until they change that, there will continue to be problems.

They are pedophiles. A true pedophile is not attracted to adults, so neither homosexuality nor heterosexuality applies.

Mabel · Oct 10, 2005

Maral said:
They are pedophiles. A true pedophile is not attracted to adults, so neither homosexuality nor heterosexuality applies.

Exactly. They molest little boys because they're attracted to little boys. They don't molest women because it's not women that turn them on. That's why allowing priests to marry would never solve the problem - unless they're allowed to marry young boys.

Details · Oct 10, 2005

Mabel said:
Exactly. They molest little boys because they're attracted to little boys. They don't molest women because it's not women that turn them on. That's why allowing priests to marry would never solve the problem - unless they're allowed to marry young boys.

They're attracted to children, to their helplessness. Young girls are molested too, by pedophiles, and by the pedophile priests. But the pedophiles who are priests have less access to the girls - there aren't altar girls, and people ask more questions when a male is around a young girl a lot.

There's no link between being gay and pedophile any more than heterosexual and pedophile.

indigomood · Oct 10, 2005

Details said:
They're attracted to children, to their helplessness. Young girls are molested too, by pedophiles, and by the pedophile priests. But the pedophiles who are priests have less access to the girls - there aren't altar girls, and people ask more questions when a male is around a young girl a lot.

There's no link between being gay and pedophile any more than heterosexual and pedophile.

Hi There! Details, I totally agree with your last statement disputing the link between homosexuality and pedophilia but I respectfully disagree regarding female altar servers. Altar servers can be male or female. Case in point... Corpus Christi Catholic Church in St Augustine, FL had female altar servers last Sunday and they have been for the past few years. FWIW

Mabel · Oct 10, 2005

Details said:
They're attracted to children, to their helplessness. Young girls are molested too, by pedophiles, and by the pedophile priests. But the pedophiles who are priests have less access to the girls - there aren't altar girls, and people ask more questions when a male is around a young girl a lot.

There's no link between being gay and pedophile any more than heterosexual and pedophile.

I agree, it's just as possible that some are attracted to little girls as well as little boys, but there are also pedophiles who target one sex or the other. Regardless, these abusive priests are not "gay", they're child molesters. Two totally different things. A homosexual adult who is not a pedophile is no more threat to a child than is a heterosexual adult.

Jeana (DP) · Oct 10, 2005

Pook said:
Then what are they??

I'm sorry, I mean no harm at all to anyone who's gay. One of my dearest friends was gay, and we had kids only a few days apart. I trusted her with my son more than I trust anyone else, as she also trusted me.

What I have a problem with is an organization with a horrible record for protecting children, be they male or female, who looked the other way the whole time. And they still are. And this is also an organization that states that being Gay is wrong in the first place. Why would I want to support anyone who says that?

The whole point of becoming a priest, according to the catholic church, is that you give up sex for God. Period. Until they change that, there will continue to be problems.

They're pedophiles. I'm no expert on the subject of being homosexual, but its not an act. You can be gay and be celibate - which is what priests are supposed to be. Have the urges, but not act on them.

I completely agree with you though. . . I think they should be allowed to marry, etc.

Linda7NJ · Oct 10, 2005

Hell just froze over!

THUD!

concernedperson · Oct 10, 2005

Mabel said:
I agree, it's just as possible that some are attracted to little girls as well as little boys, but there are also pedophiles who target one sex or the other. Regardless, these abusive priests are not "gay", they're child molesters. Two totally different things. A homosexual adult who is not a pedophile is no more threat to a child than is a heterosexual adult.

Sensibility is always a good thing. Thanks, Mabel.

Nova · Oct 12, 2005

Pook said:
Then what are they??

I'm sorry, I mean no harm at all to anyone who's gay. One of my dearest friends was gay, and we had kids only a few days apart. I trusted her with my son more than I trust anyone else, as she also trusted me.

What I have a problem with is an organization with a horrible record for protecting children, be they male or female, who looked the other way the whole time. And they still are. And this is also an organization that states that being Gay is wrong in the first place. Why would I want to support anyone who says that?

The whole point of becoming a priest, according to the catholic church, is that you give up sex for God. Period. Until they change that, there will continue to be problems.

What Maral said above.

They are indeed pedophiles - whether permanently (i.e., it is their nature) or temporarily (i.e., because boys are available to them). Either way, I'm sure everyone here will agree such priests should not be in the priesthood.

Nova · Oct 12, 2005

Well said, Jeana, Maral, and others!

As I said in my previous post, I'm not sure all priest-molesters would be pedophiles in another context. Whether we like it or not (and whether they admit is nor not), males tend to be very flexible in their desires - particularly when their "ideal" objects (women, say) are denied to them.

This is NOT to say, however, that required celibacy "causes" pedophilia. Obviously it does not in the majority of cases, even among priests.

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