[PLUG-TALK] By Karl Keating...

Someone plug_1 at robinson-west.com
Sat Jan 3 04:30:59 UTC 2009


The Catholic priesthood in America has not been getting a good press—
much to the detriment of thousands of good priests who are serving the
Church. There have been two chief problems within the priesthood:
widespread theological dissent and the toleration of homosexual
behavior. Let me offer a proposal regarding the latter.

I know of homosexual priests who live chastely. They recognize that they
have a disorder, and they succeed in working around it, somewhat like
the alcoholic who, through a support group, is able to stay sober. Such
priests deserve our respect.

On the other hand, there are homosexual priests who are "gays"—they have
chosen to live the homosexual lifestyle. It is from the ranks of these
priests that most (not all, admittedly) of the abuse cases have arisen.
The priestly scandal has not been so much about priests abusing children
as about homosexual priests acting out their homosexuality with
teenagers and young adults.

Many have wondered what can be done to solve the problem of "gay"
homosexuality in the priesthood. Here is one possible scheme:



     1. If a priest is "gay"—living a homosexual lifestyle—he should be
        removed from ministry immediately and quietly. He should have no
        position of authority or responsibility in the Church and should
        seek secular employment instead. (Will some dioceses be
        understaffed? Yes, but too bad. Just squeeze more people into
        fewer pews until new priests are trained.)
        
     2. If a priest is homosexual but not "gay"—that is, if he is living
        chastely—let him continue in ministry until normal retirement.
        
     3. Exclude from seminary formation and ordination any homosexual,
        whether "gay" or chaste. The former brings with him too much
        baggage, and the latter should not sign up for "guy-only" work
        that will have him living with other men (thus putting him into
        near occasions of sin). Even if the chaste homosexual thinks he
        has a call to the priesthood, it would be uncharitable to him to
        admit him to ordination, given the current situation. He should
        be encouraged to serve the Church in other ways.

This third point some may find too strict. As I said, I have known
faithful priests who happened to be homosexuals. If the priesthood in
this country were healthy, little or no harm would come from ordaining
chaste homosexuals whose homosexuality is kept private. But we do not
live in ordinary times. We live with a priesthood that has been damaged
by "gay" homosexuality. Until the damage is repaired, we should operate
conservatively.

The three-step process I propose would solve the abuse scandal almost
overnight by getting rid of the priests who cause most of the abuse, and
it would heal the priesthood in America over the next few decades. It
would cause inconvenience in dioceses with a high proportion of "gay"
priests, but that inconvenience will pass soon enough and, in any case,
is more palatable than the existing situation.

Not coincidentally, by solving the problem of "gays" in the priesthood,
we would go a long way toward solving that other problem: theological
dissent in the priesthood.




More information about the PLUG-talk mailing list