Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Vatican Doc on Homosexuals in Seminaries

The unofficial translation by Catholic World News on the discernment of actively practicing homosexuals entering the seminaries has been released. It is titled "Instruction on the Criteria for Vocational Discernment with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders". Spokane Bishop William Skylstad is quoted as saying in reference to the Vatican document at "Exercising a Christian Realism". The Orthodox Warrior on his blog, Antiquus Bellator, has an excellent blog titled, "Attack From Within" written by Sean Patrick Hurly. He offers an indepth analysis of the problems of homosexuality in the priesthood. For his blog posting click here. For the unofficial translation click here. For the official press release click here. For Jesus' teachings on the practice of homosexuality click here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I ended up here by accident. I cant believe Blogger allows hate-blogs like this.
Showing the Vatican's hatred regime makes you are too miserable a human being to deserve a longer comment.

Anonymous said...

Oliver has no clue....Whatsoever

Unknown said...

Oliver,

Because you lack any semblence of a cogent arguement, you yourself have shown to be a hate-monger.

The document the Vatican has released is nothing new. This particular document has been written down since 810 A.D. And beforehand has always been a part of the Judeo-Christian tradition 2000 years prior to that.

Maybe you need to step away from the Kool-aid and do your own research before you slander others and reveal your ignorance.

God bless.

JohnE said...

Having spent a couple of years in the seminary discerning my vocation, I do not see this policy document to be any different than it would be towards heterosexuals.

How is that?

If I was in an active committed relationship with a woman before or during my stay in the seminary, I would have not been able to enter, or if I got involved while in the seminary I would have been asked to leave.

The idea is to understand the root and meaning of our human sexuality and whether we men have the gift and grace to live the celibate life.

Chastity is the key. It must be lived before entering the seminary, before getting married, after becoming a priest (as celibacy), and also within marriage.

Chastity to me is the understanding that I am gift, and that my sexuality is incorporated in that. Because of this, I am to remain chaste until I marry, thus preserving the full gift of myself for my future wife. Or, in the case of a diocesan priest or religious priest, I am to remain chaste/celibate as an offering of the gift of myself to the Lord and His people.

Further to this, once married or ordained, the gift of myself now belongs to my spouse, either my wife when married, or Jesus Christ and His Church if ordained. Chastity within my vocation means to realize that this is the case. I am no longer my own, but essentially I have freely given myself to another as gift.

There are two very important elements that can help one to remain chaste: Grace and Love. Daily prayer and sacrifice is the only way that one can maintain a chaste life. I must love my spouse, whether my wife or the Church, and receive their love in return in order to remain chaste. With this comes the realization that what we are called to do is no walk in the park. It is a lot of work!

Pax vobis,

John.

Unknown said...

Wow, JohnE, that is a fine answer if I say so myself. You certainly should look into a PhD of Theology!

God bless,

Conde

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