Scandals involving priests who have sexually abused children have been a source of many problems for the Roman Catholic Church. One of those problems has been the situation of gay priests. Statements from Vatican officials have expressed strong disapproval of the very existence of homosexuals within the priesthood — the presumption being that the sexual abuse problems are caused by gays and that if they disappear, then so will the problem.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls has suggested that it is time to rid the church of its gay clergy and has said that “people with these inclinations just cannot be ordained.”
Monsignor Andrew Baker of the Congregation of Bishops has said that, if a man is gay, “then he should not be admitted to holy orders, and his presence in the seminary would not only give him false hope but it may, in fact, hinder” the needed therapy to overcome his urges.
Bishop John Nienstedt of New Ulm, Minnesota, has stated that he would have “serious reservations” about accepting a seminary candidate who is homosexual, and that:
- I would say in the main that a person with a homosexual orientation would not be a good candidate for seminary life. The temptations are too great: You’re living in an all-male environment, your closest friends are men. You’re putting a person in harm’s way.
Lest it be thought that such comments do not reflect the thinking of the highest reaches of the Roman Catholic Church, on September 5, 2002, Pope John Paul II stated that:
- It would be lamentable if, out of a misunderstood tolerance, they ordained young men who are immature or have obvious signs of affective deviations that, as is sadly known, could cause serious anomalies in the consciences of the faithful, with evident damage for the whole Church.
The term “affective deviations” is a code for “disordered” sexual orientations — primarily homosexuality, in fact. Thus, a person who is gay shouldn’t really be considered for the priesthood because of the problems they cause for the entire Catholic Church. According to Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez, retired prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the ordination of homosexual men is:
- ...absolutely inadvisable and imprudent, and from the pastoral point of view, very risky. A homosexual person or someone with homosexual tendencies is not, therefore, suitable to receive the sacrament of holy orders.
Such statements have shocked and outraged many Americans, Catholic and non-Catholic. What is really shocking, however, is that such statements are surprising anyone. This has been the official Vatican policy for a long time — people have simply been living in an era when that policy was overlooked and enforced with laxity, if at all.
In 1961, a directive was issued to the superiors of religious communities on “Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and Sacred Orders”:
- Advancement to religious vows and ordination should be barred to those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty, since for them the common life and the priestly ministry would constitute serious dangers.
This document is largely about the principle of celibacy. and elsewhere emphases the importance that priests not be of the sort who have to constantly struggle to maintain a celibate lifestyle. When this directive is cited, it is frequently added that it is unlikely that gays could indeed remain celibate as priests and this is used as a primary rationale for why they should be excluded from joining the clergy. The association with pedophilia is sometimes, but not necessarily, made.
