http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...cangays23.html

Why just ban candidates with homosexual tendencies, why not ban heterosexuals also? We had a heterosexual minister in my state who molested young boys. Isn't the problem in the church more of a pedophilia problem rather than a homosexual problem?

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Well, homosexuality goes against Catholic doctrine, so this seems like a no-brainer to me. The problem seems to be the reason, namely molestation. I've always heard that pedophiles usually don't really care much about the gender of their victims.

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At first glance it seems a bit ironic to me. A ban on homosexuals, by a man who dresses up like mother and wants to be called "Father". But that's just my weird mind at work.

This appears to be a complete ban on homosexuals, active or not. The priesthood calls its members to celibacy. Why, then, can a celibate homosexual not be ordained? Or is the pope claiming that it is not possible for gays to be celibate?

I think it's an over-reaction to all the pedophilia in the church. The church condoned it for years (or at least, covered it up), but now that it's hitting them in the purse, they've decided simply to ban gays from the priesthood. It will be interesting to see how they try to explain away the pedophilia that will continue, even without gay clergy.

My humble opinion is that it is quite possible and reasonable to ban priests for any kind of sexual behavior--gay or hetero--but it is a completely different thing to ban priests simply because they are gay, but remain celibate. In the first case, the church is condemning behavior; in the second, it is condemning the individual. It's the difference between saying "We reject your behavior" and "We reject you."

Has the pope forgotten that the very word "catholic" means "universal"?

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Surprise? Uh, no. It's against their doctrine. However, they need to take a look at their straight pedophile priests, of which there are more than gay priests with the same horrific behaviors. As it is in the US as a whole.

Robin, loved your summary of the situation!

Great post, Bahai-Sojurner. I agree with you. Instead of doing this, they need to look at the culture of covering up that the church participated in for so long. If they had removed the pedophiles at the first complaint instead of shuffling them around from one parish to another they might not be having the problems they are today.

Banning gay priests will not solve their problem.

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It would be interesting to see a study of the sexuality of priests. They could do an anonymous study.

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I find this discussing interesting and thought I'd add some words from the linked article that I think are relevant to some points that have been made so far. I also think the second paragraph gets at what the church believes is the crux of the matter.


Correct relationship with men and women? Yep, that clarifies it for me.
Not!