This summer I studied at Aquinas Theological Institute – a Dominican school in St. Louis. Aquinas has a wonderful reputation for serious theological education and a strong commitment to ecumenicalism. As a progressive Protestant student (one of several in attendance this summer), I was warmly received.
During a class session one of my United Church of Christ colleagues mentioned (proudly) that our denomination was the first to ordain a gay person to ministry.
That elicited a lot of laughter from the Catholic priests and nuns in the course. The Dominican teaching the course responded that the Roman Catholic Church has been ordaining homosexuals to ministry for much longer than the UCC has even been in existence (ok, but we were the first to do it openly…).
It is certainly distressing to watch the Vatican respond to the sex abuse scandals in their church by going after gay seminarians. There is certainly no correlation between a homosexual orientation and sex abuse.
DignityUSA is a gay rights movement made up of Roman Catholics. Their message to the Vatican is right on.
Washington, DC – DignityUSA today strongly condemned the new Vatican apostolic visitations of the 229 Roman Catholic seminaries in the United States in search of “evidence of homosexuality” and faculty members who dissent from church teaching. A twelve-page document is now being distributed to seminarians and faculty as part of the review, as reported on the front page of The New York Times on September 15, 2005.
“The Vatican continues to be obsessed about homosexuality, misguided about human sexuality, and misdirected regarding the sexual abuse crisis in the Church, stated Debbie Weill, Executive Director of DignityUSA. “While a review of seminary programs may be appropriate in the aftermath of the sexual abuse crisis, an apparent witch hunt for homosexual seminarians and supportive faculty is not. The Church is fostering a climate of hostility towards some of its very best priests and bishops. This is not the Church Christ called us to be,” Weill added.
“While the Vatican fails to address the core issues relating to the sexual abuse crisis, DignityUSA reminds Church leaders of several key points:
1. “sexuality experts have reportedly instructed the Vatican that there is no link between pedophilia and homosexuality,
2. “gay priests are not the cause of the sexual abuse crisis in the Church,
3. “Church leaders have not accepted responsibility and have not been appropriately reprimanded by the Church for their failures to deal appropriately with the still ongoing sexual abuse crisis in the Church, and
4. “candidates for the priesthood should be evaluated in terms of sexual maturity and their likelihood to be celibate, not sexual orientation,” Weill continued.
DignityUSA is the nation’s foremost organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics, their families, friends and supporters. Founded in 1969, it is an independent nonprofit organization with members and chapters across the country. DignityUSA works for full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people in the life of the Church and Society.
Perhaps the worst part of this “witch hunt”: it will not address what brought about the sex abuse scandals in the US and that leaves the Roman Catholic Church open to new and equally disturbing periods of crisis that will continue to impact all Christians negatively.
