Priesthood and being Gay

There seems to be a considerable amount of opposition in the priesthood towards the Vaticans document on homosexuality and the priesthood. The formal name is (Instruction Concerning the Criteria of Vocational Discernment Regarding Persons With Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to Seminaries and Holy Orders). The arguement emanating from certian priests and religious is that good priest who are gay and celibate, would be drummed out of the priesthood. Father Drew Christiansen in an article for The Catholic Weekly Magazine wrote and was carried by Catholic Online

It would be tragic, however, if this attempt by the Vatican to confront the sexual abuse crisis were the occasion for division within the church or prompted any increase in prejudice against gays and lesbians. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, homosexual men and women are to be treated with “respect, compassion and sensitivity” (No. 2357). In Pauline theology, the church, as a body, is made up of many different members. Among them are some with a homosexual orientation. In the past, many of these men and women have served faithfully and with distinction in religious orders. And many gay men have served as celibate priests—in parishes, schools and retreat houses across the world.

Anything that seeks to remove gay men and women from the place that is theirs within the body of Christ by virtue of their baptism or to deny their contributions to the church should, of course, be rejected. So should anything that conflates homosexuality with pedophilia or ephebophilia. The connection between them is unsupported by any credible empirical evidence, and the scapegoating and vilification of gay priests is against Christian charity.

This is a shocker, though maybe I should not have been. There are credible studies that show that per person, homosexual (gay) men molest more children than heterosexual men. In fact the odds are amazingly one sided. as quoted in this World Net Daily article

Baldwin's research is substantiated in a recently completed body of work written by Dr. Judith Reisman, president of the Institute for Media Education and author of numerous authoritative books debunking sexual myths, including "Kinsey, Crimes & Consequences."

In her thesis – also written for the Regent University Law Review – Reisman cited psychologist Eugene Abel, whose research found that homosexuals "sexually molest young boys with an incidence that is occurring from five times greater than the molestation of girls. …"

Abel also found that non-incarcerated "child molesters admitted from 23.4 to 281.7 acts per offender … whose targets were males."

"The rate of homosexual versus heterosexual child sexual abuse is staggering," said Reisman, who was the principal investigator for an $800,000 Justice Department grant studying child pornography and violence. "Abel’s data of 150.2 boys abused per male homosexual offender finds no equal (yet) in heterosexual violations of 19.8 girls."

That is amazing, and the least that you can say is that there is nothing settled on this issue and that more research needs to be done.

This does not mean that we rush to judgement or that we treat someone who is gay or homosexual as inferior or with less than christian charity. It does mean that we need to preach the gospel ever more boldly.

Is there hope? My hope rests in Christ!