Vous pourrez voir ci-dessous la compréhension qu'un jeune homme australien a de ce document. Celui-ci est un cas en soi. Il se présente comme "homosexuel", mais clame sur son site son attachement à la foi catholique intégrale, y compris à l'enseignement moral du magistère, tel quel, et n'hésite pas à attaquer le mouvement "gay". Il a salué l'élection de Benoît XVI. Son inteprétation me semble à première vue trop large. Mais il a l'honnêteté de faire suivre son commentaire du texte même de l'instruction vaticane, tel que rendu disponible par des sources non officielles. Cela permet au moins au lecteur d'apprécier par lui-même la valeur du point de vue présenté. Pour ma part, je ne l'ai pas encore lu.


Wednesday, November 23, 2005
DREADBAN: Vatican Ban On Gay Priests Arrives (Sort Of) And Doesn't Ban Gay Priests
:: A Bit of a Bang ::

Apparently (this is not an official translation) the document on the treatment of same sex attracted men who seek admission to the seminary has arrived or at least been sighted by some people who've leaked the contents.

:: Hang On ::

Actually, it hasn't. As you'll read and as DREADNOUGHT has repeatedly instructed, the document does not bar same sex attracted men from ordination. Anyone familiar with the distinction used here will understand that the instruction bans 'gay' men from becoming priests (where such a term denotes a political/ideological orientation rather than a sexual inclination) but does not ban same sex attracted men. Rather, as expected it states that:


"...the Church, even while deeply respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to Seminary or Holy Orders those who are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay culture." (emphasis added)
That means:

(1) you can't have gay sex (which is not unfair, all seminarians regardless of sexual inclination, are called to celibacy);

(2) you can't consider yourself the kind of man who just cannot see past his sexuality (i.e., if you're addicted to pornography, or constantly tempted by other men, to the point where you can't put it out of your mind to focus on God); and

(3) if you're a homoactivist or one of their fellow-travellers (i.e., you think Larry Kramer, ACT-UP or Rodney Croome often speak more authentically on human sexuality than the Pope)

you're manifestly not the kind of person who should become a Catholic priest.

:: First Impressions ::

Big surprise, this stuff is obvious. Indeed, such an attitude appears to inform the first 'official' responses by Catholic superiors:


"The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., wrote in his diocesan newspaper in October: "There are many wonderful and excellent priests in the church who have a gay orientation, are chaste and celibate, and are very effective ministers of the Gospel. Witch hunts and gay bashing have no place in the Church." Bishop Matthew H. Clark, of Rochester, addressing any "gay young men who are considering a vocation to priesthood," wrote: "We try to treat all inquiries fairly. You will be no exception."
Where's the purge the homoactivists and liberals claimed was coming? It certainly looks like their outrage was the product of absolute nonsense!

:: The Instruction an Sich ::

Anyone who seeks to use any of this MUST CREDIT its sources:

Unofficial translation from Italian by Robert Mickens, THE TABLET

This text was received by the Italian news agency, ADISTA
_____________________________________
CONGREGATION FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION
INSTRUCTIONCONCERNING THE CRITERIA OF VOCATIONAL DISCERNMENT REGARDING PERSONS WITH HOMOSEXUAL TENDENCIES IN VIEW OF THEIR ADMISSION TO SEMINARIES AND HOLY ORDERS
INTRODUCTION

In continuity with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and, in particular, with the decree Optatam totius on priestly formation, the Congregation for Catholic Education has published various documents to promote an adequate integral formation of future priests, offering guidelines and precise norms concerning its different aspects. The Synod of Bishops in 1990 also reflected on priestly formation in the current circumstances, with the intention of complementing the conciliar teaching on this issue and make it more explicit and incisive in the contemporary world. Following this Synod, Pope John Paul II published the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo vobis.

In light of this rich teaching, the present Instruction does not intend to dwell on all the issues in the affective or sexual realm that require attentive discernment throughout the entire period of formation. It contains norms regarding a particular issue, made more urgent by the current situation, and that is the admission or not to Seminaries and Holy Orders of candidates that have deep-seated homosexual tendencies.

1. Affective maturity and spiritual fatherhood (paternity)

According to the constant Tradition of the Church, only baptised males validly receive sacred Ordination. Through the sacrament of Orders the Holy Spirit configures the candidate, with a new and specific designation, to Jesus Christ: the priest, in fact, sacramentally represents Christ, Head, Shepherd, and Spouse of the Church. Because of this configuration to Christ, the entire life of the sacred minister must be animated by the gift of his entire person to the Church and by authentic pastoral charity.The candidate for ordained ministry, therefore, must attain affective maturity. Such maturity will allow him to relate properly with men and women, developing in him a true sense of spiritual fatherhood for the ecclesial community that will be entrusted to him.

2. Homosexuality and Ordained Ministry

Since the Second Vatican Council up until today, various documents from the Magisterium – especially the Catechism of the Catholic Church – have confirmed the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. The Catechism distinguishes between homosexual acts and homosexual tendencies.

Regarding acts, it teaches that, in Sacred Scripture, these are presented grave sins. Tradition has always considered them as intrinsically immoral and contrary to the natural law. As a consequence, they can never be approved under any circumstance.

As regards to deep-seated homosexual tendencies, which are present in a certain number of men and women, these also are objectively disordered and are often a trial for such people. They must be accepted with respect and sensitivity; every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfil God’s will in their lives and to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter.

In the light of such teaching, this Dicastery, together with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, deems it necessary to clearly affirm that the Church, even while deeply respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to Seminary or Holy Orders those who are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay culture.

Such people, in fact, find themselves in a situation that seriously obstructs them from properly relating to men and women. The negative consequences that can result from the Ordination of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies should not be obscured.When dealing, instead, with homosexual tendencies that might only be a manifestation of a transitory problem, as, for example, delayed adolescence, these must be clearly overcome at least three years before diaconal Ordination.

3. The Church’s discernment of the suitability of candidates

There are two inseparable aspects of every vocation: the free gift of God and the responsible freedom of man. The vocation is a gift of divine grace, received through the Church, in the Church, and for service of the Church. By responding to the call of God, man offers himself freely to Him in love. The mere desire to become a priest is not sufficient and there is no right to receive sacred Ordination. It rests with the Church – in her responsibility to define the necessary requirements for reception of the Sacraments instituted by Christ – to discern the suitability of the one who wishes to enter the Seminary, to accompany him during the years of formation, and to call him to Holy Orders, if he is judged to possess the required qualities.

The formation of the future priest must articulate, in an essential complementarity, the four dimensions of formation: human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral. In this context, it is important to recall the particular importance of human formation as the necessary foundation of all formation. To admit a candidate to diaconal Ordination, the Church must verify, among other things, that the candidate for priesthood has attained affective maturity.

The call to Orders is the personal responsibility of the Bishop or the General Superior. Keeping in mind the view of those to whom they entrusted the responsibility of formation, the Bishop or General Superior, before admitting the candidate to Ordination, must arrive at a morally certain judgment regarding his qualities. In the case of a serious doubt, he must not admit him to Ordination.

The discernment of the vocation and the maturity of the candidate is also the grave duty of the rector and other formators in the Seminary. Before every Ordination, the rector must give his judgment on the qualities of the candidate required by the Church.

In discernment of the suitability for Ordination, the spiritual director has an important task. Even though he his bound by secrecy, he represents the Church in the internal forum. In meetings with the candidate, the spiritual director must clearly recall the Church’s demands regarding priestly chastity and the specific affective maturity of the priest, as well as help him discern if he has the necessary qualities. He has the obligation to evaluate all the qualities of the personality and assure that the candidate does not have sexual disorders that are incompatible with priesthood. If a candidate is actively homosexual or shows deep-seated homosexual tendencies, his spiritual director, as well as his confessor, has the duty to dissuade him, in conscience, from proceeding towards Ordination.

It remains understood that the candidate himself is primarily responsible for his own formation. He must offer himself in trust to the discernment of the Church, of the Bishop that calls him to Orders, of the rector of the Seminary, of the spiritual director, and of any other educator in the Seminary to which the Bishop or General Superior has given the task of forming future priests. It would be gravely dishonest for a candidate to hide his own homosexuality, regardless of everything, to arrive at ordination. Such an inauthentic attitude does not correspond to the spirit of truth, loyalty, and availability that must characterise the personality of one who considers himself called to serve Christ and his Church in the ministerial priesthood.

CONCLUSION

This Congregation reaffirms the necessity that Bishops, Superior Generals, and all those responsible carry out an attentive discernment regarding the suitability of candidates to Holy Orders, from the admission to Seminary to Ordination. This discernment must be done in light of a concept of ministerial priesthood that is in conformity with the teaching of the Church. Bishops, Episcopal Conferences, and Superior Generals should assure that the norms of this instruction are faithfully observed for the good of the candidates themselves and to always assure for the Church suitable priests, true shepherds according to the heart of Christ.

The Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI, on 31 August 2005, approved this Instruction and ordered its publication.

Rome, 4 November 2005, Memorial of St Charles Borromeo, Patron of Seminaries.

Zenon Card. Grocholewski
Prefect+

J. Michael Miller, C.S.B.Titular Arch. of Vertara
Secretary
___________________________________________

Unofficial translation from Italian by Robert Mickens, THE TABLET

This text was received by the Italian news agency, ADISTA

:: The Facts ::

Time to set the lies straight:

1 - this has nothing to do with already ordained priests;

2 - this has nothing to do with deeply pious young men who have occassionally experienced or sometimes experience same sex attraction, such men will still be ordained;

3 - this has nothing to do with defining 'homosexuality' as some third form of gender;

4 - this has something to do with avoiding this kind of evil;

5 - this has nothing to do with describing same sex attraction as a psychological disorder (the reference to disorder, possibly a shoddy translation) refers to paedophilia and other mental illnesses;

6 - this explicitly calls on seminarians to be honest, it cannot be said to encourage lying about one's sexual inclinations and thus promotes mature sexual discourse, not repression; and

7 - this is short document, given over to administrative issues, that adds nothing to the wider debate on same sex attraction and sexuality morality, rather bans:

a) sexually active men;

b) sex-obsessed men; and

c) sex-theory seduced homoactivists

from the Catholic priesthood. These same types of men, in a heterosexual context, are also banned.

:: The Shame ::

That any kind of re-iteration of these basic and obvious points was needed at all demonstrates the paucity of debate and knowledge about formation and discernment in some areas (mainly Western nations) and reflects the obvious fruits of just such faulty thinking: the sex-abuse crisis (predominantly carried out by proto or sometimes fully-fleshed homoactivists in clerical disguise) that has brought such shame to the Church.

:: The Upshot ::

As a result of this instruction, no same sex attracted man will wake up tomorrow and fear reprisals or repression as he tries to discern his vocation. Rather he will walk open-eyed into a new dawn of honest discussion about the difficulties of maintaining celibacy and the deepest desires that hide in parts of the human soul. This is, of course, precisely what the Church is about.

Like G.E.M.Anscombe and Peter Geach on learning of the promulgation of Humane Vitae, DREADNOUGHT welcomes and indeed toasts this clear, humane and timely document for its clarification of issues that impact the flourishing of many young men around the globe. As expected, the Church has been vindicated against her alarmist detractors by the publication of a serious and profound instruction that cuts through vapid and disingenuous indignation to address the human underneath the rhetoric. Tonight those young men, many of whom have written into DREADNOUGHT, can know that their plight is known to the Church and - of course - she makes loving provision for their well-being.

Long live the Pope! Deo gratias!

http://johnheard.blogspot.com/