FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Confraternity of
Catholic Clergy endorses, supports and applauds the recent letter from the
Congregation for Catholic Education “Concerning the Criteria of Vocational
Discernment Regarding Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of their
Admission to Seminaries and Holy Orders” We invite all our ordained
brethren (deacons, priests and bishops) to read it thoroughly and to
obediently embrace the Magisterial teaching it contains and we urge vocation
directors and seminary rectors to fully implement the directives given in
that same document.
Specifically, that document
states that the Church “cannot admit to Seminary or Holy Orders those who
are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support
the so-called gay culture.” The only exception being “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.” Note that it does not say
someone who has been actively engaged in a homosexual lifestyle merely needs
to be chaste and celibate for three years to enter the seminary, as some
have erroneously reported.
We do not consider this a
matter of discrimination since as the document itself affirms in “the
mere desire to become a priest is not sufficient and there is no right to
receive sacred Ordination.” It continues to say that “the call to
Orders is the personal responsibility of the Bishop or the Superior General”
since they act on behalf of the Church who alone has the authority and
responsibility to confirm a vocation to holy orders. While the Catechism
(#2358) says that those who have a homosexual orientation “must be accepted
with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust
discrimination in their regard should be avoided.” It is not, however,
prejudice to exclude them from holy orders since the homosexual tendency or
inclination is considered “objectively disordered” and no one has an innate
right to priesthood or diaconate as they do baptism.
As faithful sons of the
church, we pledge our continued loyalty and adherence to the consistent
doctrinal teachings of the Magisterium. We resent the distortions and
misinterpretations surrounding this document months before it was
published. This decree first of all applies specifically and only to those
who are not yet ordained, i.e., to candidates for the seminary and
seminarians already studying for the priesthood. This letter and its
directives are not retroactive in that anyone already ordained would be
affected. On the contrary, priests and deacons are properly under the
jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Clergy whereas seminarians as
candidates for holy orders are under the Congregation of Education, who
issued this document.
Secondly, as the previous
1961 document (Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States
of Perfection and Sacred Orders) pointed out when it, too, made similar
restrictions, moral behavior is but one aspect of formation. It goes
without saying that the recent scandals make it urgent and necessary to
prudently, thoroughly and aggressively investigate every candidate for holy
orders as well as the seminaries which train them. Sexual misconduct and
immoral behavior certainly do not belong in seminarians any more than it
belongs in the priesthood, the diaconate or the episcopacy. Disobedience to
the Moral Law among the clergy and covering it up or condoning it caused a
catastrophe of monumental proportions. No less pernicious and insidious,
however, is disobedience to papal authority and theological dissent from
Magisterium teaching. Bad theology is supported by bad liturgy and together
they spawn bad morality. As Catholic clergy and as baptized members of the
Church, we ask that across the board, our shepherds enforce the universal
laws of the church; to protect and serve the people of God by ensuring that
every ordained deacon, priest or bishop will act morally, properly and
pastorally; defend the deposit of faith as taught by the Magisterium; and
insist that reverent and proper celebrations of the sacred liturgy be done
everywhere, from seminaries to parishes to cathedrals.