More on Roman Catholic Discrimination against Gay Priests

Here is the link to one published translation of the Vatican's new policy on ordination barring the ordination of priests with a homosexual orientation. Please note that this is a much more restrictive policy than that currently in force in the United Methodist Church in that a commitment to celibacy is no longer adequate. (The Rev. Beth Stroud was told, for instance, that she would not have been defrocked by a United Methodist Trial Court had she vowed to be celibate). Now, according to the Catholic Church, having "profoundly deep-rooted homosexual tendencies" is now sufficient to bar a homosexual man from Holy Orders. It seems clear that simply having a homosexual orientation excludes one from ordination.

The logic of this new policy seems to be grounded in the same gender ideology that already bars all women from the Roman Catholic diaconate and priesthood. Here I quote from the translation linked above:

"According to the constant Tradition of the Church, baptized males alone may validly receive Holy Orders. By means of the sacrament of Orders, the Holy Spirit configures the candidate, to a new and specific role, Jesus Christ: the priest, in fact, sacramentally represents Christ, Head, Shepherd, and Bridegroom of the Church. Because of this configuration to Christ, the entire life of the holy priest must be animated by the gift of his whole person to the Church and with an authentic pastoral love.

"The candidate for ordained ministry, therefore, must reach emotional maturity. That maturity renders him able to put himself in the proper relation with men and women, developing in him a true sense of spiritual fatherhood toward the ecclesial community entrusted to him."

As I see it, this new policy seems to assume the validity of the old, psychoanalytic theory that "homosexual tendencies" represent a "fixation" at an immature phase of development. Homosexuals are assumed to be unable to be "in the proper relation with men and women" and unable to develop a "true sense of spiritual fatherhood." In other words, homosexual men are not capable of being "real men" and therefore are incapable of "validly receiving Holy Orders." Homosexual men cannot be ordained for the same reason that women cannot be ordained. The Roman Catholic Church seems to be saying, "Neither a woman nor a homosexual male can 'sacramentally represent Christ, Head, Shepherd, and Bridegroom of the Church' because they don't belong to the proper gender since these titles (Christ, Head, Shepherd, Bridegroom) all are gendered as male.

Please see Andrew Sullivan's blog for Friday, December 2, 2005 for his more thorough analysis of this development. Andrew provides many links to other analysis on the subject.