Category: Vatican

While Pope Francis has ignited some confusion amongst the laity with his public pronouncements on homosexuality (“Who am I to judge?”, which was his off-the-cuff response to a question about his advancement of a priest with known homosexual proclivities), he has on other occasions spoken against homosexuality in the priesthood, at least in a general way.  

In “The Strength of Vocation” he has now provided another book-length interview with Spanish priest Fr. Fernando Prado, in which he addresses the issue of homosexuality in the priesthood. He addresses it, but depending on who you ask, he stops short of a complete ban against it. He states:

 “The question of homosexuality is a very serious one…. In our societies, it even seems homosexuality is fashionable. And this mentality, in some way, also influences the life of the church… For this reason, the Church urges that persons with this rooted tendency not be accepted into ministry or consecrated life… [For those already ordained] [i]t is better that they leave the priesthood or the consecrated life rather than live a double life.”

While one might wish that the statements were firmer – that those with deep-seated homosexuality must not be admitted to the seminary, and those priests who are acting upon such tendencies must leave the priesthood – his pronouncement stops well short of such a demand. He merely states that the Church “urges” that such men not be admitted, and if they are in ministry and are not living a chaste life, that it is “better” that they leave.

The use of such “squishy” words and phrases may be intended to leave the door open for “pastoral” approaches to dealing with the issues, but have the effect of permitting, perhaps even encouraging, dissent from true Catholic teaching on homosexuality. As expected, Jesuit and homosexualist apologist Fr. James Martin seized upon the words to encourage homosexual priests to remain in ministry (“My sense is that he is essentially reminding gay priests to be celibate—like all priests are called to be.”). Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese, writing in the heterodox National Catholic Reporter, is even more to the point: “You do not urge a group of men to live in celibacy if you think they should be banned from the priesthood.” Thomas Aquinas is rolling over in his grave.

We have all heard that there must be a “pastoral” solution to these issues, but we also know that “pastoral” is a term that can be and has been used to cover a multitude of iniquities. We may be well past the point where a pastoral approach is adequate to put an end to this scandal.

Fr. John Hollowell, priest of the Archdiocese of Indiana, in response to the McCarrick scandal, noted in a homily that quickly went viral:

“There’s never been a worse scandal in the Church, scandal being a thing that literally drives people away from the truth because of the behavior of some people.   God says what he will do about it: “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture”.  What the Church will do about it is anyone’s guess – I pray that the response is dramatic, swift, and far reaching.  500 years ago the clergy was in a pretty sorry state morally and the Council of Trent made DRASTIC changes and put a seminary structure in place.  I hope other changes are made that aim at similarly dramatic reform of the clergy, the priests, and the bishops.”

Emphasis in the original.

The priesthood is a heroic vocation.  But it is also a privilege, not a right.  Those with deep-seated homosexual proclivities may believe they are called to serve in this vocation, but they have no absolute right to do so, and a lack of clarity around the proper discernment of the priesthood may only serve to dissuade those who are truly called. We pray that the leaders of our Church have the courage to address these issues in a way that respects the dignity of the priestly vocation and the spiritual needs of the laity to be led by good men who respect the office of the priesthood, preach the truth, and lead a chaste life.

As always, pray for our Church, our bishops, our priests, our seminarians, and all religious, that they carefully discern and faithfully live out their vocations.

https://www.lepantoinstitute.org/sign-the-open-letter-to-pope-francis/

NOTE: The Lepanto Institute is asking that faithful Catholics everywhere sign the open letter, promote it on social media, and email it to as many family, friends and colleagues as they believe would also sign the petition.  The time for talk is at an end!  

Dear Pope Francis,

If talk is cheap, then this summit on sexual abuse is worth even less.  After three days of talking, the official spokesmen for the summit went to great lengths to claim that homosexuality was not a concern while they deliberately dodged questions from reporters.

Cardinal Cupich said the day before the summit began that while most of the problem is a result of “male on male” sex abuse, “homosexuality itself is not a cause.” He says it can be explained as a matter of “opportunity and also a matter of poor training on the part of the people.”

Archbishop Scicluna said, “homosexuality and heterosexuality are “human conditions that we recognize, and that exist, but they aren’t something that really predisposes to sin.”

And Cardinal Tagle went on a vapid rant about smelling like the sheep, touching the wounds of the victims and seeking healing.

But all of this talk about the sexual abuse of children is NOT going to do a single thing to resolve the problem, especially as you continue to deny what is at the very heart of it.  The problem is rampant sexual immorality … especially homosexuality … in the clergy.  Period!

Your Holiness, if you wish to reestablish the faith, trust and love of the laity, you are going to have to take strong actions to root out the problem.  We faithful Catholics want a clear and unambiguous decree that enacts strict penalties … including excommunication and laicization … for any cleric, whether deacon, priest, bishop, archbishop or cardinal, who sexually abuses any other person regardless of age, sex or circumstance, or who is found guilty of engaging in any unnatural sexual behavior.

We want all clerics either practicing or promoting homosexuality to be removed from their positions.  We want all of the prelates who enable homosexuals, whether lay or clergy, to be removed from their positions.  That means removing individuals like Cardinal Cupich, Cardinal Kasper, Cardinal Schönborn, Cardinal Danneels, Cardinal Marx, Cardinal Tagle, Cardinal Tobin, Cardinal Farrell, Cardinal Dolan, Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop Scicluna , Bishop McElroy, Bishop Gregory, Bishop Wester, Bishop Malone, Father Daniel Horan, Father Thomas Reese, Father Thomas Rosica, and Father James Martin.  And that’s just for starters.  These men have flouted Church teaching on sexual morality for far too long, and no amount of talking is going to fix the problem of sexual immorality in the church while they remain in their positions.  If you truly seek healing for victims and for the Church, you can start there.  But if you keep talking this issue to death while sitting on your hands, then rest assured that while we will continue to pray and sacrifice for you, we will not pay you and we will simply wait for you to pass into eternity and judgement so Our Lady and Our Lord can resolve the matter through our patience and our prayers.

Sincerely,

The Faithful

Open Letter to the Presidents of the Conferences of Bishops

Dear Brothers, Presidents of the Conferences of Bishops,

We turn to you with deep distress!

The Catholic world is adrift, and, with anguish, the question is asked: Where is the Church going?

Before the drift in process, it seems that the difficulty is reduced to that of the abuse of minors, a horrible crime, especially when it is perpetrated by a priest, which is, however, only part of a much greater crisis. The plague of the homosexual agenda has been spread within the Church, promoted by organized networks and protected by a climate of complicity and a conspiracy of silence. The roots of this phenomenon are clearly found in that atmosphere of materialism, of relativism and of hedonism, in which the existence of an absolute moral law, that is without exceptions, is openly called into question.

Sexual abuse is blamed on clericalism. But the first and primary fault of the clergy does not rest in the abuse of power but in having gone away from the truth of the Gospel. The even public denial, by words and by acts, of the divine and natural law, is at the root of the evil that corrupts certain circles in the Church.

In the face of this situation, Cardinals and Bishops are silent. Will you also be silent on the occasion of the meeting called in the Vatican for this coming February 21st? 

We are among those who in 2016 presented to the Holy Father certain questions, dubia, which were dividing the Church in the wake of the conclusions of the Synod on the Family. Today, those dubia have not only not had any response but are part of a more general crisis of the Faith. Therefore, we encourage you to raise your voice to safeguard and proclaim the integrity of the doctrine of the Church.

We pray to the Holy Spirit, that He may assist the Church and bring light to the Pastors who guide her. A decisive act now is urgent and necessary. We trust in the Lord Who has promised: “Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Mt 28,20).

Walter Cardinal Brandmüller

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke