23 November 2005

They don't want anyone 'practicing' but they didn't say they'd refuse men who have reached 'perfection'

The first paragraph of this article says it all:
The Vatican is ordering seminaries to bar candidates for the priesthood who "practice homosexuality," have "deeply rooted homosexual tendencies" or support "gay culture," according to a document published Tuesday by Adista, a Catholic news agency in Rome.
My take on this is that requiring celibacy amongst the priesthood is an experiment that has failed and should be reversed (the church allowed priestly marriage for centuries, no reason they can't change their minds now)

UPDATE: Rereading this, I realize that there is a whole semi-screedy second half to this post missing.

I believe many of the problems the Catholic church has regarding sexuality and femininity stem from being run by an all male, all (presumably) celibate clergy. They would be much better served by being inclusive and realistic in their precepts regarding married clergy and female clergy. They also need to rethink their positions on birth-control and homosexuality. They are dead wrong on both issues, and there is very little in the way of textual support within the bible to justify their wrong-headedness on these issues.

But I ain't Catholic, or even Christian, so it's not really my place to say or judge what they do.

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