On Catholic Misunderstanding

As a conservative Catholic, I have noticed a stong bias in the "mainstream" press in regards to traditional Catholic idealogy. Admittedly, I have an emotional attachment on anything regarding my Church. Let the reader decide then, whether or not the sky is falling.

The Vatican says homosexuals who are sexually active or support "gay culture" are unwelcome in the priesthood unless they have overcome their homosexual tendencies for at least three years, according to a church document posted on the Internet by an Italian Catholic news agency.

Almost shocking. The Church apparently wants its leaders to express some devotion to the doctrine it espouses. This is analogous to a public school accepting only English teachers who can read and write. A trite story perhaps, but no bias yet.

Estimates of the number of gays in U.S. seminaries and the priesthood range from 25 percent to 50 percent, according to a review of research by the Rev. Donald Cozzens, a former seminary rector and author of "The Changing Face of the Priesthood."

I've heard percentages as high as 60. Homosexuals in the priesthood is the proverbial elephant in the living room for Holy Mother Church.

In September, Vatican-directed inspectors started visiting all 229 American seminaries. Part of their mission is to seek any "evidence of homosexuality" at a time when some Catholics have put forward the highly contested premise that gay priests were more likely to be responsible for criminal behavior such as serial, same-sex molestation.

Note the "highly contested" remark. Head on over to the New Oxford Review to see just how contested this really is. First, as the NOR has highlighted, there are actually more crime committed by homosexuals as a percentage of their representation within the priestly class. In other words, homosexuals are causing a problem in the Church.

This actually makes a whole lot of sense. As the article later points out, the Roman Catholic Church holds homosexuals are "intrisically disordered". Is it any surprise that someone suffering from such a disorder would act disorderly?
The article then closes with a stange statement.

The church, however, says gays and lesbians should be treated with compassion and dignity.

That "however" is curious to me. The world sees a tremendous inconsistency with loving the sinner and hating the sin. There is nothing contradictory about it. The reason for loving our neighbor is obvious enough. The reason for hating the sin is just as obvious.

Sin separates us from our God. The Church understands this, and vehemently despises sin as it has always done. It is too bad, the press, and the world, seems to miss this. Still, it is not surprising as it has always done this. I recall John saying something to this effect, "the reason the world does not know us, is that it did not know Him."

Charming to be right, perhaps, but misunderstanding gets a bit old.