It's worth thinking about how this all starts. A young man who was abused as a child and seems a little effeminate wants to become a priest. He seems kind, devout and, in his own way, charismatic. But he's obviously gay. You think, what's the problem? After all, priests are celibate; who cares who they are not having sex with?
After a while, more and more gay priests are ordained. They become pastors, vicars-general, bishops and, eventually, cardinals. Gay priests look for other gay priests and help them get ahead. Fifty years pass, and all the priests seem a little off.
And now you're stuck. Vocations are down (no heterosexual Catholic man would ever want to be a priest), so much so that you are importing priests in from India, Nigeria and Latin America. The only native English speaking priests who are qualified to be pastors are the aging gay priests. So you look the other way when a priest shares a condo with his "friend" and hope for the best. You'll make a big show of disowning the worst offenders, but minor stuff can be ignored, right? Fr. Gay promised to stop being so touchy with the seminarians.
And on it goes. More scandals pop up, fewer vocations happen, more Catholics leave the Church, and all the while the priesthood gets more and more gay. But remember how this whole mess started: you felt pity on a gay young man and decided to bend the rules a little.
Reminds me of this anecdote:
It's worth thinking about how this all starts. A young man who was abused as a child and seems a little effeminate wants to become a priest. He seems kind, devout and, in his own way, charismatic. But he's obviously gay. You think, what's the problem? After all, priests are celibate; who cares who they are not having sex with?
After a while, more and more gay priests are ordained. They become pastors, vicars-general, bishops and, eventually, cardinals. Gay priests look for other gay priests and help them get ahead. Fifty years pass, and all the priests seem a little off.
And now you're stuck. Vocations are down (no heterosexual Catholic man would ever want to be a priest), so much so that you are importing priests in from India, Nigeria and Latin America. The only native English speaking priests who are qualified to be pastors are the aging gay priests. So you look the other way when a priest shares a condo with his "friend" and hope for the best. You'll make a big show of disowning the worst offenders, but minor stuff can be ignored, right? Fr. Gay promised to stop being so touchy with the seminarians.
And on it goes. More scandals pop up, fewer vocations happen, more Catholics leave the Church, and all the while the priesthood gets more and more gay. But remember how this whole mess started: you felt pity on a gay young man and decided to bend the rules a little.