Acting More Humanely:Accepting Gays Into the Priesthood
Shortly after the start of the second millennium, St. Peter Damian wrote a long condemnatory treatise entitled The Book of Gomorrah. He demanded what is now being called zero tolerance of clerics who had engaged in homosexual behavior. In response, Pope St. Leo wrote that, while denouncing these sin
On Straightening Out Catholic Seminaries
One of the deeply troubling outcomes of the Catholic Church’s recent scandals involving sexual abuse and the abuse of administrative power is the call from many quarters to exclude from seminaries men who are gay. This is troubling, because it flies in the face of simple logic. Experts have re
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
A few weeks ago the editors of America discussed their support of the ordination of celibate gay priests (11/11). Our editorial responded to the arguments against ordaining gay men and restated the central argument in favor of their ordination: the historical witness of healthy and celibate gay prie
Letters
Letters
Difficult Questions
Regarding An Isolationist View of the International Criminal Court, by Brian Farrell (11/25): I am surprised that the editors would print such an unbalanced criticism of the Bush administration’s position with respect to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of July 17, 1998.
The I.C.C. treaty was written at a conference attended by…
Editorials
The Laity’s Response
To the extent of their knowledge, competence or authority the laity are entitled, and indeed sometimes duty-bound, to express their opinions on matters concerning the good of the church.” It might surprise many Catholics that this bold statement on the responsibilities of laypersons in the chu
Books
A Gruesome Story
Just 100 years ago on Oct 24 1902 the town crier in the Guatemalan town of Quetzaltenango struggled to make himself heard over the deafening roar of the nearby volcano which had blown skyward that morning Despite the noise of rocks crashing against rooftops and the ground shaking beneath his f
The Word
Welcome to the Real World
Today we move out of the realm of religious testimony into the real world of history Both the first and the third readings situate Jesus within the family of David nbsp This is a family with skeletons in its closet Judah reneged on his responsibilities so his daughter-in-law Tamar tricked him
For Unto Us a Child Is Born
The chorus from Handel rsquo s Messiah begins with a delicate ldquo For unto us a child is born rdquo and builds to a thunderous ldquo And his name shall be called Wonderful rdquo The Gospels for the three Christmas Masses follow a similar progression Images from the first two Gospels are cap
News
Signs of the Times
Cardinal Says Homosexuals Should Not Be OrdainedA Vatican congregation, in response to a query by a bishop, said men who are homosexuals or have homosexual tendencies should not be ordained priests. Ordaining such candidates to the priesthood would be imprudent and “very risky,” said a l
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