EDITORIAL

If the words sound harsh, they shouldn't.

Archbishop Edwin O'Brien said, “I think anyone who has engaged in homosexual activity, or has strong homosexual inclinations, would be best not to apply to a seminary and not to be accepted into a seminary.” Does this mean that the upcoming visitation of seminaries that he heads will be anti-homosexual, intolerant or uncaring? Not at all.

It means the investigation will follow the Catechism.

“The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible,” says the Catechism (No. 2358). “This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”

Activist John McKellar, a Toronto homosexual, can explain how homosexuals can be treated justly even while their condition is recognized as a disorder. “I've always supported legislation to protect gays and lesbians from harassment and discrimination,” McKellar told the Register, “but same-sex ‘marriage’ purposely deprives children of either a male or female parent. That's an unconscionably selfish and socially harmful agenda.”

As a homosexual, he wants to be treated fairly. But as a citizen of Canada, he wants the marriage laws kept as they always have been, for the sake of his country. We can learn from his approach when we think of men with strong homosexual tendencies in the seminaries.

First, a distinction is important. There are men who have experienced what psychologists call “transient” experiences of homosexual feelings. Then there are men who have a much stronger inclination. Neither category of homosexual should face unjust discrimination. But what's prudent in both cases is different.

Men in the first category would not normally be considered homosexuals at all. The inclination never took root or defined them. They have simply moved on. This is no reason to keep them from pursuing a calling to the priesthood.

Men in the second category are those who identify themselves with reference to their homosexual inclinations, who can't escape it, who see it as part of the central meaning of their lives. These men will have a hard time coping with seminary life, no matter how pure their intentions are. And, as the Church's difficult recent experience shows, they may well have problems in their ministry, too.

A February 2004 report commissioned by the U.S. bishops' National Review Board noted that most victims of sexual abuse by clergy from 1950 to 2002 weren't children. They were adolescents and teens, and 4 out of 5 of them were male.

If you understand what the homosexual subculture is like, this will come as no surprise. In The Gay Report, by homosexual researchers Karla Jay and Allen Young, the authors report data showing that 73% of homosexuals surveyed had at some time had sex with boys 16 to 19 years of age or younger. From the Village People's song “YMCA” to the Showtime television show “Queer as Folk,” homosexuals have long celebrated sex with teens.

We should have our eyes wide open in our dealing with men who are part of the homosexual “scene.” Our culture often tries to tell us that these homosexuals are simply part of a persecuted group, and that their struggle for marriage rights is akin to the civil-rights movement. There's a quick way to see the difference between homosexual activists and civil-rights activists: Go to their parades.

Attend a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, for instance, and you're likely to see a grand display of African-American culture that will leave you more likely to want to support their cause. Attend a “Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual Pride” parade, and you'll find public nudity, simulated sex acts and a contempt for social norms that would turn off even the most progressive families.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II recognized the danger with this category of homosexual. “It would be lamentable if, out of a misunderstood tolerance” he said, “seminaries ordained young men who are immature or have obvious signs of affective deviations that, as is sadly known, could cause serious anomalies in the consciences of the faithful, with evident damage for the whole Church.”

His words echoed a 1961 Vatican instruction that said: “Advancement to religious vows and ordination should be barred to those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty, since for them the common life and the priestly ministry would constitute serious dangers.”

By keeping those with strong homosexual inclinations out of seminaries, the Church isn't unjustly discriminating. It's fulfilling its basic obligation to guard the flock.