Tuesday, November 18, 2008
CATHOLIC NEWS IS BORING
this morning. The sites I checked are still highlighting mostly yesterday's stories, and the news search engine I use is doing a lot of the same.
There is one story. It's been around for some time, but the Los Angeles Times has an opinion piece posted yesterday that may be of interest:
The Vatican recently issued a statement re-emphasizing that even chaste gay men are to be barred from the priesthood. Never mind that large numbers of gay priests -- estimates range from 25% to 50% -- already serve the faithful, with most adhering to their vow of celibacy.
"Guidelines for the Use of Psychology in the Admission and Formation of Candidates for the Priesthood," released Oct. 30 by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, not only reiterates the teaching that men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies are unworthy of ordination, it also urges seminaries to enlist the aid of psychologists in screening candidates for homosexuality and other "psychic disturbances."
The Vatican's hard line against chaste gay priests seems to be inspired by the condemnation the church justly received for its passive response to the sexual abuse of minors -- most of them male -- by some priests.
Won't this put some homosexual priests in the bizarre position of telling seminarians they cannot be admitted to the priesthood because they are homosexual? How can the seminaries be purged while homosexual priests and bishops remain in place? Is it reasonable to assume that homosexual seminary rectors are going to abide by these guidelines? That homosexual bishops are going to enforce them? If a homosexual seminarian is to be barred from the priesthood, why is a homosexual priest not also barred?
Somehow I tend to see this decree as largely cosmetic and not substantive given the likelihood of nonenforcement.
Then there are the statements from Randy Engel's book THE RITE OF SODOMY:
Pope Paul VI is identified as a homosexual in numerous homosexual publications and his name appears on virtually all lists of prominent homosexuals found on various Homosexual Collective websites.(p. 1152)
During the mid-1930s, Hugh Montgomery was assigned a diplomatic post at the Vatican as the Charge d'Affairs under Sir Alec Randall, the British representative to the Holy See. It was here that Hugh met an equally up and coming Italian junior diplomat, Msgr. Battista Montini, who allegedly shared Hugh's sexual proclivities and the two men allegedly engaged in an affair. (p. 1153)
Roger Peyrefitte, Franch novelist and former ambassador was born in 1907. He is an avowed homosexual and known for his outspoken views in defense of "gay rights".
In 1976, Pyrefitte gave an interview to D. W. Gunn and J. Murat representing the Gay Sunshine Press on the subject of Pope Paul VI's alleged homosexuality.
Peyrefitte said that in January 1976, the pope gave a public speech in which he condemned homosexuality, masturbation and premarital sex. Peyrefitte said he was incensed by the pope's hypocrisy since it was known in certain circles that while Montini was Archbishop of Milan he had a homosexual affair with a young movie actor, whose name Peyrefitte knew. The French writer said that he did not get this information from "communists or doormen" but from members of the Italian nobility with whom he was well acquainted. His Milanese sources indicated that it was a political secret in certain circles that Montini went to a "discreet house" to meet boys and that he had a particular favorite whose first name was Paul. (p. 1154)
One of the statements made by Bellegrandi that attracted my attention was that Montini no sooner took office than he was subject to blackmail by Italian Freemasons. In exchange for their silence regarding Archbishop Montini's furtive sojourns to Switzerland to rendezvous with his actor lover, who appears to have been quite open about his relationship with the prelate, the Masons demanded that the pope eliminate the Church's traditional ban on cremation after death. The pope complied. (p. 1156)
There can be no question that Pope Paul VI's homosexuality was instrumental in the paradigm shift that saw the rise of the Homosexual Collective in the Catholic Church in the United States, at the Vatican and around the world in the mid-20th century. (p. 1157)
If homosexuals are determined to be unfit for the priesthood in 2008, what made them fit for the priesthood when Montini was ordained? If Montini was unfit for the priesthood when he was ordained, was he fit for the papacy? If he was unfit for the papacy, what does that say about the validity of that earthquake encyclical which has brought us untold grief, Humane Vitae? Might blackmail have somehow been a factor in the passage of the encyclical?
