The Catholic priesthood in America has not been getting a good press—much to the detriment of thousands of good priests who are serving the Church. There have been two chief problems within the priesthood: widespread theological dissent and the toleration of homosexual behavior. Let me offer a proposal regarding the latter.
I know of homosexual priests who live chastely. They recognize that they have a disorder, and they succeed in working around it, somewhat like the alcoholic who, through a support group, is able to stay sober. Such priests deserve our respect.
On the other hand, there are homosexual priests who are “gays”—they have chosen to live the homosexual lifestyle. It is from the ranks of these priests that most (not all, admittedly) of the abuse cases have arisen. The priestly scandal has not been so much about priests abusing children as about homosexual priests acting out their homosexuality with teenagers and young adults.
Many have wondered what can be done to solve the problem of “gay” homosexuality in the priesthood. Here is one possible scheme:
- If a priest is “gay”—living a homosexual lifestyle—he should be removed from ministry immediately and quietly. He should have no position of authority or responsibility in the Church and should seek secular employment instead. (Will some dioceses be understaffed? Yes, but too bad. Just squeeze more people into fewer pews until new priests are trained.)
- If a priest is homosexual but not “gay”—that is, if he is living chastely—let him continue in ministry until normal retirement.
- Exclude from seminary formation and ordination any homosexual, whether “gay” or chaste. The former brings with him too much baggage, and the latter should not sign up for “guy-only” work that will have him living with other men (thus putting him into near occasions of sin). Even if the chaste homosexual thinks he has a call to the priesthood, it would be uncharitable to him to admit him to ordination, given the current situation. He should be encouraged to serve the Church in other ways.
This third point some may find too strict. As I said, I have known faithful priests who happened to be homosexuals. If the priesthood in this country were healthy, little or no harm would come from ordaining chaste homosexuals whose homosexuality is kept private. But we do not live in ordinary times. We live with a priesthood that has been damaged by “gay” homosexuality. Until the damage is repaired, we should operate conservatively.
The three-step process I propose would solve the abuse scandal almost overnight by getting rid of the priests who cause most of the abuse, and it would heal the priesthood in America over the next few decades. It would cause inconvenience in dioceses with a high proportion of “gay” priests, but that inconvenience will pass soon enough and, in any case, is more palatable than the existing situation.
Not coincidentally, by solving the problem of “gays” in the priesthood, we would go a long way toward solving that other problem: theological dissent in the priesthood.