So anyway.
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I know. I've been way too serious again - I should maybe write about homosexuals or something light like that. Oh! Oh! I did come across something! Something everyone always wanted ask but were afraid of the answer: "Where did all the gay priests come from?" Nope, it's not a joke - Archbishop Weakland answers the question in his memoirs...
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"When the great exodus came (priests leaving orders after the council) fewer priests with a homosexual orientation left the priesthood. Thus the proportion of gays in the priesthood became larger than that found in the general male population, creating in some places signs of a visible gay culture." - Weakland, Pilgrim: chapter 14; page 339.
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That's what she said.
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Oh, and no, he didn't mention the guys bishops put in charge of recruitment and discernment and seminary.
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Art: Bosch - "St. Antony"
Terry--and surely no signs of apostacy, hmmm? LOL Reassuring to know Weakland and his ilk were at the helm, huh?
ReplyDeleteOne tiny thought re: homosexual priests...
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in Southern California with a great many Catholic friends (I wasn't Catholic at the time)--they ws alot of pressure among my Catholic friends to "get married, have a family, give me GRANDKIDS..blahblahblah"...th friends I know who even THOUGHT about being a priest or religious were shot down.."But what about GRANDKIDS??"" Very selfish onthe part of parents...on the other hand..the closet homosexuals (even in the late 70's early 80's it wasn't very acceptable to be "out", even among the gay community) saw that as a way to dodge the "marriage" dilemma "Hey--I'll be a priest/religious--no more marriage pressures!! My parents won't have to know I'm gay, and I'm doing something that my family would be proud of, even though they'd rather me be married."
If this is true I wonder if this inadvertantly backfired...where now there are additional temptations in male only or female only environments..especially when you are lonely or honmesick...
Just some random thoughts..
Peace.. Sara
P.s. Terry--thanks for the dose of humor..I'm a serious gal with a serious job..I need a giggle once in awhile.. :)
Sara, that is precisely the reason there is a higher proportion of homosexuals in religious life. It has always been a safe environment. Perhaps it won't be if all of the uber-Catholics have their way. We need to blame everything on someone, might as well be the homosexuals.
ReplyDeleteTerry, I believe you made a typo: "That's what she said."
Thanks Michael - but I said that before Michael Scott. LOL!
ReplyDeleteAnyway - will you send me an email so that I can have your address? I lost it on my old account and I'm too dumb to access it. When I don't hear from you for awhile I get scared you are really sick or something - tj.nelson@hotmail.com
Anyway - I pray for you every day.
From what I saw in the early '80s in graduate school of theology to what I experienced in the seminary in 2001, there has been a radical turn-around.
ReplyDeleteThe "gay culture" is not present as it was in days past in most seminaries (can't prove it, but what I read and hear seems to confirm this).
The visitation of seminaries (twice) in the last twenty years, the very firm directives from Rome to seminaries, the teachings of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict, and the emerging group of young priests and religious, seminarians, as well, who accept the Church's moral teachings and give a very strong emphasis upon living them is a sign of hope.
I think those days of a "gay culture" are behind us. I pray it be so.