Gay Priests Now Allowed In the Catholic Church

Gay Priests Now Allowed In the Catholic Church

When Amen turns into Ah-men! The Vatican has declared, gay men can now serve as priests and enter the seminary. While we've been seeing this kind of porn for years, the Catholic Church is finally acknowledging that gay men are also children of god and can serve the community. The number of men who want to become priests has drastically dropped, so either this is an edict out of good faith or they just need to fill their numbers. Either way, the gays can rock those priest outfits.

The new guidelines were announced by the Vatican at the Italian Bishops Conference last week. The allowance of gay priests will be introduced for a three-year trial run. What are they doing to do with the gay priests after that trial if it doesn't work out? The guidelines also highlight that gay priests can serve but they must remain celibate. Celibacy is a rigid guideline for all the Catholic clergy, but they know how we gays act up.

The edict includes the following statement: “In the formative process, when reference is made to homosexual tendencies, it is appropriate not to reduce discernment to this aspect alone. The objective of the training for priesthood in the emotional-sexual sphere is the ability [to] welcome chastity in celibacy as a gift, to freely choose and to responsibly live it." Even though they are allowing gay priests, the Catholic Church is not amending their official stance on homosexuality: “homosexual tendencies are intrinsically disordered.”

The current Pope, Pope Francis, is considered the most progressive Catholic Church leader of all time. He has talked about gay issues, often in support. Although behind closed doors with other clergymen he used the word “frociaggine” which is the F-word in our community. Gurlll...But his official stance is: "In the Church, there is room for everyone – everyone! Nobody is useless or superfluous, there is room for everyone, just the way we are.’”

While gay priests may now be allowed in the Catholic Church, there still won't be any same-sex marriages on the altar happening any time soon. Catholic religion remains the top world faith with over 62 million members in the US and 1.2 billion worldwide. The Church does allow queer members in their congregation but they just can't have sex. “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder. Homosexual persons are called to chastity.” The Catholic Church also doesn't permit premarital sex. It would be interesting to know how many of their congregation adhere to that rule.

Here at our headquarters in Los Angeles, some of the local Catholic Churches actually have LGBTQ groups that are focused on community outreach. As far as the trans community is concerned, the Church hasn't accepted them yet and even barred a trans man from serving as a godfather, stating: "[...] the result is evident that this person does not possess the requisite of leading a life conformed to the faith and to the position of godfather (CIC, can 874 §1,3), therefore is not able to be admitted to the position of godmother nor godfather. One should not see this as discrimination, but only the recognition of an objective absence of the requisites that by their nature are necessary to assume the ecclesial responsibility of being a godparent."

What would Jesus say?

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