HOMOSEXUALITY in the Roman Catholic Priesthood
Homosexuality in the Catholic Priesthood (Microsoft Word format)
Homosexuality in the Catholic Priesthood (Rich Text format)
Late in 2005, the Vatican published a new document on homosexuality in the Roman Catholic priesthood. The ponderous title of the document is Instruction concerning the criteria for the discernment of vocations with regard to persons with homosexual tendencies in view of their admission to the seminary and to holy orders.
The document said, “In light of such teaching, this dicastery [Vatican department]… believes it necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to Holy Orders those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture.” However, it added that the “Church” can admit to the deaconate (the step before the priesthood) those who have clearly overcome homosexual tendencies for at least three years.[1]
Rome’s official position on sodomy thus remains as follows: it is a sin and cannot be approved; homosexuals cannot be ordained as priests; but Roman Catholics with homosexual tendencies must be accepted, although they are called to “chastity”(i.e they may not practice homosexuality).
Predictably, the Vatican’s stance has outraged sodomites. “This looks like a diversionary tactic to deflect public attention away from the Vatican’s real problem, which is child sex abuse by clergy,” said Peter Tatchell of the British homosexual pressure group, Outrage! “The pope should be tackling paedophiles within the Church, not witch-hunting gay people.”
Similarly, Joe Solmonese, president of the U.S. “Gay rights” group, Human Rights Campaign, said: “At a time when the Church should be taking responsibility for the harm created by a devastating sex abuse scandal, they are instead using gay people as scapegoats. This decree is a diversion that neither keeps children safe nor holds criminals responsible.”[2]
These statements cry out for comment. Both these wicked sodomites will know very well that sodomy and child sex abuse go hand in hand. The evidence is overwhelming. For example, although homosexuals account for only 1.5 - 2.5% of the population of the United States, they constitute about one third of all child molesters! And in Canada, a study of paedophiles showed that 30% of them also engaged in homosexual acts with adults. As one man put it, “If 2% of the population is responsible for at least 20 to 40% of something as socially and personably troubling as child molestation, something must be dreadfully wrong with that 2%. Not every homosexual is a child molester. But enough gays do molest children so that the risk of a homosexual molesting a child is 10 to 20 times greater than that of a heterosexual.”[3] The fact that well over 80% of all children abused by priests (according to one Roman Catholic magazine, the figure is between 90 and 98%) have been boys, shows plainly enough that this abomination is intimately connected with the abomination of sodomy. These two men are clearly trying to deflect attention away from the obvious connection between sodomy and child sex abuse, by these statements.
That being said, however, it is certainly true enough that the Vatican, reeling from the worldwide scandals caused by tens of thousands of priests who have committed the abomination of child sex abuse, is trying to deflect attention away from these scandals by focusing solely on homosexual priests. It has admitted, in fact, that the document was drafted to deal with the scandals.
This is just more of the same old doublespeak from Rome. Homosexuals have always made up a large proportion of the Roman Catholic priesthood, as the lifestyle is very attractive to them. After all, the vow of celibacy, which every priest of Rome takes, means that he can never marry. This is a very difficult thing for most men. It is not surprising, then, that a large percentage of men who become priests are those who do not want to marry women anyway, as they are sodomites. Not only do they find it much easier to go through life without ever marrying, but also, within the Roman Catholic priesthood they are provided with ample opportunities to satiate their abominable lust, as they are surrounded by other men like themselves. The priesthood, therefore, is a very attractive option for religious sodomites. And no document condemning sodomy is ever going to change that. The hierarchy will continue to turn a blind eye to this abomination, known in Roman Catholic circles as the “Lavender Mafia”, as it has always done. After all, the top leaders of the Roman Catholic institution were all once seminarians, and priests, themselves. Thus vast numbers of them are sodomites, too!
Just how many? Of course, exact figures are impossible to come by. But a reliable estimate would be around 40% of all priests. Even a Roman Catholic magazine, New Oxford Review, said: “Homosexuals in the priesthood are now estimated to be between 30 and 60%.”[4]
Taking a stand (supposedly) against homosexuality at this time will make the “Church” of Rome very appealing to those “closet Papists” within the Anglican institution and other religious bodies, who are disgusted with the blatant promotion of sodomy by their ecclesiastical leaders, who are ordaining homosexual men to the Anglican priesthood. For example, Tunde Popoola, an Anglican canon and director of communications for the Anglican institution in Nigeria, said of the Vatican document: “That’s a policy that we have been promoting and that we support whole-heartedly. It gladdens my heart to hear others coming up with such a policy.”[5]
Morally conservative Anglican priests are looking for another “church home” which takes a stand against such things, as their own “church” unravels. They are looking longingly towards Rome. They do not care about doctrinal differences, Rome’s blatantly false and idolatrous practices, etc. They are as unregenerate as the priests of Rome. All they care about is that it is taking a stand (as they see it) morally. Anglicanism is so close to its Roman “Mother” doctrinally anyway (Rev. 17:5), that for many Anglican priests crossing over to Rome is an easy thing to do. Thus this Vatican document will no doubt boost the numbers of men forsaking the Anglican and other institutions, and flocking to Rome to become priests there. And thus the power and influence of Rome increases, as the power and influence of Anglicanism decreases even more. Already it is a mere shadow of its former self.
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The Bible describes the Roman Catholic institution as “the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird” (Rev. 18:2). Throughout all the centuries of its existence, homosexuality has been committed within its seminaries and monasteries and dioceses. A priesthood forbidden to marry, sworn to celibacy, and surrounded, in their unnatural and lonely lifestyles, with other men just like themselves, may issue all the documents and statements they like; but sodomy has always been committed by these men, and always will be.
No homosexual is “born that way”, as they love to tell the world. There is not a single heritable genetic, hormonal, biological or physical difference between homosexuals and everyone else. Many, many sodomites change their sexual practices for a time, becoming involved with people of the opposite sex, and sometimes they do this many times in their lives. This alone proves that it is not something they were “born to be”. The fact is, sodomy is a behaviour, not an immutable “orientation” as they love to claim. It is a sinful practice a person chooses to do, not an innate or inherited characteristic. All men are conceived with sinful natures: this is the biblical doctrine of the total depravity of mankind. And just as some men’s sinful natures find expression in a particular direction, others find expression in another direction. Most unregenerate men lust after women; and some unregenerate men lust after other men. Both are sinful, and when either one turns to the Lord, both will be repented of, and forsaken.
As we watch the Harlot of Rome, and her harlot daughters such as the Anglican institution, discuss and debate homosexuality, issue statements and documents, and pussyfoot around the plain teaching of God’s Word, let us never lose sight of what the Bible says: that sodomy is an abomination, a great uncleanness, a dishonouring of the body, a vile affection, a defiling of oneself, a changing of the natural use into that which is against nature, a working of that which is unseemly (Lev. 18:22; Rom. 1:24-27; 1 Tim. 1:10); and that no sodomite will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9,10).
But if any sodomite truly turns to the Lord in faith, repenting of this filthy sin, he will be washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 6:11)! He will then no longer be a sodomite, but a new creature in Christ, saved from his sin - a Christian!
5 February 2006
Shaun Willcock is a minister of the Gospel, and lives in South Africa. He runs Bible Based Ministries. For other articles (which can be downloaded and printed), as well as details about his books, tapes, pamphlets, etc., please visit the Bible Based Ministries website. If you would like to be on Bible Based Ministries’ email mailing list, to receive all future articles, please send your details.
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ENDNOTES:
[1].The Witness, November 24, 2005. [2].The Witness, November 24, 2005. [3].The Pink Agenda, by Christine McCafferty with Peter Hammond, pg.38. Christian Liberty Books, Cape Town, 2001. [4].New Oxford Review, November 18, 2002.
[5].The Witness, November 24, 2005.
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