To Cardinal Levada it's all about the symbolism:
A public declaration of homosexuality places a priest "at odds with the spousal character of love as revealed by God and imaged in humanity,"
and
the question also needs to be viewed from its theological perspective, particularly in light of the biblical images of God's spousal relationship with his people and Gospel passages in which Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom.
Cardinal Levada went on to mention that the problem of clergy abusing children has been solved, that ordinations of gay men are valid and that it has been reported (for apparently he has no DIRECT knowledge) that priests are coming out in the pulpit and he wishes they wouldn't. So except for THAT it's all good news.
Does it seem like a strange topic for the homily on this occasion? Does it seem like damage control? One wonders how the Gospel reading related to these topics? It would be like a homily at a wedding where the preaching was about rape, domestic violence, adultery and divorce.
This is the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Grand Inquisitor. These are strange messages indeed to send to the seminarians and faculty of the North American College.
1 comment:
Ohhh, goody! So, the problem of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy has been solved? How? By addressing the root problem of homosexuality? Yet another example of how some members of the heirarchy refuse to acknowledge that many (if not most) of the abuse that took place between some members of the clergy and their victims was homosexual in nature (I know, I know, "homosexual in nature" IS an odd phrase). But then, when we have so many members of the clergy advocating the acceptance and, indeed, validation of homosexuality, I'm surprised that they even acknowledge that what took place was abuse!
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