The Catholic Church Outsources the Clergy
I've been meaning for some number of days to blog about the recent flurry of articles on the American Bishops deploying their gaydar in Catholic seminaries. Let's be clear: they are looking at a lot of different aspects of seminary education, partly in an effort to stop turning lushes and perverts in chasubles loose on the populace. I'm not going to address the rest of the purge, I'm just going to ask for the millionth time two important questions:
Q: Even if we concede that the Church isn't going to reverse it's position on homosexuality anytime soon, why do the American Bishops care so deeply about it that they'd jeopardize so much? That leads us to the next question...
Q: Don't the these guys know when their house is on fire?
Bonus Question: How are you supposed to figure out who's a celibate gay man? They all dress alike in seminary, you know.
To answer the second question first: No. Or if they do, they think they're going to get a nicer house built by Latino immigrants.
To answer the first question, I'm just going to reiterate what a lot of people have pointed out before me: When gay men, celibate or otherwise, are removed from the priesthood, there will be no more American priests left. On it's face, there's nothing wrong with that, especially not for a church whose fundamental doctrine is universality, and which has its strongest grassroots presence in Latin America anyway. But you should understand that a Catholic priest doesn't just apply to work in the Walla Walla Branch Office like any other employee of a multinational corporation. He goes where he's assigned, and if the bishops don't like him where he is he gets moved. A priest from a poor country who is sent to America is consequently far more likely to tow the line, ideologically or otherwise, if only to avoid being sent home. If the implications of that don't trouble you, you should check to make sure your cereal isn't being spiked with beta blockers.
Q: Even if we concede that the Church isn't going to reverse it's position on homosexuality anytime soon, why do the American Bishops care so deeply about it that they'd jeopardize so much? That leads us to the next question...
Q: Don't the these guys know when their house is on fire?
Bonus Question: How are you supposed to figure out who's a celibate gay man? They all dress alike in seminary, you know.
To answer the second question first: No. Or if they do, they think they're going to get a nicer house built by Latino immigrants.
To answer the first question, I'm just going to reiterate what a lot of people have pointed out before me: When gay men, celibate or otherwise, are removed from the priesthood, there will be no more American priests left. On it's face, there's nothing wrong with that, especially not for a church whose fundamental doctrine is universality, and which has its strongest grassroots presence in Latin America anyway. But you should understand that a Catholic priest doesn't just apply to work in the Walla Walla Branch Office like any other employee of a multinational corporation. He goes where he's assigned, and if the bishops don't like him where he is he gets moved. A priest from a poor country who is sent to America is consequently far more likely to tow the line, ideologically or otherwise, if only to avoid being sent home. If the implications of that don't trouble you, you should check to make sure your cereal isn't being spiked with beta blockers.
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