Vatican visitation of U.S. seminaries is about to begin, and, taking a page from the ever-hyperventilating Andrew Sullivan, the secular papers are making the whole story out to be about homosexuality. The formerly-gray lady headlined its story:"Vatican to Check U.S. Seminaries on Gay Presence" and the accompanying on-line discussion is not about Catholicism or priesthood, but about gay rights. ABC's website posts a Reuters story headlined: "Vatican's search for gays in seminaries raises alarm." Even some of the Right-wing Catholic press is in on the act. Here's a story hyped to be news: "Pope approves barring gay seminarians." Sorry, but: yawn. You mean, he upheld timeless Catholic teaching again?
The interesting part of the latter story --if indeed it is correct about the contents of a yet-to-be-released document-- is:
Priests who have already been ordained, if they suffer from homosexual impulses, are strongly urged to renew their dedication to chastity, and a manner of life appropriate to the priesthood.That stops a bit short of Sullivan's predicted witch-hunt, demonization and purge, I should say.
(Read the Amy Welborn post he links to, by the way; I meant to link to that post myself a few days ago. Particularly the last portion of it; there are several things she says I can't quite agree with, but her distinction between a self-identified "gay" man and a person struggling with homosexual tendencies is a good explanation of why the Pope would be unlikely to call for a "purge" of men who have already been ordained.)
What the Vatican will be looking for, dearhearts, is fidelity to Church teaching & discipline --and whether the seminaries in the U.S. are providing the kind of intellectual formation, sacramental and prayer life, and healthy environment in which strong vocations can be forged and sustained. For the record, here's the "instrumentum" of questions the Visitators will ask (evil pdf file) and aspects of life they will look at.
