Ninme links to an op-ed by Lord Rees-Mogg, former editor of the Times of London and member of the House of Lords. I respect his lordship for being one of the few reliable pro-life voices in the House of Lords --a man who has written with some eloquence on the culture of life. But , with respect, he's relying too much on what he reads in the papers for this column.
Not that what he says is so awfully bad, but, as many people have in the past two weeks, he is venturing to comment on a document on seminaries from Rome that has ahem: Not yet been released.
Ironically, while he complains about the Vatican moving too slowly, it is the press that is behind the curve ball on the sexual-corruption-in-seminaries story. JPG was well aware of it, and that's why he ordered a visitation of U.S. seminaries in 1981. Well, not that he ordered it solely for that purpose, but to get seminaries back to the basics of Catholic faith that make fidelity and healthy vocations possible --including a crackdown on permissive environments that encouraged seminarians to date and experiment so they'd take their vows with their eyes open. The preparation for it took time (the Vatican does move slowly), so the actual visitation didn't take place until 1985, but the fact is that JPG moved to clean up seminaries in the U.S. and worldwide almost upon taking office. (They didn't like it then, either. Check out how one seminary talked about it. Here.)
In 1985, JPG called the Extraordinary Synod, where all the bishops of the world met to examine how well the Church was living up to Vatican II, and a major purpose of the Synod was to examine seminary life and urge bishops to take charge of seminary formation within their dioceses. As always in such cases, individual bishops responded with more or less alacrity, but for the most part they did respond. Without making any exuses for inexcusable behavior, the fact is that very few of the exposed cases --not even in the most inflammatory books, such as Michael Rose's sloppy polemic Goodbye, Good Men-- deal with contemporary behavior. They may describe problems accurately, but they are problems from the 70s & 80s for the most part --before JPG lowered the boom as it were.
Where was the Boston Globe et. al. in 1981, 1985, etc., when JPG could have used their support for what he was trying to do? It was busy accusing JPG of a witch hunt, being a hardliner, giving aid and comfort to those whose behavior they'd attack in 2003. Spare me. What made the MSM jump on the Church scandals was their (to them delightful) discovery that many so-called hardline bishops were involved in the same behavior that the MSM toasts in liberal bishops.
The fruits of that earlier visitation & the Extraordinary Synod are obvious to me in a very practical way. When I joined the Church in 1987, liberation theology was peaking and outright heresy was so rampant that on the road between Dallas & DC, it was literally difficult to find a valid mass to attend. You'd show up, and the words of consecration wouldn't be said properly. Or the priest would mock the Real Presence so you'd have to wonder if he really intended to consecrate it. I can't tell you the number of times I went to Mass in a new parish somewhere and wondered if I needed to attend a real mass somewhere else. Even the liturgies that were valid were so fruity I felt like maybe I'd jumped on board the barque of Peter just as it was going down. That kind of experience is simply unheard of now except in a renegade parish or two. The new dawn of fidelity in the JPG generation of priests is a beautiful thing to see taking hold. Round one accomplished much; round two will do even more.
As for the specific question of exactly what level of homosexual tendency renders you unfit for the priesthood, we don't yet know what the Church is going to say, but B16 is nothing if not a careful, clear, just and wise thinker. So my advice to Lord Rees-Mogg is to have a little faith. The Church will get it right; the vistitations will do profound good. And let the MSM just keep on blathering on about subjects they know nothing about, coming to stories 20 years late.
