A lot of St. Blog parishoners — not just my blogmates on Catholic Light — have asked me to comment on the document Careful Selection And Training Of Candidates For The States Of Perfection And Sacred Orders. This is the 1961 document that prohibits homosexuals from being admitted to religious orders and ordination.
Okay, I will be upfront; I’ve deliberately avoided commenting on this on-going controversy up until now. Basically, in reading it over, there are a number of variables I am uncertain about — variables that would admittedly affect the proper interpretation of this document, how much weight it should be given, etc… Without being able to clarify these issues, as a canonist the best answer I can give fellow St. Blog parishoners is that I cannot give a good answer.
Anyway, allow me to share some of these questions: 1) What is a homosexual in the context of this instruction? Is it someone who has same-sex attraction or someone who has same-sex attraction and acts upon it? The context for this instruction would seem the latter, or someone in great danger of the latter. However, the chaste individual who occasionally finds himself tempted toward same-sex attraction, but who has never acted upon it because he recognizes that such acts are sinful, does not appear to be the target of this instruction. Yet this is where a canonist who is also a psychologist would come in handy — I’m not one of these. 2) What type of approval did the Holy Father give this instruction. If it was general, then the instruction would clearly be an act of executive power and not law in the sense of legislation. In short, there are two Latin words for law — one lex and the other ius. While this was definitely ius to some degree, I’m not certain to what degree, nor am I certain that it was ever lex — meaning that it would have legislative force. Of course, if it was approved in forma specifica, it would likely have legislative force. Does anyone have access to the Latin original?
That being said, I really cannot give a good answer.
Thanks for the comments. I’m sure that these things aren’t as clear as they seem to most people. However, I do have a thought . . .
It seems that anyone who is currently acting on a sexual attraction, heterosexual or homosexual, would not be fit for the priesthood. If acting upon the inclination is necessary to meet the definition, then why is homosexuality singled out? I guess it is plausible to think that active homosexuality constitutes a worse danger since a seminarian will be in with a bunch of men. What do you think?
Homosexuality in the Priesthood
Pete Vere writes about the document that was discovered about a year ago.