Clerical Whispers had to go
Although we were hesitant to blogroll the somewhat controversial blog run by an anonymous Catholic priest out of Ireland called Clerical Whispers, we decided to link to him because he appeared to be objective in reporting “uncomfortable” stories and, along with his disclaimer, never openly endorsed disobedience or rebellion against the Church. That was until today when I read about an initiative that he is not only supporting but also soliciting for support in bringing Dignity USA to Ireland to, “offer a truly Christian hand to those who have been for far too long been badly treated by those in that museum and art gallery known as the Vatican.”
Unfortunately, his cheap shot at the Church may have revealed a little more insight to this priest’s motivation behind Giving The Uncomfortable Truth And News From The Inside.
DignityUSA: In a response to the USCCB’s Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care, Dignity USA has added some of their own guidelines in their Letter on the Pastoral Care of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) People 2007. Here are just a few of their expectations:
Our lives and experiences must be counted as normal dimensions of God’s creation. We must be made visible – for our own sake, and that of the rest of the human family. Rituals that help to sanctify aspects of LGBT people’s lives are needed to help ensure that the church is truly welcoming. In addition, special care must be given to prevent the continued marginalization and exclusion of women from full and significant participation in all activities of the church.
Sexually intimate relationships between same-gender couples must be affirmed as having the same potential for holiness as those between opposite-gender married couples. It is critical for church ministers, counselors and religious professionals to receive training and theological updating regarding the nature, purpose and development of the sexual relationships of LGBT people.
LGBT people must have the same access as our heterosexual sisters and brothers to the sacrament of marriage and to legal protections that support and provide public affirmation of our commitments.
Sure, lets just flush 2000 years of truth followed by billions of Catholics throughout the centuries for the sake of DignityUSA. It’s not just compassion or tolerance they are after, but the authority to dictate which Catholic teachings they deem either acceptable and to reject those they consider unacceptable. The feeling of entitlement which demands the Church openly and willingly submit it’s authority to the will of DignityUSA for the sake of affirming the SSAD lifestyle would be laughable if it didn’t involve the eternal souls of real people. If an effort to have and to demonstrate genuine compassion, tolerance and acceptance of the individual person with SSA is not enough, then I have no choice other than to wear my homophobe tag as a badge of honor.
If the Church were fallible in Her authoritative teaching concerning morality wouldn’t that bring into question every aspect of the Catholic faith, especially as it relates to her own authority? If that’s the case, why would DignityUSA feel the need have their sexuality affirmed by a faith which had lost the very foundation it once had to even claim itself as the true faith? As for Catholic priests who hold this belief, what in the world are they doing in that priest’s garb?
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Wow, disturbing. I’m having difficulty reconciling the disclaimer that he has right under the entry with his statement that he supports the initiative . . . okay, it looks like the disclaimer is there for every blog entry. But it’s meaningless if he supports an initiative with errant theology/doctrine. Confusing.
Comment by monica — July 16, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
My bad. When Shelray asked about blogrolling him I didn’t see anything on his blog that would indicate that he was, as it now turns out, a Judas priest. I’m not sure that I should be surprised as such from a blog with “Whispers” as part of its title.
Comment by David — July 16, 2007 @ 4:26 pm
I wish to respond to the comments and indeed the article you have written in relation to my recent posting on Dignity and their search for volunteers…I do indeed wholeheartedly support their right to praise and pray to God the Father and indeed none has the right to prevent them from so doing.
If our Church was not so condemning and more open to working with and for such minority groups, then perhaps we would all learn more about the true love of Christ.
I have learned the difficulties some gay people have in accepting who they are and why, but at all times they know that God has made them as they are and condemns no-one…a lesson here for those of you so quick to engage in teh art of stone throwing….
ask yourselves what would Jesus do??
A little less Catholocism and a bit more Christianity is needed here
Comment by sotto voce — July 19, 2007 @ 2:29 pm
Sotto -
Your short comments reveal that your formation in philosophy, anthropology and ecclesiology have been unfortunately–deficient. You ask what Jesus would do. Of course, He would say to those who repent to go and sin no more. However, you refuse to acknoweldge the sin so repentance is unlikely, as it will be for those who you mislead with your errant personal opinions.
If you indeed are a shepherd of souls in His name (a validly ordained Catholic priest), I do sincerely believe that Jesus would speak to you in rebuking terms. He would contend with you as did Hosea with the wayward Levitical priests, declaring that His people are being destroyed for a lack of truth because His priests are refusing to lead His people in the truth.
Your contention that God makes people with Same Sex Attraction Disorder is beyond the pale. God does not make people, with SSAD anymore than He makes people pedophiles, schizophrenic, with cancer, etc. These are called disorders because they do not accord with the natural order–the natural order describes the way that God creates.
In the case of SSAD, one can easily see that there is no biological <i>telos</i> that corresponds to the acts in which those who embrace SSAD engage. In fact, to the contrary, these acts lead to psychological and physiological ailments. Instead of abusing your office (one by the way that you do not own but have been given charge by the Church of which you disobey) in order to lead people into the errors of your own opinions, I beg you to repent and to return in obedience to Christ and to His Church in the truth that the Catholic Church authoritatively teaches and that you swore to uphold.
I would ask you also to consider what Jesus would do but before you are able to discern this I would suggest that first you must become a little more authentically Christian by becoming more authentically Catholic.
Comment by David — July 20, 2007 @ 9:41 am
exactly David. well put.
Comment by angelic doctor — July 20, 2007 @ 3:42 pm
<p>dealing in reality as i do, i find it hard to understand why you espouse on the one hand the compassion of christ and then find it unacceptable that god would create homosexuals…</p>
<p>god has created us all equally and in his name and love and therefore we are all equal before him irrespective of how others may feel their right to judge…</p>
<p>as a priest, my formation was indeed somewhat narrowed to the subjects as you outlined…the reason i say so little is that unlike yourselves i don believe it should take such winding words to say something that is easily said as follows</p>
<p>we are all children of god created in his likeness and love…christ loves us all as we are…gay lesbian straight or otherwise we are all children of god and created as he so wished us to be…</p>
<p>SSAD - it is not a disorder as outlined by psycholigists almost 30 or more years ago…the pope refers to gays as being intrinsically disordered and also supposed to represent christ here on earth…his words are not those of christ nor indeed are yours…but you are entitled to them…</p>
<p>my maxim is that of christ…love one another as i have loved you</p>
<p>for your own benefit also - judge ye not lest ye be judged!!</p>
Comment by sotto voce — July 20, 2007 @ 5:32 pm
Sotto -
Psychologists are not the guardians of truth with respect to the human person. They do not have the tools that could ever justify such a claim (that SSAD is not a disorder) and in fact, even with the tools they do have they should be able to see that they are in error. This is not the first time that group think in a scientific field has led the majority into error (in this case it is due to “political correctness” and so the obvious has been disregarded) and it will not be the last. They say that SSAD is not a disorder but then they treat almost all of those who suffer from it for a plurality of emotional and psychological disorders that they can never heal because they refuse to acknowledge and so heal the underlying cause. It seems a conflict of interest here, doesn’t it?
The Church cannot change the truth and so will continue to profess the truth the God has created man only male and female. There are no other categories defined by sexual attraction or sexual identity or any other such thing. This much is obvious from divine revelation, unswerving Tradition, and even basic biology. I sincerely do not understand how you could swear before God that you would serve His Church by professing the truth that He revealed through that same Church and then betray your oath based upon rather shaky logic.
This is a logic that is tortuous at best and most likely it is a non sequitur argument. You say you deal in reality. Reality is that we live in a fallen world that is seriously affected by evil and sin. Concupiscence and disorder abound. Your vocation is to know what Christ has taught through His Church and so to help people by showing them the truth and ministering to them access to the grace of the Sacraments that they require for their Christian vocations. It is decidedly not to lead them into error by proclaiming to them your own opinions.
You say that the Pope refers to “gays” as disordered. He does not. Rather, he teaches, in continuity with 2000 years of constant Church Tradition (and even more since this has been clear since the very beginning of Salvation History), that those who experience SSA have a disorder. You are being disingenuous when you distort authentic Church teaching and the Pope’s words. As a priest you should know better.
Saying that those who suffer from SSA have a disorder is no different than saying those with cancer have a disorder. Nobody mistakes calling cancer a disorder as meaning to say that those suffering from cancer are disordered. In the case of SSAD the distortion occurs because there is no argument against the truth and so the tactic must turn to ad hominem. Furthermore, it is not, as you seem to suggest, the opinion of the Pope against your opinion. Rather, it is your opinion that flies in the face of the revealed truth about the human person, proclaimed and defended by the Church as a whole for, once again, 2000 years.
What you say is true about Christians being children of God. All Christians are sons in the Son. Those not baptized are at least potentially children of God. But you go on to assume your assertion that SSAD is not a disorder without any legitimate defense of it. Your logic that because God loves all that He creates therefore, SSAD cannot be a disorder makes absolutely no sense if that is what you are trying to argue. God created Satan and loves Satan’s existence (or Satan would be immediately annihilated) but that does not mean that Satan has not made his personhood completely disordered. God loves sinners, that does not mean that they are not disordered. God loves those who suffer from cancer, that doesn’t make cancer a good thing. You must go back and reread your Catechism on the Fall, concupiscence, and redemption and then take a good course in logical argumentation. What you are arguing here is not representative of an authentic Catholic seminary formation.
I am not sure of the significance of your proclaiming your maxim, but let me take a guess. Christ loves everyone, that is true. But look at the way he manifests that love to those who are in charge of shepherding souls and not doing it. They are called blind guides, fools, white washed tombs. He berates and criticizes. He overturns the tables of money changers. Love does not mean being nice if what is needed is a stern kick in the pants. Love means desiring the good of the other. We know the good of the other is to be found in following the truth. Thus, one cannot say he loves someone if he is willing to leave the other to his own devices which lead to physical and spiritual death simply because it avoids hurting feelings or risks upsetting relationships. I am not saying that one need not try to find effective and loving ways to share the truth. However, one may not jettison the truth for the sake of convenience.
I take your final admonition as an act of charity and so I thank you for it. However, I would say that your reference seems to be misplaced. If you look carefully at this pericope, you will notice that the judgment that Jesus talks about has to do with a condemning attitude rather than, as you seem to suggest, the rejection of even fraternal correction. Notice, that in Matt 7:5, Jesus does not say to leave the splinter in your brother’s eye and ignore it. Rather, He teaches that once you remove the beam from your own eye then you will be sufficiently humbled and chastened and so in a better position to humbly correct your brother. I have not condemned anyone to hell here, nor would I. I am following Christ’s command to go to my brother and correct him if I have anything against him…fraternal correction has always been and will always be fundamental to the Christian faith. You err in trying to distort it into an admonition for moral relativism.
Sotto, I assume that your following your vocation to the priesthood was a sincere desire to serve Christ and His Church. For that I admire you. However, somewhere along the way, you have been seriously misled and so you mislead others at your own and their peril. I will pray for you and for those who fall under your spiritual fatherhood. I beg that you soften your heart and let the Holy Spirit instruct you in the truth. It is only in this truth that you will find the joy of which you seek. It is only here that you will be led away from being a gossip columnist and become a real shepherd of souls.
Comment by David — July 20, 2007 @ 10:05 pm