The Vatican Gets It Just Right

Now that Loose Canon has had a chance to carefully read the Vatican document on homosexuals and ordination, I think I'm going to put it on the gratitude list; it's excellent. Yes, there will be discernment problems (aren't there always?). But the Vatican document is a fine statement on the priestly vocation, more valuable becuase it is blessedly free of jargon that mars so many contemporary Church documents.

Before we get to the homsems (thanks to Whispers in the Loggia for this neologism--I also used the Whispers translation that came via a writer for the U.K.'s Tablet) part, I want to quote a nice bit on the totus tuus nature of the priesthood:

"According to the constant Tradition of the Church, only baptised males validly receive sacred Ordination. Through the sacrament of Orders the Holy Spirit configures the candidate, with a new and specific designation, to Jesus Christ: the priest, in fact, sacramentally represents Christ, Head, Shepherd, and Spouse of the Church. Because of this configuration to Christ, the entire life of the sacred minister must be animated by the gift of his entire person to the Church and by authentic pastoral charity."

In dealing with specifically with homosexuaality, the document uses a three-letter word that was all-too-often absent in our disucssions of the recent pedophilia scandals in the Church:

"Regarding acts, it teaches that, in Sacred Scripture, these are presented grave sins. Tradition has always considered them as intrinsically immoral and contrary to the natural law. As a consequence, they can never be approved under any circumstance.

"As regards to deep-seated homosexual tendencies, which are present in a certain number of men and women, these also are objectively disordered and are often a trial for such people. They must be accepted with respect and sensitivity; every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfil God’s will in their lives and to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter."

Most important for the current debate, the Vatican document stresses that a vocation to the priesthood is a gift, not a right:

"There are two inseparable aspects of every vocation: the free gift of God and the responsible freedom of man. The vocation is a gift of divine grace, received through the Church, in the Church, and for service of the Church. By responding to the call of God, man offers himself freely to Him in love. The mere desire to become a priest is not sufficient and there is no right to receive sacred Ordination."

Amy Welborn of Open Book notes that, "Already, the discussion has taken a sharp turn into Self-Pity and Oppression land." But she is less sanguine about the doc than I am--she makes some good points.

Andrew Sullivan, the best writer I know who gets the Church's sexual teachings so all wrong, hasn't spoken on the document yet, but I assume his reference to "what seems at first blush one of the darkest hours in the church's recent history" presages sorrow or outrage. (But Andrew has nice things to say about Benedict's attire.) Needless to say, the New York Times article raises the specter of the priest shortage--something that seems to vex secularists terribly only when the subjects of women's ordination or homosexuals in the priesthood rear their heads. To sum up: It's a great doc--we should be pleased that the Church has produced something this good.

(Oh, and here's some more good news--the U.S. bishops have decided to limit the number of inane statements they put out.)