I must be missing something ...

(I can hear my thirteen-year-old's response:  "Yes you are, Dad:  Your brain!")

If, unlike me, you're not Irish (Catholic), you may never have heard the definition of an Irishman:  Someone who doesn't know what side of an argument he wants to defend until he knows who he's arguing against.  (Or, if he's an educated Irishman:  whom he's arguing against.)  I mention this because I wonder whether some of you may be getting the idea that I enjoy disagreeing with Steve Bainbridge for the sake of disagreeing with Steve Bainbridge.  But, really, I don't.

Nonetheless, I am puzzled by Steve's post yesterday, about Boston College and gays in the military.  Take another look at the post and then ask yourself:  Does the Catholic Church exclude men from candidacy for the priesthood on the basis of their sexual orientation--i.e., because they are homosexual?  (Some of the best priests I know are homosexual, and not all of them are in the closet.)  Well, the American military does exclude men (and women) from the military because they are homosexual, if they are candid about their being homosexual.  Seems to me that recent episcopal and magisterial statements counsel against discriminating against persons simply because of their sexual orientation (as distinct from discriminating against them because of their sexual activity).  Indeed, a Catholic may fairly conclude that it is unjust in the Gospel sense--a failure of love--to exclude persons from the military because of their sexual orientation. 

Michael P.