Response to Teresa

Thanks to Teresa for her statement below.  I have two brief comments in response.

First.  Of course, virtually all of us are "disordered" in one or another respect (or respects).  It is theologically mistaken, in my judgment, to hold that the fact that a human being is disordered--broken--in one or another respect means that he cannot represent (re-present) Christ for us in, for example, the Litury of the Eucharist.  Indeed, even a sinner can represent Christ for us in the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  (I wonder whether Teresa believes that the fact that a human being is female means that she cannot represent Christ for us in the Liturgy of the Eucharist.)

Second.  There are some heterosexual men whose disorder--whose brokenness--would subvert their priestly calling, and the Church should try to discern who these men are and exclude them from the priesthood.  The same is true for some homosexual men.  But there are also some heterosexual men whose brokenness would be redeemed--men whose disorder would lead them by a tortuous route to commit acts of profound humanity--in their priestly calling, and the Church should try to discern whose these men are and welcome them to the priesthood.  The same is true for some homosexual men.  In my judgment, to counsel the Church to exclude homosexual men from the priesthood on the basis of an irrebuttable presumption--that homosexual sexual desire is more likely to be subversive of than redemptive in one's priestly calling--when the Church could proceed on the basis of discerning individualized determinations, is to vent an attitude toward homosexual men (i.e., to those homosexual men who present themselves as candidates for the priesthood) that is contrary to the love that Christ manifests and enjoins in the Gospels.

(In any event, I suspect that if the Church were to exclude homosexual men from the priesthood--rather than encourage both homosexual and heterosexual men who present themselves as candidates for the priesthood to be open about their sexuality--the Church wouldn't succeed in keeping homosexual men out of the priesthood; rather, the Church would only make it more likely that the (closeted) homosexual men who become priests are those whose sexuality would eventually be subversive of, rather than redemptive in, their priestly calling.)

Michael P.