The Mychal Judge Question
Basically, thanks to Andrew Sullivan, the juxtaposition is being revived between Fr. Mychal Judge -- the openly gay Franciscan chaplain to the New York Fire Department who was among the first Ground Zero casualties on 9/11 -- and the coming instruction known as Gay-Ban. Now some are out there trying to say that Judge never disclosed his orientation and it didn't matter a fig and this is all a tool for an Agenda and the press is sacrificing their children to support the gays.... Etc. etc. etc.
Hmm.
That's not what the Times says
But most surprising of all is a quote from the usually rightward-in-line editor of First ThingsFather Judge was also, according to many of his friends of all sexual orientations, a homosexual. A celibate homosexual, he told friends, but a homosexual nonetheless. And reports last week that the Vatican is likely to try to bar gay men, even celibate ones, from the priesthood stirred anger among those who revere his memory.
The former city fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen, a close friend of Father Judge's, said Thursday that excluding men of his caliber from the priesthood would be simply "a shame."
Mr. Von Essen, a married, practicing Catholic who said that Father Judge came out to him years before his death, added, "To sacrifice your life to God and try to do so much good every day and to be prevented from doing that - it's no wonder they can't get anyone to join the church to become a priest or a nun."
The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a conservative Catholic who edits the religious journal First Things, said that he doubted that the final document would include celibate gays in the ban. Such a policy, he said, "would raise enormous theological and moral problems in the teaching of the church."That's Neuhaus, people. Not CMSM, not America, not VOTF. Neuhaus is saying a clear-cut ban "would raise enormous theological and moral problems." And Bill Donahue isn't such a ban fan, either. Are they now serving the heterodox Agenda?
Talk about your surprises....
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posted by Rocco Palmo at 10:42
4 Comments:
Fr. Neuhaus has been wrong before.
He is a "NeoCon" Catholic, to borrow some terminology. Good guy, articulate, an enjoyable speaker and writer.
But not always right.
One notes, e.g., that Neuhaus (at least as you quote him) is unable to mention ONE citation for his claim.
Bill Donahue? BILL DONAHUE????
You cite Bill Donahue?
There is hope for you..but if you keep this up, purgation may be significant.
"You can just as well turn the question around--if there is a ban on celibate homosexuals, does that mean the Pope is a bigot?"
An interesting question from a man who wrote that Cardinal Husar was a "scumbag" on the defunct Papabile.
"not to mention engaged with the substance of my remarks on that occasion or this."
I should think a self-styled "orthodox" Catholic would not invite people to chastise the Holy Father before the document comes out. I decline your invitation.
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