Whisper and hush no more

OH my, oh my! There you have it. The Vatican recently has come out with a document about homosexuality, the seminary and the priesthood.

It’s a very bold move, I must say. First of all, because the topic itself is very delicate and volatile. Happy and lucky is the man who can discuss it without whipping up a storm of controversy.

My experience has been that every time I write about this issue—and I do it
mainly to echo official Church teachings, not my personal opinions—I get many scorching hate mails coming mostly from the US.

A good number of people appear unable to discuss issues without getting emotional. This sadly is one of the signs of our times, indicating how our education should be revised. My only consolation is that I’m at least read.

I was happy to learn that a Vatican official said that the document was never meant to bash gays. Following Christ, the Church always loves everyone, sinner or saint, gay or straight, even if it has to teach difficult doctrines.

But more importantly, the document represents the Church’s serious effort
to confront a very complicated and screamingly scandalous problem that exploded in many dioceses some years ago.

For sure, the problem is not confined to the Church alone. It’s a seething problem worldwide, affecting all sectors, again showing us the kind of world we are now having.

But it cannot be denied that because of the conditions under which seminary formation is done, this problem is likely to pop up. Yes, there’s a certain tendency or susceptibility, something that should be constantly monitored.

Actually, many of the problems in this area are transitory and not deep-seated. To a certain extent, they’re normal, and easily curable or outgrown. But these problems should not be ignored. Never!

The document indeed is a source of jubilation in the Church. It certainly
marks a step towards maturity in so far as the Church is a human institution. Church authorities should never forget this human aspect of the Church. They should always remind themselves of their duty to strengthen and enrich it, drawing from both human and divine wisdom to govern with competence and to give good example to everyone.

This openness and transparency hopefully will stop the age of whisper and hush, the culture of gossip and diletantism pervading in Church environment. These latter things are terrible. They deserve to be buried for good.

Let’s hope that the document will be studied thoroughly by the bishops and
seminary fathers. It offers a lot of light and provides clear guidelines as to how the problem of homosexuality in seminarians and priests should be tackled.

The document itself, while clear and charitable, does not descend to concrete details. These are left for local Church officials to devise, obviously so as to input considerations peculiar to particular places.

With all the years and even centuries of experience in seminary formation, Church authorities should possess significant practical wisdom in tackling this delicate problem. It’s time this wisdom is made operational.

Besides, relevant sciences like psychology and medicine have progressed handling this problem. These should be expertly used.

Thus, while the supernatural and spiritual means like prayers, sacrifices, recourse to the sacraments, development of virtues, etc., should always be used, every effort should also be made to make use of scientific advances now available.

Offhand, what I can say is that closer supervision of seminary formation should be made by the bishops and their delegated experts, and a pool of competent and holy spiritual directors should be made available to the seminarians and priests.