In The News
The NYT has the most hilarious image for its front page article about
Bush’s speech. It shows the graphic display they had up during his
speech which says, “PLAN FOR VICTORY”.
The amusing aspect of this is that, by conservative and liberal analyst
judgments, Bush declared no unique aspects to the future planning of the
U.S. Military presence in Iraq. However, his poll scores are at an
all-time low of 40% (or so I hear on the radio), and the biggest change
there has been in opinion over his handling of the Iraq War. The words
“PLAN FOR VICTORY” in such blatantly huge fonts, twice, reveal
less actual information and more marketing intent. This is what people
are asking for, a plan, and what they want, a victory, and so I can’t
see those words and thing -anything- but “kneejerk response!”
Meanwhile, the Detroit Free Press actually has something interesting on
its front page, for a change. I don’t particularly like the way it’s
written, even though it is biased toward my own beliefs:
A Michigan priest on Tuesday took the rare step of publicly declaring
himself faithful, hardworking, celibate and gay.
“It just hurts too much not to say something,” the Rev. Thomas J.
O’Brien, a Jesuit from Bloomfield Hills, said after reading a new
Vatican document repeating the church’s condemnation of homosexual
behavior and apparently signaling that gay men are less than welcome in
Catholic seminaries, even if they pledge themselves to celibacy.
“I have lived in the closet for a long time, and I would not judge
anyone for not coming out,” said O’Brien, 56, a retreat director at
Manresa Retreat House in Bloomfield Hills. “For some people, it won’t
make a dime of difference to them about me, and for others, they’ll
never hear a word I say again.”
When I saw Michigan, I knew there was a chance I heard of this guy. My parents go on yearly retreats to Manresa and have been for several years. They definitely know him. It’s a fairly popular retreat destination so the local impact of his announcement should be interesting to watch.
I think it is good he came out and said something. One can not hide because of what he is. If he is a good priest I think there shouldn’t be anything wrong with him being gay. He has committed himself to God and if he is genuine about his faith then good for him.
I feel about the same. A celibate person is a celibate person, and it would be tantamount, in catholicism, to saying that no one who ever thought about stealing from someone should ever be a priest.
Y’know, it’s okay for me to kill someone, then repent and be ordained, but woe unto me if I think some dude is hot, but choose a life of chastity!
*grin* Not that I could be chaste. :) Girls = yummy.
I was at my favorite cafe and the two employees knew that i am “catholic” and showed me this article. I was amazed that this priest actually spoke out because I do not know how the church is going to handle it’s already ordained gay priests (that and the fact that Catholics are not known for forgiveness, inclusiveness, or being honest with themselves and others). If they are aking such pains now to eliminate gay men and “gay supporters” from entering the priesthood, what are they going to do to men who come out in response to this Vatican decree? Not to mention laypeople and priests who voice their support for the gay community.
I agree that the wording of this new Papal document is vague but the message is not, and that is what matters to me. In a church that has increasingly fewer men and women taking the vow of chastity and agreeing to a lifetime of service to the church, can they really afford to alienate yet another population? I have seen the Pastor at my church age prematurly trying to serve a parish with over 4,000 families. With a ratio of Jesus rep. to people that low, what kind of spiritual guidance can he really give?
The thing that bothers me almost more than this hatred shown by the church I grew up in is the ignorance that founded it. This is clearly a knee jerk reaction to the problem of molestation. Pedophilia is not related to homosexuality. Period. If they screened their seminaries for pedophiles, they wouldn’t have had to create a gay task force and address a problem that doesn’t really exist. Now, if you’re gay and Catholic, you should just off yourself now in the eyes of the church. Shit, you can’t do that because you’ll go to hell for that too. You can’t act on your “unnatural urges” as they were called in my school, you can’t become celibate and give your life to god, what the fuck do they expect you to do?
I can’t wait to have a conversation about this with my mom….