Potential Catholic priests screened to weed out gays
Mon. May 31, 2010 12:00 AM by GoPride.com News Staff
Chicago, IL -
The Catholic church is putting potential priests through an incredibly intrusive interview and testing process to figure out if the candidates are gay.
Seminarians are interviewed, evaluated, given multiple-choice tests and asked to draw "anatomically correct human figures," according to the New York Times. They are also given HIV tests.
All candidates are asked how recently they've had sex, and with whom. They're also asked what they think of pornography.
Church leaders insist the gay screenings are separate from screenings meant to weed out pedophiles. But the New York Times points out that since the priest sex abuse scandals started making news eight years ago, weeding out gays has become a top priority.
"We do not say that homosexuals are bad people, and sure, homosexuals have been good priests," Rev. Kevin Sweeney of Brooklyn told the paper. "But it has to do with our view of marriage. A priest can only give his life to the church in the sense that a man gives his life to a female spouse. A homosexual man cannot have the same relationship. It's not about condemning anybody. It's about our world view."
Critics question whether it makes sense to reject qualified candidates who are willing to commit to celibacy just because they're gay. It's not like people are beating down the church doors, begging to be priests.
"A criterion like this may not ensure that you are getting the best candidates," Harvard Divinity School profess Mark D. Jordan told the New York Times. "And not the least irony here is that these new regulations are being enforced in many cases by seminary directors who are themselves gay."
Seminarians are interviewed, evaluated, given multiple-choice tests and asked to draw "anatomically correct human figures," according to the New York Times. They are also given HIV tests.
All candidates are asked how recently they've had sex, and with whom. They're also asked what they think of pornography.
Church leaders insist the gay screenings are separate from screenings meant to weed out pedophiles. But the New York Times points out that since the priest sex abuse scandals started making news eight years ago, weeding out gays has become a top priority.
"We do not say that homosexuals are bad people, and sure, homosexuals have been good priests," Rev. Kevin Sweeney of Brooklyn told the paper. "But it has to do with our view of marriage. A priest can only give his life to the church in the sense that a man gives his life to a female spouse. A homosexual man cannot have the same relationship. It's not about condemning anybody. It's about our world view."
Critics question whether it makes sense to reject qualified candidates who are willing to commit to celibacy just because they're gay. It's not like people are beating down the church doors, begging to be priests.
"A criterion like this may not ensure that you are getting the best candidates," Harvard Divinity School profess Mark D. Jordan told the New York Times. "And not the least irony here is that these new regulations are being enforced in many cases by seminary directors who are themselves gay."