The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy Endorses, Supports and Applauds the Recent Vatican Instruction

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy endorses, supports and applauds the recent letter from the Congregation for Catholic Education “Concerning the Criteria of Vocational Discernment Regarding Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of their Admission to Seminaries and Holy Orders” We invite all our ordained brethren (deacons, priests and bishops) to read it thoroughly and to obediently embrace the Magisterial teaching it contains and we urge vocation directors and seminary rectors to fully implement the directives given in that same document.

Specifically, that document states that the Church “cannot admit to Seminary or Holy Orders those who are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay culture.” The only exception being “homosexual tendencies that might only be a manifestation of a transitory problem, as, for example, delayed adolescence, these must be clearly overcome at least three years before diaconal Ordination.” Note that it does not say someone who has been actively engaged in a homosexual lifestyle merely needs to be chaste and celibate for three years to enter the seminary, as some have erroneously reported.

We do not consider this a matter of discrimination since as the document itself affirms in “the mere desire to become a priest is not sufficient and there is no right to receive sacred Ordination.” It continues to say that “the call to Orders is the personal responsibility of the Bishop or the Superior General” since they act on behalf of the Church who alone has the authority and responsibility to confirm a vocation to holy orders.

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