So we've finally established that there is an institution more committed than the Bush White House to "staying the course."
After all, the Bush White House after repeated protestations about changing its conduct of the Iraq war is actually altering strategy after little more than three years.
Changing the course after three years is nothing. The Roman Catholic Church seems to be poised to make a change after only 900 years or so. The Vatican is convening a summit on married priest. This puts them squarely where most other Christian denominations were shortly after their inception. To be blunt, the church is now willing to entertain the notion that a single-celibate priesthood is an unnatural state of affairs.
Meanwhile, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops has unveiled a document detailing the role of gays in the church. Once again, to be blunt, there really isn't one.
The Bishop's document basically amounts to "don't ask, don't tell" for mother church. The recommendations include:
The guidelines condemn discrimination against gays and say it's not a sin to be attracted to someone of the same sex -- only to act on those feelings.
The bishops also underscore Catholic opposition to gay marriage and adoption by gay and lesbian couples, but also say children of gay Catholics can be baptized if they are being raised in the faith.
Under the guidelines, parishes are instructed to help Catholics avoid "the lifestyle and values of a 'gay subculture.'" Gays also are discouraged from telling anyone about their sexual orientation outside a close circle of friends and supporters in the church.
On the subject of therapy to change same-sex attraction, the bishops said there is no scientific consensus on whether it can succeed. But church leaders say gays are free to seek counseling to help them live a chaste life. (Bishops adopt gay outreach guidelines -AP)
Some of these recommendations are, to say the least, troubling. To say that gay Catholics can seek counseling is to adhere to the church's long discredited teaching that being gay is objectively disordered. In other words, gays aren't born, they are made.
To say that the children of a gay couple can receive the sacraments while simultaneously arguing that gays shouldn't be allowed to adopt smacks of disingenuous. How can gays have children if adoption is forbidden? And how are the parents of those children going to explain why they are not receiving the sacraments?
Thirdly, to direct gay couples not to live openly, but to share their lifestyle only sparingly, it denies the reality that these people already have intrinsic worth as beings created by God.
It is appalling that the church's sense of social justice has lagged so far behind that of the secular worlds. In the landmark Supreme Court decision of Brown v. The Board of Education our nations highest court established legal principles that separate can never be equal. As it stands now, the Bishop's document condemns gays to live as second-class citizens within the church.
Even some Bishops have reservations about the document. One such bishop expressed the fear that releasing the document at this time might actually do more harm than good.
It's a sad commentary that the church is only considering marriage for the priesthood after a wave of sex-related scandals. On one hand, the church is reflecting Saint Paul's view that "it is better to marry than to burn with passion." (1 Corinthians 7:9) On the other hand, it is the church's persistent teaching that someone that burns with passion for someone of the same gender probably will burn.
How is it that an institution that has lasted for 2000 years and been guided principally by older men can have all the sophistication of an eighth grade health class when it comes to the subject of sex? The Roman Catholic Church's leaders need to display some of the wisdom they should have accrued with their years before making any decisions permanent.