Catholic Church begins new Inquisition

NOTE: From earlier in the week, and talked about a bit already, but here's my take.

Welcome to the new Inquisition! From a New York Times article referenced in this Reuters piece:

Catholic Church investigators tasked by the Vatican to review U.S. seminaries will be looking for "evidence of homosexuality" and for professors who dissent from Church teaching, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said a Vatican document prepared to guide the process and given to The New York Times by a priest, surfaces as Catholics await a Vatican ruling on whether homosexuals should be barred from the priesthood.
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A document with instructions for the review is being distributed to seminarians and faculty members. It asks whether the doctrine on the priesthood presented by the seminary is "solidly based on the church's Magisterium," or teaching, and whether teachers and seminarians "accept this teaching."

The Times said among the other questions in the lengthy questionnaire are:

"Is there a clear process for removing from the seminary faculty members who dissent from the authoritative teaching of the church or whose conduct does not provide good example to future priests?"

"Is the seminary free from the influences of New Age and eclectic spirituality?"

"Do the seminarians or faculty members have concerns about the moral life of those living in the institution? (This question must be answered)."

"Is there evidence of homosexuality in the seminary? (This question must be answered)."

The questionnaire also asks whether faculty members "watch out for signs of particular friendships," the newspaper said.

Here's a message from me to any Gay Catholics out there: There is no need for you to continue to allow these "Men of God" to hold your own religious beliefs and practices hostage to their self-denying bigotry.

I was raised Catholic, but I've come to learn that my family's Jesuit background meant that my version of Catholicism was quite different from the brand that is currently ensconced in Rome. It held a deep abiding faith in free will. It looked at God's gift to man - free will - as an enormous responsibility.

Fundamentally, the stance the Catholic Church (and most other Christian churches) seeks to place gays and lesbians in the position of living a life without the most fundamental human experience - the experience of loving and being loved in return. It's really quite that simple. What kind of "Men of God" would ask that of their followers? What kind of human being would ask another human being to deny the very thing that Jesus himself talked to when he spoke of "where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." The love exhibited in a pair-bonded relationship has the potential for some of the most incredible spiritual experiences.

It is impossible for these men, who have denied themselves this fundamental experience, to be able to ever grasp what it means to be gay or lesbian. They don't even have the experience of that in the straight world, let alone ever be able to wrap their heads and hearts around what it means to be gay or lesbian.

I can't imagine a God that would ask his progeny to live a life without the experience of love. At some point in time, the Catholic Church ceased to be filled with Men of God. If you are gay and Catholic, you are worth and deserve more.