A closer look at gays in the priesthood

Re “Vatican Issues a Qualified Ban on Gays in Priesthood,” Nov. 23

Because homosexuality in the Roman Catholic Church is such a nuanced topic, I was surprised that the article failed to illuminate several glaring inconsistencies in the Vatican’s policy change.

First, gay men in the priesthood have nothing to do with sexual abuse. Gay is not a synonym for abuser, rapist or child molester.

Second, gay culture is more than porn, gay magazines and pride parades. To imply that gay culture is anything less than a rich and complex system that interacts with dominant culture and varies by person and place is at best incorrect, at worst a symptom of a phobia.

Finally, there is nothing wrong with being gay. In fact, being gay is a beautiful thing, just as being Catholic is beautiful. Gay men and women should be embraced as human beings in all walks of life and in all institutions, especially in the church, where gay men and women play an important and enduring role.

RYAN MAHON

Washington

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Both your article and the spokesman for the L.A. Archdiocese asserted that the new Vatican document on gays and the priesthood allows for the ordination of homosexuals as long as they are celibate for three years. The document does not say that.

It does say that individuals who have had homosexual tendencies of a transitory nature, as in a not-yet-completed adolescence, have to show that these tendencies have been clearly overcome for at least three years before ordination. For the tendencies to be overcome means that the homosexual tendencies were in fact transitory and were overcome by reparative therapy. It does not mean simply remaining celibate.

THE REV. LEONARD F. VILLA

Yonkers, N.Y.