Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, O.P.THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE (JOHN 8:23) Father Timothy Radcliffe Timothy Radcliffe, OP (1945, London–) is a Catholic priest and Dominican friar of the English Province, and former Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992-2001. He is the only member of the English Province of the Dominicans to have held the office since the Order's is a former Master of the worldwide Dominican Order Noun 1. Dominican order - a Roman Catholic order of mendicant preachers founded in the 13th century monastic order, order - a group of person living under a religious rule; "the order of Saint Benedict" of Preachers and still carries a lot of "clout." He has the reputation of challenging established ideas. He has done so again in a 1500-word-long article in the magazine The Tablet entitled "Can gays be priests?" (Nov. 26, 2005). He affirms that they can. The affirmation contradicts the Vatican's document on "Persons with homosexual tendencies and the priesthood" which warns about the risks. So how does Fr. Radcliffe proceed? He relates how, when he was giving a retreat in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia (nō`və skō`shə) [Lat.,=new Scotland], province (2001 pop. 908,007), 21,425 sq mi (55,491 sq km), E Canada. Geography , an anonymous priest sent a note with the question: "Will this document mean that I am not welcome anymore? Does it mean that people like me are second-class priests?" He states that he has heard the same question, "in one form or another, all over the world." He then makes this assertion: A vocation is a call from God. Having worked "with bishops and priests all over the world, I have no doubt that God does call homosexuals to the priesthood, and they are among the most dedicated and impressive priests I have met. "So no priest who is convinced of his vocation should feel that this document classifies him as a defective priest. "And we may presume that God will continue to call both homosexuals and heterosexuals to the priesthood because the Church needs the gift of both." For all practical purposes the discussion ends here. What more is there to say? The remainder is a questioning of two of the document's three points, namely that the Church "cannot admit to the [priesthood] those who (1) are actively homosexual; (2) have deep-seated homosexual tendencies; (3) support the so-called gay culture." Fr. Radcliffe concedes the validity of point one; active homosexuals are not suitable. Point 2 is disproved because he has already said that there are many good gay priests. He pushes the Church's specific concerns about homosexuality aside by saying it has no more to do with homosexuality than with heterosexuality het·er·o·sex·u·al·i·ty n. Erotic attraction, predisposition, or sexual behavior between persons of the opposite sex. heterosexuality , because in both cases the priest must reach affective maturity. That is what matters, not "orientation." As for point 3, what does "gay culture" mean? Yes, seminarians should not frequent gay bars, but at the same time they should not support "a macho subculture subculture /sub·cul·ture/ (sub´kul-chur) a culture of bacteria derived from another culture. sub·cul·ture n. filled with heterosexual innuendo innuendo n. from Latin innuere, "to nod toward." In law it means "an indirect hint." "Innuendo" is used in lawsuits for defamation (libel or slander), usually to show that the party suing was the person about whom the nasty statements were made or why the comments " either. Here, again, he pre-empts concerns about homosexuality by referring to possible problems of those who do not have homosexual inclinations. After a few flippant flip·pant adj. 1. Marked by disrespectful levity or casualness; pert. 2. Archaic Talkative; voluble. [Probably from flip. remarks about not understanding the term "spiritual fatherhood" (he is "not familiar with the concept;" he does not see a "muscular Christianity The practice and opinion of those Christians who believe that it is a part of religious duty to maintain a vigorous condition of the body, and who therefore approve of athletic sports and exercises as conductive to good health, good morals, and right feelings in religious matters. - T. at the Vatican;" and, anyway, he does not see a difference between heterosexuals and homosexuals), Fr. Radcliffe warns against the danger at the seminary of "homophobia," as if to say it is those who oppose the homosexual culture who must be watched. This is a constant refrain of homosexual activists, of course. Comments The article has done a disservice dis·ser·vice n. A harmful action; an injury. disservice Noun a harmful action Noun 1. to the Church. Fr. Radcliffe wishes to assure priests who battle homosexual tendencies that they can still be good priests. Fair enough. But he does so by attempting to deconstruct de·con·struct tr.v. de·con·struct·ed, de·con·struct·ing, de·con·structs 1. To break down into components; dismantle. 2. the Vatican warnings, about those who have embraced the homosexual culture. He says he knows many "gay priests." How many? Are they openly "gay?" He uses the ambiguous term "gays" without quotation marks quotation marks Noun, pl the punctuation marks used to begin and end a quotation, either `` and '' or ` and ' quotation marks npl → comillas fpl as if to say they are born that way. Later on he hints we cannot speak about homosexuals and heterosexuals as if "they are virtually two species of being," yet that is exactly what he does. When the Vatican explains that its document has been made "more urgent by the current situation," Fr. Radcliffe presumes this refers to the sex-abuse scandals. And it does. But he misses the wider context. Scandals are not causes, they are results. Results of what? Of the justification of homosexuality, a justification which began in earnest 50 years ago with Kinsey and has today blossomed into a massive propaganda campaign in the presses and on the airwaves to tell all of us that the homosexual lifestyle is distinct, normal, natural, "equal to heterosexuality," nay, a gift from God! In deriding the Vatican warnings, Fr. Radcliffe has confused the weak even more. For example, the nineteen Quebec priest dissenters dissenters: see nonconformists. of February 27, 2006 (described elsewhere, see "Dissent on Vatican document in Canada," pp. 15-17) quote him and his article as their intellectual authority while they denounce "Rome" and its instructions. FATHER ALPHONSE DE VALK, C.S.B. EDITOR 
Why don't gay Catholic priests realize that they are ruled by a group of people who adhere to an intellectual construct that says they are evil? They can simply leave the church and start an independent church. They are certainly not going to get anywhere with Rome. <br><br>They are like abused spouses who do not understand that the way to deal with the problem is to leave the abusers behind. |
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