Upper Canada Catholic: Smoke but no fire; LifeSite flames out

A. Carlton Sallet of Upper Canada Catholic has a problem with Lifesite News. The Canadian-based news service leads a story with an inflammatory headline--and fails to deliver the goods!

What a surprise. "Zeal for your House consumes me," says the scripture. Unfortunately, zeal can often supercede judgement, and even common sense. It wouldn't be the first time I've known journalists from Lifesite to lead with their passion rather than their head.

Mr. Sallet observes:

For anyone seeking evidence of an actual schism, though, the column disappoints. See for yourself:

"Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, the international leader of the Dominican Order from 1992 to 2001, last week slammed any suggestion of barring homosexuals from the priesthood, and suggested barring 'homophobes' instead. 'Any deep-rooted prejudice against others, such as homophobia or misogyny, would be grounds for rejecting a candidate for the priesthood, but not their sexual orientation,' he said."

So what? Is he wrong? I mean that is Catholic teaching is it not? If a candidate for the priesthood harboured a deep seated hatred or bias against any class of people (visible minorities, women, Jews, gays, etc.) it would indeed seem that he is not fit for the priesthood. If we define a "homophobe" as one who practices or supports unjust discrimination against gays, then such a person would not be a very good Christian, let alone a priest. Don't take my word for it though - just read the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition."

Let's see what else LifeSite has to offer up by way of "schism":

"[Rochester, NY, Bishop Matthew H. Clark] says, 'The fundamental concern of formation for a life of celibate chastity is for sexual maturity, not sexual orientation.' He goes so far as to tell homosexual men, using the homosexual activist 'gay' term, 'to gay young men who are considering a vocation to priesthood. We try to treat all inquiries fairly. You will be no exception.'"

Shocking! Absolutely shocking! Fairly?! He'll treat all candidates for the priesthood fairly?! Next the good Ordinary will start wanting to assess applicants on the basis of individual merit instead of just using a broad brush to lump them all together as 'gay rejects'.

I have only one reservation about Mr. Sallet's analysis, which I find is absolutely spot on. My concern is more one of semantics than substance: Bishop Clark uses the term "Gay" as though that includes those with same sex attraction that choose to remain celebate. That's not how I understood the term. I don't believe that's how David Morrison of Sed Contra understands the term, either.

Those men with same-sex attractions that self-identify as gay usually embrace homosexual activity as the moral equivalent of heterosexual activity, and quite often live unchastely. Those that call themselves gay may be more involved with the "Gay rights" movement than those that identify as men with SSA. If this is true, then Bishop Clark--and Mr. Sallet--may mean something totally different by the term gay.

On the other hand, Mr. Morrison doesn't offer as charitable an interpretation of Bishop Clark's position:

But, and I am striving for charity here, Bishop Clark has not had a very strong record or supporting the teaching of the Church on same sex attraction and homosexual acts.

He has supported New Ways Ministry, an organization which has dissented from the Church's teaching on the immorality of homosexual acts, he has placed himself on the record several times as saying the Church needs to be bless homosexually active relationships, he has not supported a Courage group being placed in his diocese, even though members of the diocese have implored him to do so.

But most disturbing, an investigation following Father Michael Vollino's arrest on child pornography charges revealed that the diocese had been warned a couple of times about Vollino and that, in it at least occasion, the diocese sent him to an an evaluation and treatment center, and kept him in active ministry because, they said later, Vollino only needed help with behavioral issues, not abuse issues.

I hope that Mr. Sallet's confidence is not in vain. However, even if it is, it doesn't undermine his larger point: Lifesite's blatent hyperbole on the hot-button culture war issues of our time.

Lifesite serves no one by engaging in demagogery of any kind. These issues are simply too important to be trivialized with such inappropriate manipulations. One Bishop's stance on an as-yet undisclosed policy update from Rome does not a schism make. Please, let's try and actually make a case for the truth to everymen, so that we Fools can convince them based on evidence, not hot air. The Reasonable MSM have enough advantages already. They don't need to benefit from Fools shooting themselves in the foot.