Renshaw challenges Vatican's instruction on homosexuals and priesthood

Catholic New Times, Dec 18, 2005

In a long-awaited and widely leaked document, the Vatican, on Nov. 29 issued its instruction on "Homosexual persons and admission to seminaries."

It contains "norms regarding a particular issue," says the statement, "made urgent by the current situation."

"Only baptised males validly receive sacred Ordination through which the Holy Spirit configures the candidate with a new and specific designation to Jesus Christ. The priest represents Christ, Head, Shepherd and Spouse of the church. The candidate must therefore attain affective maturity, allowing him to properly relate with men and women, developing a true sense of spiritual fatherhood."

"Homosexual acts are grave sins, intrinsically immoral and contrary to the natural law. They can never be approved under any circumstance."

"Deep seated homosexual tendencies, which are present in a certain number of men and women, are objectively disordered and are often a trial for such people," says the Vatican.

"The discernment of the vocation and the maturity of the candidate is also the grave duty of the rector and other formators in the seminary."

In a forty-minute interview on CBC's Sunday Morning Dec. 4, Michael Enright interviewed Ft. Richard Renshaw, a respected member of the Holy Cross order. Renshaw the former head of Development and Peace and with broad experience in the Third World, was obviously nervous and upset as he expressed his deep reservations about the Vatican document. He spoke to Enright as a priest who happens to be a gay man.

Renshaw stated that the Vatican prohibition seemed to have more of an edge than former statements. "Many of the commentators are linking it with the sex abuse scandal--though I do not see the connection," he said.

Why did Renshaw speak out now?

"Part of what angers me now is another of a long list of humiliations for people with a gay orientation, another example of how the church humiliates and shames individuals--particularly young people. The suicide rate of young gays is very high, several times higher than the national average. This runs contrary to the basic values I think the church stands for."

Renshaw was concerned about the Vatican's use of the words, "objectively disordered." He said: "That's the shaming, because sexuality is so intimate, so much tied up with a person's identity and so much tied up with a mystery of exploration of who one is in relationship, that when you start trying to manipulate that, you are playing a very dangerous game when you say you respect the person, but you find the acts disordered."

Renshaw continued: "Is there sin here? There's been a major shift in understanding and I understand the church has to deal with cultures all around the world but there's something insidious here. This affects the whole gay community at all levels. What it says is that if you want to get involved with the church you have to stop exploring your sexuality. You are in forbidden territory with very clear consequences. You are cut out. Expelled from the seminary. If they discover this before you join you will not be admitted. And after, you will be put in limbo and hopefully you will leave. This is my understanding."

Renshaw discussed his early years in the seminary and how his feelings were sidelined. "I counted on grace to carry me through." Then came his moment of truth when he could not avoid the issue. He acknowledged he was actively looking for contacts in the gay community. "You can get into serious difficulties in this way," he said. At this time, he sought psychotherapy, but the therapist tried to convince him that he was not gay.

In response to Enright's question as to whether God called homosexuals to the priesthood, Renshaw asked," Who can know the mind of God? There are young men and women who feel they can do this work, and who seem to show all the qualities to do a good job. It's a little hard to understand where the church leadership has found God's mind on this one when they say, 'No, you can't.' There are so many helping professions whose work is similar to the church, where being gay is not a limitation. Why here? If this is the mind of God, it escapes me."

Renshaw finished by saying that he thought he might work in solidarity work in Montreal, where most of the coalitions for justice are secular.