Help me out here. I saw a story last week to the effect that the Vatican

[hedgehog]

is issuing an order that gays are not to be ordained.

“The candidate does not necessarily have to practice homosexuality (to be excluded.) He can even be without sin. But if he has this deeply seated tendency, he cannot be admitted to priestly ministry precisely because of the nature of the priesthood, in which a spiritual paternity is carried out. Here we are not talking about whether he commits sins, but whether this deeply rooted tendency remains.”

http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2008/11/vatican-on-seminaries-gay-ban-stands.html

This ban was first proposed back in 2005, and ran into a buzz saw of protest.

http://www.slate.com/id/2127026/


So, why the silence now? Have people given up, walked away or is there a tacit agreement to just plain ignore what comes out of the Vatican?

[Zuni]

1. I don't think this is going to happen

it just isn't gonna happen. Very conservative Catholics have been pushing this for a long time, just like bringing back the Tridentine Mass as the standard.

[hedgehog]

2. My husband's response: Wow, it really looks like they're going to end up

with a married priesthood!


My current pastor is on record as wanting to turn the altar back around and he says a Latin Mass in another parish every Sunday. He is also very gay, and very much in denial.

[Zuni]

3. I like the Latin Mass

on special occasions. I went to a Latin High Mass 2 weeks ago, and it was beautiful, but it was very long and my knees ached when I left because I spent so much time on the kneelers.

I just don't see it coming back as the standard mass, but I am glad the Vatican is allowing it as an "extraordinary rite", because it is very nice to go to on occasion.

[JNelson6563]

4. It really is beautiful

There's a Carmelite monastary here and I've heard the Mass in Latin while there in the past. It's cool to be there when the chapel is empty but the cloistered sisters are singing an office.

Julie--Catholic Atheist

[hedgehog]

5. I am very ambivalent about the Latin Mass. I can understand the attraction

of a Mass that reminds us of the transcendent nature of our faith. I love the Easter vigil with the fire, candles, incense and six readings. It has it's exhausting moments, but that's part of the package, IMO.

My problem is that a lot of the people who back the Latin Mass seem to want to turn the clock back: put the priest between us and God, make the laity into a lower class without the right to approach the altar, make the priest into a mini-God, etc, etc.

[WildEyedLiberal]

6. If you can separate it from the politics of the Vatican II deniers its a wonderful experience

I LOVE going to Latin Mass. Yeah, unfortunately, a lot of Latin Mass fans are the "turn the clock back" traditionalists, but I have long since stopped letting them influence my faith experience. I wouldn't want to go to the Latin Mass every Sunday - I do like worshiping in the vernacular - but as an occasional "treat" it really can't be beat as a transcendent, holy experience.

[47of74]

7. So am I

I too have been to the Latin Mass a number of times - the parish in Dyersville offers it as noon. It's a very beautiful Mass, with a transcendent feel to it that's often missing from the post Vatican II Mass. I am also ambivalent about the Mass because there are too many who support the Mass who want to turn the clock back a century or two.

[mrs_p]

8. latin mass to me is the same as

going to a mass in bengali or nepalese or spanish. i understand a couple of words here and there, but the words themselves did not mean much to me. the great thing about a universal church is that, despite the different languages, the sacraments were the same. personally, i would rather a mass in my own tongue over returning to latin mass.

[pnwmom]

10. Doesn't mean anything to me, either. I was in 3rd grade when the change

was made, and felt much more included than before.

Plus, my back stopped aching from all that kneeling. (I can't imagine how I'd handle it at my age now.)

[pnwmom]

9. My bet is that they'll end up with practically a non-existent U.S. priesthood.

As it is, they're drawing more and more priests for U.S. parishes from third world countries -- anything other than to ordain women or married men.