"Vatican Issues A Qualified Ban on Gays in the Priesthood"

So says the L.A. Times. Typical. They can't even get the headline right. If The Times is correct in its interpretation of a document which doesn't seem to have been released yet (it's not on the Vatican website as of this writing), it is a complete ban on "gays" in the priesthood -- "gays" being a political term describing those promoting a homosexual lifestyle. Those who are afflicted with homosexual tendencies, however, and are trying to live a chaste life and adhere to and promote Catholic teaching are another matter. If The Times' description of the content of this document is correct, then there is indeed only "a qualified ban" on such people entering the priesthood. They must prove their mettle first.

In a more perfect world perhaps this is as it should be. A tendency is not a sin. But in a world in which men like the eminent lord Cardinal Mahony are put in charge of Archdioceses. . .well. You might as well not bother issuing the document in the first place. Vide: "Openly Gay in Mahony's L.A."

Daniel O'Connell once said that he could drive a coach and six through the loopholes in the average act of parliament. My lord the cardinal appears to view laws and precepts upholding Catholic teaching much the same way.