Thursday, November 6, 2008

Shrink test for future Catholic priests?


The Vatican has recently issued a document urging candidates for the Catholic priesthood to undergo psychological tests to screen out heterosexuals unable to control their sexual urges and men with strong homosexual tendencies. As per the Vatican, these tests are not obligatory but are resorted to on a case-by-case basis when seminary rectors wanted to be sure if the candidate is qualified for the priesthood. It did not indicate at which point of theological studies the candidate is to be examined, but from the wording of the Vatican document, I suppose it could be anytime.

Now I gather that the basis for the issuance of this document is because of a sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church six years ago and the effects thereof. So what happens to those found out to be incapable of leading celibate lives, or those capable of abusing their authority by sexual means? Expulsion or a ban from being a priest, I guess. The report only mentions screening out these candidates and does not mention sanctions or further action on the part of the Church, if any. And when asked why a man with homosexual tendencies could not become a priest as opposed to a man with heterosexual tendencies, the head of the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski said that homosexuality was "a deviation, an irregularity and a wound" that would not allow a priest to fulfill his mission properly.

I would have been happy if it ended on the part which says candidates with strong, uncontrollable sexual urges. I am having quite a difficulty understanding why sexuality is an issue in the first place. Hello, priests are supposed to be celibate. Cardinal G's stand on homosexuality in the clergy is a fallacy which leads to my conclusion that a priest with a sexual orientation is a deviation by itself. You can't have a sexual orientation if you have devoted yourself to a lifetime of jacking off.

It is simple, really. I don't know why they have to drag some gay shit issue into this. Celibacy means no sex. You want sex or cannot control the urge to have sex, don't be a priest. Be it towards an altar boy, or a nun, or whatever the fuck it is that you're yearning for, if you can't control it, get out. That should be the purpose of those tests. No more, no less.

So why not stop there? Uncontrollable sexual urges. Period.

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