SPECIAL REPORTS
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Diocese of Tulsa
Catholic Charities Walk for Adoption
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Restoring confidence in the priesthood
Why the new Vatican document is greatly needed -- and how it is already being misinterpreted
By David Jones
Editor, Oklahomily
In the near future there is going to be a great deal of sound and fury over a new Vatican document setting out specifics on the exclusion of homosexual men from the Roman Catholic priesthood. Indeed, the document is not yet out but the outrage from certain quarters is already making itself known.
Mind you we do not yet know the exact wording of the document, although a newspaper in Rome with close ties to Vatican personnel has published what it says are excerpts. If those excerpts bear close relationship to the actual documents, any faithful, correct thinking individual loyal to the Church should not be greatly troubled. In fact, the tightened rules could play a major role in restoring confidence in the Catholic priesthood, especially in the United States where a series of scandals -- and expensive lawsuits -- has brought the Church in some jurisdictions to the brink of financial ruin.
Restored confidence is badly needed at a time when the Church cannot afford to be “on its heels” in a defensive posture. The need for what the Church teaches, the message of Christ, has never been greater, especially in America. For it was not what the Church teaches that caused the troubles, but that some men who entered the priesthood ignored their vows and violated Church teachings - and the law.
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