Homosexuals in the Seminaries

Even before I read the document, I knew it had to be a generally positive one. At a reported five pages or so, there couldn't be too much "nuancing" going on in so short an instruction. Really, though, there seems to me to be a pretty big loophole in the requirement that a seminarian with disordered inclinations live in chastity and perseverence for three years before diaconate ordination. Is that time frame meaningful (especially considering that diaconate ordination typically occurs in the sixth year, or so, of seminary, which is by my math three years AFTER admission to the seminary). So does that mean that a seminarian who committed an indiscretion of this sort while actually in the seminary might get an official free pass? Do we really want priests who act out in any sort of sexual way while they're in seminary? I'm sure I'm overlooking something; please explain.

Even so, it's unrealistic to think anything will change in the West--bishops and seminary rectors who are so inclined will provide their own nuances to the document. The Wuerl/Mahoney crowd will have to study it, and to implement it over time and with "prayerful reflection on the pastoral needs of their local Church" or somesuch garbage. It seems likely that the solid seminaries will remain solid, and for years to come, the pink seminaries (that remain open) will remain, more or less, pink.

What we can hope for is the cultural reallignment of nominal Catholics to pick up some steam. Maybe self-righteous liberals like Cuomo and the Commonweal crowd will give up their pretense of Catholicism and join the Episcopalians. Maybe houses upon houses of corrupted Jesuits and Sisters o' Mercy will discover a way to live their vocation within structure (that remains) of the Anglican schism. That reallignment will leave a little more room for us bigoted, medieval Catholics in the pews as we continue to breed, and it will perhaps remove a few layers of the lay liberal insulation surrounding the Wuerl/Mahoney crowd. Any additional harm to the souls who are leaving aside, such a reallignment would be good for the Church Militant in the West, as the body that remains will be stronger, more unified, and more capable of doing meaningful battle in the war against the "synthesis of heresies" that is Modernism.