First Things RSS Feed - Daniel Mattson

Why Men Like Me Should Not Be Priests

Fri, 17 Aug 2018 06:00:00 -0400

I am the sort of man the Catholic Church says shouldn’t be a priest. I experience what the Vatican calls “deep-seated homosexual tendencies,” which, according to the Church, make me an unsuitable candidate for the priesthood. The 2005 Vatican instruction on the question of homosexuality and the priesthood states this clearly: “The Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’” This teaching wasn’t new. In 1961, the Vatican declared that men with homosexual inclinations couldn’t be ordained. Seminarians who “sinned gravely against the sixth commandment with a person of the same or opposite sex” were to be “dismissed immediately.”

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Papal Theologian on Gay Identity

Thu, 11 Jul 2013 23:12:51 -0400

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In Defense of the Church’s Challenging Language on Homosexuality

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0400

When considering the pastoral language the Church should use in speaking about homosexuality, the guiding principle must be what then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger wrote about the subject in 1986, writing as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: “Only what is true can ultimately be pastoral.”

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Homosexual Orientation, or Disorientation?

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

All of us have a longing to be fully known: by ourselves, by others, and by God. Fundamental to Christian thought is this: We can only know ourselves fully when we know ourselves as we are known by God. As Gaudium et Spes teaches, “In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear . . . . Christ the new Adam . . . fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling.”

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Why I Don’t Call Myself a Gay Christian

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:01:00 -0400

Joshua Gonnerman wrote a provocative piece for this column, “Dan Savage Was Right.” What began as an advocacy for the Church to become family for the homosexual community soon became a discussion of the validity of Gonnerman’s matter of fact description of himself as “a Christian who is committed to chastity and who is also gay.” His piece went viral within the Christian blogosphere, and as a result, Gonnerman wrote a follow-up piece, “Why I Call Myself a Gay Christian.”

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