Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix is on a roll. The Arizona Republic reports that he has written the second of three promised columns on homosexuality. In this one he goes public with his previously private admonition to seven Phoenix priests who signed the No Longer Silent pro-gay petition. (It was the priests who had publicized his letter to them). Only two priests have refused to recant.
In addition to reaffirming that homosexual activity is sinful and homosexuals are called to a life of chastity, he affirms that every person, including gays, are made in the image and likeness of God and that they should be treated with love and dignity. He also says that Catholics should “look for an opportunity to invite them back to the faithful practice of a life of abstinence.” That’s a lot better than what most of them get know which is the pablum of “You’re okay, I’m okay, we are what God made us.” Yeah, just like Osama and Saddam. We are all damaged in some way, by sin, by disease, by genetic predispositions. We’re not called to celebrate and embrace those parts, but to reject that which detracts from the image of God in us. Homosexuality is one of those things.
Bishop Olmsted is showing the sort of courage and charity and true Christian witness that has been completely lacking in the American Catholic Church (and much of society) with regard to homosexual acts. To promote acts like anal intercourse, as an example, which is filthy, feces-infested, disgusting, disease-ridden, dangerous to the body, sterile and deviant, as normal, healthy and holy, is an act of evil – which harms spiritually and otherwise both homosexuals and society as a whole – particularly children. The immense moral cowardice shown by the bishops on this issue is in great part what eventually led to the homosexual molestations of thousands of teenage boys in our Church. Bishop Olmsted needs to remove these misguided and harmful priests from ministries in which they infect people with disordered and unGodly notions about sex. As Catholics, we are called like all Christians to live chaste lives, with pure minds and bodies. True charity is teaching that to all – regardless of what sexual perversities anyone is tempted to. Sadly, because they have been AWOL on this issue for so many years, they will need far more courage than they would have if they had just stuck to Catholic sexual morality to begin with. We should be taught to flee from sin, including sexual sin. The consequences of not doing so are evident everywhere in society today.