“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is Still the Rule in Seminary
On the other extreme is the homosexual subculture. Having attended two different seminaries, I’ve met a lot of seminarians over the past seven years, and I know of ex-seminarians and ex-priests, who are now in same-sex relationships. In my first few years of seminary, I was hit on and attempted to be groomed on by older seminarians and priests. I know that I’m not alone in here: I’ve witnessed guys leave the seminary due to these specific issues.
Men who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies shouldn’t be allowed to enter the seminary. Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis have all made this perfectly clear. And yet… and yet, they still are.
To cope with this contraction, an unwritten rule has developed: unless there’s hard evidence of deviant homosexual behavior, it’s better not report it, because the repercussions are generally seen through the ideological lens of conservatism vs. liberalism. Accusers are themselves accused of “pastoral insensitivity.”
This “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude thrives in a toxic mill of rumors, suspicion, and secrecy. It’s why the seminarians at Mount Angel, at least when I was there, could have the saying, “you can kiss a girl in town and get kicked out, but kiss a guy on the hill and still get ordained.” Most seminarians come to think it’s better to say nothing, for fear of being thrown out of seminary by the ideological police.
The majority of seminarians who act out on their same-sex attractions tend to support heterodox moral teaching. I have witnessed this in conversations at the dinner table, where seminarians will dissent from Church teaching only to confess strict orthodoxy to their professors. This process of ordaining discontented seminarians contributes to the popular notion that a rise in clerical dissent will increase the likelihood of change in the Church.
As Pope Emeritus Benedict pointed out recently, scandals in the Church have their origin in the seminary. Is it possible that, as same-sex relationships are more commonly accepted within the wider culture, men who struggle with this attraction have less of a reason to hide it in the seminary and priesthood? Anecdotal evidence suggests that the declining overall number of seminarians is resulting in a higher percentage of men coming to the seminary, not to hide their sexual attractions, but to embrace the priesthood of Jesus Christ and all of its demands.
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