COURAGE

The astonishing story of an American soldier, murdered while trying to foster democracy. Pulitzer material.

A FANTASTIC SUCCESS: The reduction of HIV in infants and mother-to-child transmission. Made possible by facing down the misguided notion that you shouldn’t test pregnant mothers, the extraordinary new drugs pioneered by the evil drug companies, and persistence. Remember that this precise methodology is what Mbeki was resisting in South Africa.

THE SILENCING OF GAY PRIESTS: The Church’s many gay priests are awaiting with some trepidation a Vatican document that might banish them from the priesthood for good. Meanwhile, they are told to remain silent, even if their lives are exemplary, their celibacy upheld, their vocations holy. Why this enforced silence? If the homosexual condition is not a sin, and if gay priests keep their vows, why can they not share their own gift of grace with the community at large? Commonweal magazine, along with the Jesuit magazine, America, has been a brave voice for these people – perhaps a quarter of all priests. The magazine continues that tradition with a beautiful reflection from a celibate gay priest. Money quote:

Bishops and religious superiors have forbidden many priests from speaking, writing, or preaching about their homosexuality. (This is the reason I am using a pseudonym for this article: I have been instructed not to speak publicly about my sexual identity.) Thus gay priests like myself are caught in a double bind. If we speak the truth and discuss freely our existence in the church, and, more important, our experience of leading fulfilling lives as celibate men, we will be censured or removed from ministry. If we remain silent, though, we guarantee that the positive example of the celibate gay priest will remain hidden. Voiceless, the gay priest cannot defend himself within the church. Stereotyped, he cannot escape the suspicions of society at large.

My prediction: one day the Church will formally apologize for the damage it has done to gay souls – especially those who have built the church, kept its faith, and been brutalized as a result. Not in my lifetime, perhaps. But one day.