“I was born and baptized Roman Catholic, and for the past 16 years have been practicing my faith in the Eastern Catholic Church. We changed churches for spiritual, not political, reasons.
The issues which face the Roman Catholic church today are not theological or spiritual, they are political. There is no theological rationale for only ordaining single heterosexual men and forcing them to be celibate. Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches ordain married men as a matter of course, and the sexual orientation of those who are committed to celibacy is, by virtue of celibacy, rendered theologically indifferent.
The only thing that the Roman church can do by limiting priesthood to those who are celibate and heterosexual is to further separate themselves from the Universal Church in the name of a western political culture war which need not be fought. Overcoming sin is a matter of spiritual warfare, not cultural warfare. Transforming culture to the better is a matter of winning the spiriutal fight, not the political one. As the great Russian Saint, Seraphim of Sarov, teaches: ‘Acquire the Spirit of Peace and a thousand will be saved around you.’
The good bishops of the Roman Catholic church seek to blame the scandal of sexual abuse on homosexuality, on “modernism,” and on liberal cultural permissiveness, but they need look no further than themselves. The whole world throughout history understands “human weakness” and “a few bad apples.” What remains outrageous is not that there are a few really bad priests, but that the shepherds of the flock protected the wolves rather than the sheep.”
The Dish 