The New Doc

Andrew Sullivan writes about the new document from Benedict:

In the past, the gay individual who remained chaste could attain Christian perfection, his orientation was not in itself sinful, gay men and women were worthy of respect and made in the image of God. Under Benedict, homosexuality itself is morally disordered; even chaste homosexuals are a threat to "priestly life"; homosexuals, whatever they do, are threats to society and the Church; the great gay priests of the past, including Mychal Judge or Henri Nouwen, have "no social value." This is not about hating sin and loving the sinner any more; it's about hating a segment of humankind, segregating them out for moral censure, and banishing them from moral discourse. It's about taking the fundamental message of the Gospels and inverting it.

In my own humble opinion, I find the difficulty with Benedict's "my way or the highway" stance. JPII made great overtures to reach out to other faiths, other Christian communities, and seemed to expand the Church rather than corral the wagons.

B16, as far as I know, hasn't done that. And his reorganization of the Franciscans of Assisi, this new document, and some of his initial responses to Jesuits at "America" magazine all indicate he wants Catholic faith his way. I think of John XXIII who called Vatican II and the humility that calling a council like that took. I sincerely hope that Benedict will surprise me, for certainly revelation can strike anyone at any time. And one might hope that the pope is in an exceedingly likely place for revelation.