When I was in my teens, I had some homosexual

experiences. I think God is calling me to be a priest. Would this be possible?
This question requires us to consider the Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations With Regard to Persons With Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders issued by the Congregation for Catholic Education in November 2005.
It is recognised that young men may have some transitory homosexual inclinations during adolescence. Even if these have in the past included some impure actions with others, it is possible for a person to repent, seek forgiveness through the sacrament of penance, and then live a chaste life. Were such a man later to discern a vocation to.the priesthood, he would know from his own experience the importance of cultivating the virtue of chastity and could go on to be a good and holy priest.
The Instruction places great weight on the role of the Spiritual Director who "represents the Church in the internal forum". The Instruction says that those who "support the gay culture" or are "practising homosexuality" should be dissuaded in conscience by their Spiritual Director from proceeding towards ordination. It also says that those who have "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" should similarly be dissuaded. This is a more difficult matter for discernment. If a man is living chastely, and has no part in the "gay culture" that of itself might show that any homosexual tendencies were not "deep-seated-.
There is an increasingly publicised opinion which dissents from the Church's teaching by saying that being homosexual is no more "objectively disordered" (Catechism 2358) than being lefthanded. If we follow the Instruction of the Congregation for Catholic Education, a man who identifies himself in this way should be dissuaded from proceeding towarrls ordination. A man discerning a vocation to the priesthood should talk such things through with a priest who can be sympathetic and understanding but at the same time honest and faithful to the moral teaching of the Church.
What's your view? And do you have a dilemma of your own? Write to us at the address on this page or e-mail [email protected]