A German theologian has called on the Catholic Church to allow the ordination of both homosexual men and women.
In an essay for the latest issue of Herder Korrespondenz, Matthias Remenyi, who teaches who teaches fundamental theology and comparative religious studies at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Germany, argued that restricting the sacrament of Holy Orders to heterosexual men is “erroneous” and “toxic.”
He claimed the arguments against it would no longer be valid, stating: “It is no longer a question of theological knowledge, but rather of the reception of knowledge that guides action. It is no longer about which argument is better. It is about control over the discourse and power.”
“What are we to make of a sacramental sign – be it the masculinity or the heteronormativity of the ordained person – that is not only no longer understood by the majority of people but is also perceived as discriminatory?” the theologian asked.
He said he was not convinced by the magisterial text that rejects the charge of discrimination.
“Who could in all seriousness claim that a gay man is incapable of forming healthy relationships with men and women?” he asked, citing one of the reasons given for the ban on ordaining men with deep-seated homosexual tendencies.
He argued the theology behind these arguments promotes hypocrisy and double standards, “because, quite rightly and for good reasons, a large number of gay men are ordained, and a significant portion of our clergy is, of course, gay.”
Remenyi also called for female ordinations, claiming there were not sufficient theological reasons to deny women Holy Orders.
“Unfortunately, one must also apply the label ‘toxic’ to large parts of the misogynistic theological tradition that remains influential to this day, particularly with regard to the sexualized gender metaphysics that remains virulent beneath the surface and the associated patriarchal image of God,” he stated.
In an instruction from 2005, signed by Pope Benedict XVI, the Congregation for Catholic Education reiterated the Church’s position that men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” cannot be admitted to seminary or Holy Orders.
The instruction states that “this Dicastery, in accord with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, believes it necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’”
“Such persons, in fact, find themselves in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women,” the instruction continues. “One must in no way overlook the negative consequences that can derive from the ordination of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies.”
In the case of homosexual tendencies that are “only the expression of a transitory problem,” such as “of an adolescence not yet superseded,” the document states that “such tendencies must be clearly overcome at least three years before ordination to the diaconate.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reiterating perennial Church teaching that homosexual acts are gravely sinful, states that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law” and “acts of grave depravity.”
Abuse reports have shown that around 80 percent of sexual abuse victims of Catholic priests have been adolescent boys, indicating that the vast majority of abusers had pederastic and/or pedophilic tendencies.
German theologians have been trying to get the Church to change its doctrine on homosexuality for years. Amid the German Synodal Way, more than two-thirds of the nation’s bishops voted in favor of a document calling homosexual acts “not sinful” and “not intrinsically evil.”
Regarding the teaching that only men may receive Holy Orders, Pope John Paul II affirmed the Church’s perennial teaching in his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. He wrote: “I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.”
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then-prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reiterated in a Responsum ad Dubium in 1995 that the teaching laid out in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis is to be “held definitively” and “understood as belonging to the deposit of faith.”