That Ought to Fix Things

The Catholic Church is about to announce a ban on gay men entering the priesthood. Citing the recent sex abuse scandals and the increasing permissiveness toward open homosexuality at many seminaries, Pope Benedict XVI is completing work begun by Pope John Paul 2 to enshrine a total ban on even celibate gay men from entering the priesthood. This is intriguing for 2 reasons:1) It will backfire. Most of the priests recently cited and/or convicted of sex abuse did not enter seminaries in the swingin' eighties and nineties when homosexuality was tolerated; rather they hail from an earlier closeted period. Close the closet again and guess what's bound to happen.2) Who's gonna join the priesthood now?Obviously, we should never celebrate any reduction of rights for gay men, and it is offensive beyond belief to assume that sexual orientation (rather than the extreme sexual perversity of enforced celibacy) leads to abuse, BUT let's face it, this is the Catholic Church we're talking about. Anything that limits their ability to survive when this generation of priests dies out is A-okay in my book.