Wednesday, November 30
Surprise...
We were hearing about this document ad nauseam before it came out, so I haven't exactly been following the media commentary with great interest. Bishop D'Arcy's name caught my eye, however, so I decided to read this Washington Post article, despite the unpromising title. It actually turned out to be rather interesting, particularly this section:
"'I think one of the telling sentences in the document is the phrase that the candidate's entire life of sacred ministry must be 'animated by a gift of his whole person to the church and by an authentic pastoral charity,' ' Skylstad, the bishop of Spokane, Wash., said in an interview. 'If that becomes paramount in his ministry, even though he might have a homosexual orientation, then he can minister and he can minister celibately and chastely.'
Skylstad's comments are the opening salvo in what promises to be a wide-ranging battle within the U.S. church over the document's implementation. Bishop John M. D'Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., said yesterday that Skylstad's interpretation is 'simply wrong' -- a rare public clash among bishops, who usually go to great lengths to preserve an image of collegiality, even when they disagree.
'I would say yes, absolutely, it does bar anyone whose sexual orientation is towards one's own sex and it's permanent,' D'Arcy said of the document. 'I don't think there's any doubt about it. ... I don't think we can fuss around with this.'"
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
