I had a call earlier today about appearing on a show on Boston Public radio. From the person’s questions I could tell that she was under the impression that I would come on and argue against "gays in the priesthood." I said, well, that’s not what my piece was about. She said, well, but you said…and she read me the paragraph about "gay subculture," etc. So I tried to explain the distinctions, and she said, "Well, I’m not Catholic so I really don’t understand." I explained it again and she said she would go to her production meeting with this new information. I said, fine..whatever you all want. Unenthusiastically. The main guests were to be someone from Weston and Fr. John Trigilio, I believe. So, I’m not going to be on, thank goodness.

Which brings us to four recent blogposts about this issue. I still am thinking, in accord with Fr. Jim Tucker, that a blanket "ban" is unlikely. But perhaps I’ll discover what crow tastes like. Who knows.

I also want to draw your attention to another post from Fr. Jim, here, in which he takes care of the argument of who priests will be in close proximity to. Short answer: it’s not other men.

Then from another priest,who is also a frequent commenter here,  Fr. Martin Fox, weighs in:

Third, people seem not to give much credence to what the Church actually recommends as a necessary tool for homosexual persons to succeed in chastity: close, trusting, disinterested friendship. This is what the Catechism says, and what Courage, the completely orthodox, pro-chastity, Catholic apostolate for same-sex-attracted persons, says.

And one of the great aspects of the seminary is the brotherhood men form in pursuit of the priesthood. You have every opportunity to form solid, trusting, life-giving friendships. And such friendships are key for all men, particularly in being morally accountable; who thinks they wouldn’t be a great boon to same-sex-attracted men who are serious about chastity? If ever there were a place where a homosexual man might find a heterosexual man with the maturity, moral depth, spirituality and Christian charity to be a real friend, this should be that place.

A bit more from David Morrison and then Eve Tushnet weighs in.