A VATICAN ban on future writings by an Irish priest other than with approval from Rome has been described as “unwise” and “counterproductive” by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP).
In an article for the Furrow magazine last March, Father Owen O’Sullivan, a Capuchin, suggested that homosexuality was “simply a facet of the human condition”.
Commenting on church teaching that “homosexuality is unnatural”, he asked whether, if non-procreative sex was wrong, this also meant “that non-use of genital sexuality, as in celibacy, is likewise unnatural”.
A distinction “between being homosexual and doing homosexual acts is phoney”, he said, and that “being and doing are not as separable in life as they might seem in the lecture hall”.
When the article appeared, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith contacted Fr O’Sullivan’s Capuchin superiors in Rome with an instruction that he was no longer to write for publication without approval.
In a statement yesterday the ACP said it was “dispiriting and discouraging that an important and necessary exploration of the interface of theology and pastoral life, as represented by the writings of Owen O’Sullivan, OFMCap, is now regarded as unacceptable”.
It said “we should be encouraging and resourcing discussion, drawing on the experience and wisdom available to our church” and believed “any effort to stifle such discussion is not only unwise and illogical but counterproductive in present circumstances”.
It concluded that “in line with our stated aim to value the experience and wisdom of God’s people in any discussion of the profound mystery of human sexuality, we offer our support to our member, Owen O’Sullivan, OFMCap”.
