Catholic Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz said that gays could serve as priests in the Catholic Church provided they passed the required academic and psychological tests.
From The Philstar News Service (quotes in bold translated from Tagalog):
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said the Church imposes no ban on effeminate or those perceived to be gay men who want to be priests.
“They are the same just like everybody. So there’s no discrimination,” Cruz said in a radio interview this morning.
He said it all depends on how the person controls his sexual urges when he is already in the seminary or convents.
“Just like gay people we as priests also have to fight the temptation towards women,” Cruz said.
He noted that there are gay priests serving in the Churches but they have passed the required academic and psychological tests.
The archbishop said there are many heterosexual men who have not been allowed to enter the seminaries because they failed to meet these requirements.
This is not the first time Cruz has voiced support for the gay community, having favored the rights of gays to join religious processions.
From the Manilla Standard…
But Dagupan-Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz disagreed, saying he did not oppose gays joining the religious procession as long as they acted with dignity and wore formal dresses.
“If they are devotees, they are religious and they look decent, I believe they have the right to join in,” Cruz said.
“I think it would be better for us to see gays who act formally and decently in the Santacruzan rather than young and beautiful women who are not clean and [are] immoral,” he said.
I am try so desperately hard to avoid jokes about heterosexuals unqualified to be priests and unclean, immoral women. But I must resist. 🙂
In any event, this is as “gay friendly” an attitude we are likely to get from the church in one of the most Catholic countries on the planet. Bravo Father Cruz! Bravo!
Note: Thanks to my husband for providing the translations…