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Filipino Cardinal Bars Outwardly Gay Participation in Marian Celebration

By Jenna Murphy

MANILA, Phillipines, May 20, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - This year’s Manila May Marian procession, a celebration in honor of The Blessed Virgin as well as the finding of the Holy Cross, included a group of gay men dressed in drag, apparently showing their own devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In addressing the appearance of the men in drag, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales expressed his concern regarding the message that the men’s actions insinuate.

“We should keep sacred what is sacred.”  Rosales said in an interview with CBCP news (Catholic Bishop’s conference of the Philippines).

Following up on Cardinal Rosales comments, Malolos Bishop, Jose Oliveros, chair of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Office on Bio-ethics, confirms the Cardinal's concern and further addresses the issue of the participation of those who are outwardly gay in the life of the Church.

Bishop Oliveros asserted that while homosexual orientation in and of itself is not sinful, acting on homosexual inclinations is sinful— in the same way that any temptation in itself is not sinful, but submitting and acquiescing to temptation, it is therein that one commits sin.

Bishop Oliveros comments are in line with the Vatican’s November 2005 document from the Congregation for Catholic Education, approved and enforced by Pope Benedict XVI in August 2005, regarding the admission of men with homosexual tendencies.

“Regarding [homosexual] acts, it teaches that Sacred Scripture presents them as grave sins. The Tradition has constantly considered them as intrinsically immoral and contrary to the natural law. Consequently, under no circumstance can they be approved”.

The document also states that any man who is to be ordained into the diaconate must have overcome any homosexual tendencies three years prior.

“[…] It necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called "gay culture”.

To see the Vatican document from the Congregation of Catholic Education outlining seminary restrictions surrounding those with Homosexual tendencies:

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccath...)

Articles by the Catholic Conference of Bishops news agency in the Philippines:

Keep the purity of Marian Devotions says Cardinal
http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/2483

Cardinal bans gays in Santacruzan
http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/2460

For previously posted articles on this topic:

Vatican Investigation of US Seminaries to be Led by Strongly Pro-Life Bishop 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/aug/05082301.html
 
New US Seminary Guidelines Insist on Total Acceptance of Full Teaching on Sexuality 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06083001.html
 
Homosexual Activists and Media will Attempt to Sabotage Vatican Cleanup of US Seminaries 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/jul/02070206.html

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