Religion:

Prospective Catholic Priests Face Sexuality Hurdles

Many questions for potential priests are aimed at deciding whether gay applicants should be denied admission.

"Father Sweeney said the new rules were not the order of battle for a witch hunt. “We do not say that homosexuals are bad people,” he said. “And sure, homosexuals have been good priests.”

“But it has to do with our view of marriage,” he said. “A priest can only give his life to the church in the sense that a man gives his life to a female spouse. A homosexual man cannot have the same relationship. It’s not about condemning anybody. It’s about our world view.”"

It sure looks like a witch hunt to me.

The Birds and the Bees (via the Fertility Clinic)

Mr Douthat, The study you are referring to in 'The Birds and the Bees' can hardly be called scientific, and the Institute of American Values' credentials are dubious at best. The chairman on the IAV website states, in regard gay marriage "Christianity - as the wellspring of ‘animus’ against homosexual activity - is being attacked as full of bigotry, but empty of factual content... Yet 99% of the empirical evidence regarding homosexual activity supports the Christian appraisal of it." How would one make 'empirical' such suposed "evidence"? The motivations of this organization are clear, and if you wish to highlight the activities and 'studies' promulgated by this organization, a clear statement addressing the organizations' mission would better inform your reader audience of possible biases, particularly ones that spew propaganda such as (in the same article) that 'homosexual promiscuity' makes the spread of AIDs virus "more efficient" and paedophilia "more likely". I have enjoyed your columns in the past and hope that your column advertsing the IAV's findings with regard IVF was published with an ignorance of their unscientific biases and bigoted values. Faithfully Stevie Modern

I imagine that Ross Douthat Had to work quite a bit for his shocked tone.

No child has any input into their existence. Orthodox Judaism contends that a Jew by birth is the child of a Jewish mother. Is it not better that there are no accidental assisted pregnancies? A child made to order is a very desired child.

There are no questions of force or accident.

I think Mr. Douthat's problem is with Catholic Doctrine not with the psychology of the children in question.