The Catholic Church has existed for over 2,000 years. As a result, the Church has guarded itself and its teachings against new interpretations, reinvention, and social movements, including the recent acceptance of homosexuality and homosexual marriage. But the Catholic Church does not stand against homosexual marriage because it is jealous or fearful of change or of any minority. It does so because it believes (arguably, very objectively) that it is following God’s will as revealed in Biblical Scripture. Therefore statements such as, “The Catholic Church… fails to update its tenets,” and, “[The Catholic Church] lacks the capacity for making its thinking contemporary,” assume that ‘updates’ and ‘being contemporary’ are not only desirable qualities, but inherently better ones. The Catholic Church, along with many other Christians, Muslims, and Jews, disagrees. For religions that believe in an eternal God, what effect could ‘popular beliefs’ and ‘contemporary understanding’ have on him? There is a saying: You can argue with a heretic, but not an unbeliever. Simply said – The Catholic Church uses the basis of divine authority to inform its decisions while the legal system and society tend to use social or civil rights. The two are dissimilar. Should one system’s basis be applied to the other?

It is also, if seen in the right light, understandable that the Catholic Church wishes to conduct psychological screenings for priests, especially for what the document in question calls “deep seated homosexual tendencies.” The instructions from the Vatican also ask for candidates to be screened for their ability to stay chaste in their vows of celibacy. Had the Vatican better screened for these in the last century, the (rightfully) shameful and horrific sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church might have been averted. In light of that scandal, it is surprising that such measures would be condemned. If the Church hadn’t taken steps to prevent similar crimes in the future, people, both within the Church and without, would have been outraged. This is the obvious and necessary update to be implemented if one can only employ “consequential thinking processes.”

One should be comforted, however, to know that the Catholic Church, although resistant to change, does think honestly and acknowledge truth. Eventually Copernicus was vindicated and admitted to be correct. Pope Benedict recently announced that science and faith (even evolution) are compatible. If homosexuality and Christianity are indeed compatible, the Catholic Church will come to see it. It will eventually acknowledge this sun. But only if a sun exists.