Ramon Roks, 27, born as an only child in Roosendaal, the Netherlands, presents himself as "openly homosexual".
He
will be ordained a priest for the diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch in 2025.
Roks has been back at the seminary since January 2024. At the moment
there are only two (!) students in the diocesan seminary of
Sint-Janscentrum. The other seminarian is from Nigeria.
Roks'
parents are atheists. But he became active in his Catholic home parish
at the age of 13. When he was 18, he entered the seminary of the diocese
of Breda and studied for four years. Then he began to have doubts and
left the seminary to join the Franciscans in Amsterdam.
Community
life didn't "suit" him and he left to live on his own, where he
experienced "freedom". With his friends, he immersed himself in the
nightlife of Amsterdam.
Roks continued what he considered "a good
prayer life", which meant reading the breviary. At the same time, he
worked with young people in a Protestant church "to experience other
church structures at first hand".
The Catholic Church "allowed" Roks to give his dying aunt a blessing ("Ziekenzegen"). This is a recently invented "blessing" through which Roks' aunt was deprived of the Last Rites ("Ziekenzalving").
The
idea of becoming a priest came up again. Roks spoke to the
anti-Catholic bishop Gerard de Korte, 68, of 's-Hertogenbosch. Until Mgr
de Korte took over in 2016, 's-Hertogenbosch was considered a
reasonably Catholic diocese.
De Korte accepted Roks as a
seminarian. "It is well known that I am homosexual, and I am open about
it. I am different from the norm. But I have never had a relationship
and I am willing to live celibate," Roks told Nd.nl (20 April): "I don't
think my orientation is that important in this matter."
Nevertheless,
Roks is already the spokesman for the 'Association of Catholic Gay
Pastors' because he represents an "inclusive church".
As a
priest, Roks wants to give a "blessing" to people of any orientation if
they have a "good relationship". It is "not" his aim to "win a lot of
souls".
He has served as a St Nicolaus [who dresses like a bishop
in many European countries] and replied with a "big grin" when asked if
he would like to become a bishop: "Yes, I am also an actor and can be
hired as a bishop. I am already practising with a staff and a mitre. No,
no joke, I really enjoy going behind people's doors like that". As St
Nicolaus, he loves "the theatre, the script, the play", but becoming a
bishop "shouldn't be one's ultimate goal", he believes.
Asked if he also loves "the theatre in the Church" ['versus populum' celebration], Roks replied: "I'm not going to deny that".
Benedict
XVI published an instruction in 2005 that men with deep-seated
homosexual tendencies cannot be admitted to the priesthood because they
cannot "relate properly" to other people. "It is impossible to overlook
the negative consequences that can result from the ordination of persons
with deep-seated homosexual tendencies," the document explains.
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