While social scientists have long studied secrecy as a cultural practice, theologians have neglected it as an ecclesial practice. This article examines “segmented secrecy” as an ecclesial practice, that is, secrets kept or divulged in different social networks in a segmented manner. That secrecy is examined in the lives of gay priests in Roman Catholic ecclesial settings in the United States. After a brief sociological analysis of secrecy, the theological analysis reckons first with the ethics of segmented secrecy, arguing for segmented secrecy as a “burdened” form of the virtue of honesty. Next it turns to segmented secrecy as an ecclesial practice, a provisional way of securing protection for marginal persons amidst the larger eschatological protect of the church in the world, despite some moral hazards involved.

中文翻译：

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作为天主教教会实践的分段保密：同性恋牧师的案例

虽然社会科学家长期以来一直将保密作为一种文化实践进行研究，但神学家却忽视了它作为一种教会实践。本文将“分段保密”视为一种教会实践，即在不同社交网络中以分段方式保存或泄露的秘密。这种保密性在美国罗马天主教会的同性恋牧师的生活中得到了检验。在对保密进行了简短的社会学分析之后，神学分析首先与分段保密的伦理学相结合，认为分段保密是诚实美德的“负担”形式。接下来，它转向作为一种教会实践的分段保密，一种在世界上更大的末世教会保护中为边缘人提供保护的临时方式，尽管其中涉及一些道德风险。