GAY PRIESTS New document sparks contrasting reactions

Some praised the release for clarifying policy that had often been ignored.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
CHICAGO -- The Vatican issued a long-awaited document Tuesday on the explosive issue of homosexuality in the priesthood, but the document banning men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" added more heat than light to the controversy.
In fact, several scholars said that the text of the document -- which largely restates long-standing Roman Catholic teaching on homosexuality -- matters less than its timing and prominence. It marks the first major policy statement since Pope Benedict XVI took office in April and comes at a time when Vatican officials are inspecting U.S. seminaries, while the sexual abuse scandal still reverberates in the church.
Almost immediately, there was heated debate and stark disagreement about the potential impact of the document in Catholic seminaries, to which the "instruction" from the Congregation for Catholic Education is addressed.
In addition to barring those with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies," the document says ordination to the priesthood should not be allowed for those who have had homosexual encounters during the prior three years, or those who support the "gay culture."
Cardinal Francis George said the document was "entirely consistent with the present policies of the Chicago Archdiocesan seminaries, which have been in place for more than 10 years. The criteria of the Instruction are also entirely consistent with the teaching of the church for the past two thousand years.
"To portray the Instruction as 'gay bashing' or 'gay banning' is to misrepresent it," he said in a statement to the press.
Questioning fairness
Yet some gay priests worried Tuesday that the document would have exactly that effect.
The Rev. Michael Herman, a gay priest who serves as pastor of St. Sylvester Church in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, recently joined with other priests to form a new group called Catholics Affirming Homosexual Leadership.
"People who have a sense of bigotry or have sense of hatred toward people who are gay, these documents give people a chance to get on their soapbox," the Rev. Mr. Herman said. "My desire to speak out is to say, 'Wait a second. Is this a fair thing to say? Is it fair to isolate one group of candidates when these issues of maturity and integration are true of all candidates?'"
Countering indifference
Conservative church leaders applauded the directive as a necessary clarification and defense of doctrine. The Rev. Joseph Fessio, editor of Ignatius Press, which publishes several of Pope Benedict's books, said the document was significant in restating policy that has been largely ignored. That indifference, he said, has helped create gay subcultures in seminaries.
"This is an important teaching which is rooted in the Church's high view of marriage and sexuality, but which has been disregarded and resisted and opposed," said the Rev. Mr. Fessio.
"There are people who oppose this document who claim that homosexual orientation and tendency is actually a gift from God. It would be uncharitable for us to withhold the truth of the church from those people."