Homosexuals should not be accepted into seminaries. (News in Brief: Vatican).

Vatican -- When the Holy Father addressed a group of Brazilian bishops on September 5, 2002, he spoke very frankly about the importance of choosing suitable candidates for the priesthood. His comments were obviously in response to the sex abuse scandals in the West and the dissent from Catholic teaching which he believes is at the root of the scandals. He did not refer directly to homosexuality, but he clearly implied it as something which should not be present in those accepted into seminaries, because the Church teaches that it is an "intrinsically disordered" condition.

It would be lamentable, he said, if youths with obvious signs of emotional disorders were admitted to ordination; mistakes in choosing such candidates for the priesthood "can cause grave scandal in the consciences of the faithful and obvious harm for the whole Church."

He also spoke bluntly about the problem of many Western seminaries having instructors who are dissenters from Church teaching. He was moved to "sorrow and concern" by the realization that some Brazilian seminaries are "living in dissent from the Church." He also expressed frustration at the fact that bishops have not been implementing reforms to seminaries even after reforms have been pointed out repeatedly by delegations appointed by the Vatican. Stressing the accountability of bishops, he emphasized that "no bishop can excuse himself from this responsibility, for which he must give an account before God" (emphasis ours).

In October, a draft document containing directives against the admission of homosexuals to the priesthood was being circulated to various congregations and consultants. Independently of any judgment on a particular homosexual person, the document said that a person with this orientation should be not be admitted to the seminary and, if his condition is discovered later, should not be ordained.

One individual, Father Andrew R. Baker, a U.S. Vatican official at the Congregation for Bishops, said in September that, if a man has a same-sex attraction, that by itself is grounds for bishops to have a "prudent doubt" about his suitability for the sacrament of orders. He pointed out that homosexuality is a "disordered attraction" and therefore that the homosexual can "never image God."

He cited potential difficulties for homosexual seminarians or priests, including problems dealing with their tendencies in a largely heterosexual society, questions about their adherence to Church teachings, and possible temptations in male environments like the seminary or the priesthood (America magazine, Sept 30/02), In the same issue of America, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, auxiliary bishop of Detroit, who has leaned towards the acceptability of the homosexual lifestyle in the Church for a long time, opposed Fr. Baker's views.

Catholic News Service reported that there is, as yet, no definitive time frame for the document.

Comment:

There are some questions why another document is necessary. The February 1961 note "Careful selection and training of candidates..." still stands. It states:

"Advancement to religious vows and Ordination should be barred to those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty, since for them the common life and the priestly ministry would constitute serious dangers."

But as the Washington Post of October 11 reported:

"In the United States, there has been quiet but presistent disagreement among Catholic Church leaders about the ordination of gay priests. Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington has said that the key question is not a candidate's sexual orientation, but whether he is ready, willing, and able to live in perpetual celibacy Some other prelates, such as Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua of Philadelphia, take the position that Catholic seminaries should exclude any candidate who has a history of homosexual activity or who discloses a same-sex attraction, regardless of whether he has acted on it....Reactions to news of the Vatican's draft policy were divided...Michael S. Winters, a Catholic writer in Washington, predicted that quiet lobbying by U.S. bishops would prevent the draft from being approved" (see also U.S. clergy scandal, Oct/02).