Vatican review of
seminaries to raise issue
of gay priests
Some link abuse
crisis to perceived toleration
AP from
baltimoresun.com on the Web, May 1, 2005
A Vatican evaluation of American
seminaries planned three years ago in response to the clergy sex-abuse crisis is
expected to move forward under Pope Benedict XVI and will likely tackle the
polarizing issue of whether gays should become priests.
The appraisal will focus on conditions in the seminaries, including how
instructors present church teaching on sexuality and celibacy, to look for
anything that contributed to the scandal.
Church officials conducting the review will inevitably take up complaints that
gays are enrolling in large numbers in seminaries and that their sexual activity
is tolerated there, experts on Catholicism said. Some Catholics contend an
atmosphere of sexual permissiveness -- for straight and gay seminarians -- was a
factor in the crisis, which has led to more than 11,000 abuse claims in the last
five decades.
Dean Hoge, a Catholic University sociologist, said seminary rectors are anxious
about the review -- called an "apostolic visitation."
Vatican officials announced the evaluation in April 2002, after Pope John Paul
II convened an emergency meeting with U.S. cardinals at the height of the
scandal. The visits had been set to begin this fall. Church
officials expect that schedule to stay about the same.
Several church experts said they expected few changes in how the review will be
conducted.
The Vatican agency overseeing the project -- the Congregation for Catholic
Education -- has been given a list of recommended bishops and priests to visit
the seminaries. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of the U.S. Archdiocese for the
Military Services has been appointed to coordinate the review.
The Vatican education office has also been drafting new guidelines for accepting
candidates for the priesthood that could address the question of whether gays
should be admitted. The church considers gay relationships "intrinsically
disordered."
The Rev. James Martin of the Jesuit magazine America says four Vatican sources
had told him that, under Pope John Paul, the Vatican was about to issue a decree
placing severe restrictions or an outright ban on seminarians who acknowledge
being gay, even if they are celibate.
The fate of that document and its exact contents are unknown.
Sam Sinnett, national president of DignityUSA, which represents gay and lesbian
Catholics, said he was worried the seminary review and new enrollment standards
could result in a "witch hunt" against gays, despite their contributions in
parishes and elsewhere.
|
