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“Gays” cannot be Seminary Rectors or Professors says Vatican Document Cover Letter

By Hilary White

ROME, December 2, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A part of the Vatican’s instruction on banning homosexuals from Catholic seminaries that did not gain widespread media attention was a covering letter accompanying it that specified that “gay” men must not be allowed to be seminary rectors or professors.

Signed by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the education congregation, and Archbishop J. Michael Miller, the congregation’s secretary, the letter specified that the instructions “must be adhered to faithfully,” a stipulation expected to rankle among North American and European bishops who have long been accustomed to a creative interpretation of obedience to Rome.

The letter made it clear that although there are no current plans to remove from ministry those homosexuals who have already been ordained, such men cannot be allowed to participate in the formation of seminarians.

The letter stated that as with all priests, they must continue in their calling to celibate chastity but, "Because of the particular responsibility of those charged with the formation of future priests, they are not to be appointed as rectors or educators in seminaries."

In an interview with the US Public Broadcasting Service, (PBS) Fr. Joseph Fessio, the well-known supporter of Catholic orthodoxy and head of the Pope’s English language publishers, Ignatius Press, said that the document says nothing that is new about Catholic teaching on sexuality but that the teaching is largely being ignored in modern seminaries. Fessio expressed his gratitude for the document because it clarified that “homosexuality is not something neutral. It's not a gift of God. It's an affective disorder. That does not mean that those who are afflicted with it are bad persons.”

PBS spokeswoman, Margaret Warner, asked if it means that to the Catholic Church, homosexuals are “unfit for the priesthood.” Fessio replied, “That’s correct.”

Fessio clarified, “The Catholic Church has taught from the beginning that homosexual acts are intrinsically immoral, against God's plan, against the natural law and are serious sins, and that, therefore, a tendency to indulge in those acts, or desire for them, is an objective psychological disorder.”

Father John Harvey, the founder of Courage, the organization for recovering homosexuals that is faithful to the Church’s teaching, said in an interview with the Rome news service, Zenit, that he was also grateful for the document. “It is clear of two types they do not want: those who are actively engaged in a homosexual lifestyle and those who push the gay agenda, that "gay is good." People with that view should not be in seminary,” Harvey said.

“For years within the Church we have had people pushing the gay agenda,” Harvey continued. “Groups such as Dignity, New Age Ministry, and gay and lesbian ministries. It is about time the Church said clearly that if seminarians have gay tendencies, we need to be aware of it. They should not hide their same-sex attractions or lie about it.”

The question is being asked in many corners, however, whether the document will be implemented by bishops according to what Fessio calls the “blunt” teaching or by the standard of ‘business as usual. 

Diogenes, the pseudonymous blogger and commentator at Catholic World News neatly summed up the expectation - or lack thereof - of many observers, saying that whether the document is a juridically binding document may make little difference to bishops long accustomed to ignoring or ‘reinterpreting’ most Roman instructions. He writes, “Binding or not, we know what the Vatican wants. Now we'll see which bishops want the same thing.

Read Fr. Fessio’s interview with PBS:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/religion/july-dec05/gays_11-29.html

Read Fr. Harvey’s interview with Zenit:
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=80897

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