(LifeSiteNews) — A survey commissioned by the University of Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life found that an alarming number of U.S. bishops are “comfortable ordaining a man who experiences deep-seated same-sex attraction.”
The survey was originally published in 2025 and came to light this week in a report titled “Do You Know Them to be Worthy? Twelve Proposals for Bishops, Rectors, Seminary Formation Teams, and Mental Health Professionals in Assessing the Suitability of Men for Holy Orders,” by Rev. Thomas V. Berg, a former formator at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York; and Professor Timothy G. Lock, a licensed psychiatrist and director of psychological services also at St. Joseph’s Seminary.
The survey found that 22 percent of U.S. bishops surveyed agree that they are “comfortable ordaining a man who experiences deep-seated same-sex attraction, provided he is firmly committed to celibacy.” More troublingly, a whopping 10 percent of U.S. bishops said they “strongly agree” with that statement.
The nation’s bishops are far more likely than others whose job it is to evaluate the suitability of candidates for the priesthood to be accepting of “deep-seated same-sex attraction.”
At 22 percent, the bishops are twice as likely as vocation directors (9 percent) and seminary spiritual directors/formators (12 percent) to support the ordination of men with deep-seated same-sex attraction, while seminary rectors (16 percent) and seminary mental health professionals (17 percent) are also more skeptical about advancing such candidates.
“The present authors, while endorsing that position, also recognize that there exists often sharp disagreement on this issue among key constituencies who play a role in judging the suitability of such candidates,” Berg and Lock noted.
“While the data indicates that a majority of bishops are not comfortable ordaining these men, there remains nonetheless a notable disparity of judgment in the body of bishops,” they continued.
“Many of us who have worked in formation for many years can attest to instances in which undue pressure has been placed on a rector and members of the formation team to advance such candidates against their own judgment,” they warned.
The U.S. bishops’ acceptance of homosexual tendencies contrasts with the Vatican’s 2005 document declaring that the Church cannot admit men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” to seminaries and the priesthood.
The Church further teaches that the homosexual inclination is “objectively disordered” and “incompatible with the priesthood.”
As such, they align themselves with Father James Martin, who took advantage of the publication of the survey and the recommendations issued by Berg and Lock to again push for ordaining homosexual men as priests.
In a scandalous commentary penned for the website Outreach, which bills itself as a so-called “LGBTQ Catholic ministry” and which Martin founded, the Jesuit took issue with two of the 12 proposals by authors Berg and Lock.
The term “overcoming” homosexuality is worrisome to Martin. “It is one thing to overcome temptation or lust; it is another to overcome one’s overall sexuality,” the Jesuit said, indicating that he believes that homosexual tendencies are an immutable trait and positive, though the Church teaches that they are disordered.
“This could easily be misinterpreted as overcoming one’s sexuality overall, a dangerous proposal,” Martin claimed.
He further lamented that the heart of the authors’ approach is “a view of homosexuality as an immense barrier to living a healthy life as a priest.”
“In my almost 40 years as a Jesuit, I’ve known dozens of celibate gay priests who have led what Pope Francis called ‘good, holy and celibate’ lives, modeling Jesus’ message of love and mercy,” Martin wrote. “They have been for me, and for many of my friends, spiritual directors, pastors, professors and mentors.”
Martin related an anecdote:
A few years ago, I asked a U.S. seminarian studying in Rome how many of his fellow seminarians were gay. “Half of them,” he said without hesitation. How many were open about their sexuality with their spiritual directors or seminary rectors? “Are you kidding?” he said. “None of them.” He explained that would mean expulsion.
Contrary to Martin’s alleged experience, and at odds with the 22 percent of bishops who apparently share his views, U.S. priests ordained in recent years overwhelmingly identify as conservative, suggesting that homosexuals are not as high a percentage of current seminarians as he has suggested.