UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Joshua J. McElwee | Dec. 8, 2016
Groups that advocate for LGBT persons in the Catholic church are expressing frustration with a new Vatican document that reaffirms a 2005 instruction banning gay men from entering the priesthood.
The document, released by the Congregation for Clergy on Monday and given the title “The Gift of the Priestly Vocation,” is a detailed set of norms and guidelines for priestly formation.
The document draws heavily on Pope John Paul II’s 1992 apostolic exhortation on priestly formation, as well as on the teaching of and norms issued by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis and by Vatican offices over the past three decades.
It reaffirms an instruction approved by Benedict in 2005, which said, “the church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.'” …
Following are excerpts of the responses to the new document from three U.S.-based groups:
From Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests director David Clohessy:
“Vatican officials are re-affirming their so-called ban on gay priests. Scapegoating some adults protects no children. Behavior, not orientation, is what matters.
“Half of our 20,000 plus members are women who were sexually assaulted as kids by priests, nuns, bishops and seminarians. It’s just wrong to assume or claim that most victims of child molesting clerics are boys.
“This will almost certainly have no impact whatsoever on the church’s continuing child sex abuse and cover up crisis. Those who hope this will make kids safer will be disappointed.”
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