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Will Vatican policy 'make closet bigger'?

The church formalizes a ban on openly gay men in the priesthood. Critics say it will lead to a shortage of priests.

By TAMARA LUSH and WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published November 30, 2005

Within hours of issuing a document that bars openly gay men from entering the Catholic priesthood, the Vatican on Tuesday defended the new policy, saying that homosexuality is a "sexual tendency not an identity."

Conservatives say this new policy may help reverse the "gay culture" of many U.S. seminaries, while liberal critics say the restrictions will create morale problems among clergy and lead to an even greater priest shortage in the United States.

"I'm afraid all it will do is make the closet bigger in the church," said Father Steve Rosczewski, a gay man who officiates services at the Holy Spirit Ecumenical Catholic Church in Largo after being dismissed as parish priest at a church in St. Petersburg.

The Rev. Len Plazewski, director of vocations for the Diocese of St. Petersburg, said he believes the Vatican document reflects standards already in place in most U.S. seminaries.

The expectation to be a priest "is that one has to fully and completely embrace a chaste, celibate life," he said.

"Even before this instruction, if someone was living an active homosexual life, that person would not be a suitable candidate to the priesthood," he said.

The official "Instruction" from the Congregation for Catholic Education was released a week after an Italian Catholic news agency posted a leaked copy on its Web site.

The document has been in the works for years, but its existence came to light in 2002 at the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal in the United States. A study commissioned by U.S. bishops found most abuse victims since 1950 were adolescent boys.

Experts on sex offenders say homosexuals are no more likely than heterosexuals to molest young people, but that did not stifle questions about gay seminarians.

The Instruction said men "who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called "gay culture"' cannot be admitted to seminaries. The only exception would be for those with a "transitory problem" that had been overcome for at least three years.

Plazewski said the Holy See determined it is difficult "to live out to the fullest what priesthood is supposed to be" for men who see themselves as gay.

Bart Coyle of Bradenton, a 58-year-old gay Catholic who is a member of Dignity USA, said he thinks the Vatican's directive is short-sighted and just plain wrong.

"From our perspective, just like the Vatican doesn't recognize Dignity, we don't really recognize their authority," he said. "It's no secret that there are plenty of gay priests out there."

Dignity USA, a national organization for gay and lesbian Catholics, was formed by a gay priest 25 years ago. Coyle and his partner attend Catholic services held at a Unitarian Church in Sarasota.

Like many gay Catholics, Coyle distanced himself from his faith for decades, unable to justify the church's stance on homosexuality. But when his ill mother moved in with him and his partner - and when Catholic church parishioners came to help and comfort her - Coyle had an awakening.

"I really got to see true Christianity at work," he said. "And I realized there are people here who want this Catholic service."

The Rev. James Martin, a U.S. Jesuit who has written on the issue, said American theologians, canon lawyers and other Roman Catholics will "hope that the document won't really mean what it says." But he believes it's clear the Vatican wants to keep gay men from being ordained - even if they're committed to celibacy - and hopes bishops and seminary rectors will act accordingly.

Martin predicted "a slow, silent attrition among celibate gay men who cannot accept the idea of staying in an organization that condemns their existence in the priesthood."

Rosczewski of St. Petersburg said he has tried to balance his Catholicism and his homosexuality.

The two are not mutually exclusive said Rosczewski, who said the Vatican's new policy designed to keep men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies from becoming priests will only alienate more Catholics - both gay and straight.

Rosczewski and many other critics say the document is a campaign to blame gay men for the coverup of sexual abuse within the church.

"It's a knee-jerk response for the pedophilia crisis," Rosczewski said.

Vatican officials say the Instruction was intended for candidates for the priesthood and not someone who "discovers his homosexuality after having been ordained."

Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski told Vatican Radio that such a priest "has to try to live in chastity. ... Maybe he will need more spiritual support than others, but I think he should be a priest in the best way possible."

The cardinal also elaborated on the meaning of "transitory" problems.

"For example, during an adolescence not yet completed, some curiosity; or, under accidental circumstances, when drunk, or other particular conditions such as a person who has been in prison for many years. In these cases, the possible homosexual acts do not come from a deeply seated tendency, but are determined by the circumstances," he said.

"Or, these acts are made to please someone and obtain advantages. ... These acts in such cases do not originate from a "deeply seated' tendency, but from other transitory circumstances, and these cases are not an obstacle to the admission to the seminary or to holy order. In this case though, they have to end at least three years before the diaconal ordainment."

The church is not saying that heterosexual men are more likely to be chaste than gay men, said Plazewski, of St. Petersburg's Diocese.

"It is recognizing that we don't live in a vacuum. The reality is, to send someone with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies into a seminary, where they are going to live with other males, is setting someone up for failure. And also, it isn't really fair to other men who are trying to discern a priesthood, if there are people who are making sexual advances on them."

Plazewski, who helps to screen men considering the priesthood and also works with those from the diocese already in seminaries, disputed assertions that the recent ruling would have a negative effect on vocations.

"I think, if anything, it will be helpful for men to know that these are the standards," he said. He added that most men will find it reassuring to know that there are clear boundaries in the seminaries.

--Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

[Last modified November 30, 2005, 02:15:38]