Word that a soon-to-be- released Vatican document will signal that homosexuals are unwelcome in Roman Catholic seminaries even if they are celibate has devastated gay clergy – and raised doubts among conservatives about whether an outright ban can be enforced.
A Vatican official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the document has not been released, said Thursday that the upcoming “instruction” from the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education will reaffirm the church’s belief that homosexuals should not be ordained.
The Rev. Thomas Krenik, who taught for 10 years in St. Paul Seminary in Minnesota and wrote the guidebook “Formation for Priestly Celibacy,” worries that a blanket ban on gay priest candidates will re-create the very conditions the Vatican wants to eradicate.
“For some men who happened to be homosexually oriented, they would go further in the closet,” Krenik said. “That would be my fear, that this could become an even worse problem.”
A gay American priest, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals from church leaders, said he and other gay clergy and seminarians felt “absolute horror” when they heard about the anticipated ban.
“I’ve spoken to gay priests who feel demoralized. I’ve heard straight priests say that they’re embarrassed by it. I’ve heard priests both straight and gay seriously considering leaving,” he said. “They couldn’t believe that after centuries of either explicit or implicit welcoming of celibate gay clergy that the church would turn its back on them.”
James Hitchcock, a church historian at St. Louis University and conservative commentator on contemporary Catholicism, said he thinks the ban is necessary considering that a study the U.S. bishops commissioned from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice found most of the alleged abuse victims since 1950 were adolescent boys. But he conceded the policy will be difficult to enforce, since candidates for the priesthood can hide their sexual orientation.
He’s also concerned that gays truly dedicated to remaining celibate will be unfairly excluded.
