Reports that the Vatican is working on a document that will bar gays, even those who are celibate, from ordination to the priesthood have brought angry, defiant responses from some Catholic priests, puzzlement and worry from others.And a former seminarian, speculating on the possible action, said it's the reaction of a church that fears the priesthood will be looked on as a "gay career choice.""I'd start by saying `Over my dead body,'" says a Toronto priest who has worked in the Catholic gay community. "You are not excluding me from anything because of my orientation. Don't say we deserve it or have to take it silently. It's an attitude toward a minority in the church, which is profoundly unjust and profoundly anti-gospel."Jesus would not tolerate this exclusionary categorization of people."Others are wondering how this instruction, which the Vatican reportedly has been working on since 2001 — though no date has been set for its publication, it could come this month — will affect gay men already ordained."They are asking, `Is this retroactive? Is this a witch hunt?'" said another Toronto priest, who has heard from several worried members of the clergy."I see so many priests leading celibate, heroic lives, and to see their existence called into question — that they are gay and priests...."If you see somebody who genuinely loves Jesus and the church, whose heart and mind is in the right place, it's not an issue if he's gay, it's how much he lives for others."In the United States, some leaders of religious orders plan to go to Rome to address the question directly, to help allay the fears of priests and seminarians.Last week, a leading Jesuit wrote to his priests, saying he was asking bishops to intercede with Vatican officials, arguing that the idea would bring "great harm" to many "good priests and the Catholic faithful."Rev. Gerald Chojnacki, head of the New York province of Jesuits, wrote that he and other religious superiors would fight for the right of gays to "say yes to God's call in celibate service."In a letter made available to the Associated Press, he recalled attending funerals of gay clergy: "I find it insulting to demean their memory and their years of service by even hinting that they were unfit for priesthood because of their sexual orientation."In Toronto, Rev. Jean-Marc Laporte, provincial superior of Canada's English-speaking Jesuits, said young priests have called him seeking "guidance and comfort. I'm trying to put them at ease. But I'm certainly not going to write a letter."Laporte was urging calm after speaking to senior Canadian churchmen. "They don't share the same sense of impending doom, but lean toward a more serene approach."Controversy over the idea comes as the world's Catholic bishops meet for the first time with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, though gay ordination is not on the formal agenda.At the same time, teams of evaluators — bishops and seminary staff — have begun visits to more than 220 U.S. seminaries, where they are to interview all faculty and students using questions from a 13-page document.The visits, a response to the sexual abuse crisis in the United States, must be at least four days long. Some questions are as vague as "What is your general impression of the seminarians?" and "How often are there opportunities for confession?"But the highly charged question followed by the command "This question must be answered" is: "Is there evidence of homosexuality in the seminary?"That's the wrong question, several priests said, because gay men have always found a calling to the priesthood.
