CHICAGO (IL)
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Chicago -- The nation's Roman Catholic bishops adopted new guidelines Friday for selecting and training priests but skirted a controversy over whether self- described gay men -- even if celibate -- should be admitted to seminaries.
Sexual orientation among seminarians came up at the bishops' three-day meeting when the prelates debated the draft of a "Program for Priestly Formation."
Bishop John Nienstedt of New Ulm, Minn., chairman of the bishops Committee on Priestly Formation, said questions about homosexual orientation and priesthood candidates would be addressed in a long-awaited Vatican document due to be issued soon.
The question of whether there should be different standards for homosexuals and heterosexuals emerged three years ago when Bishop Wilton Gregory, the former president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, cited the "struggle to make sure that the Catholic priesthood is not dominated by homosexual men."