UNITED STATES
The Star-Ledger
Saturday, September 10, 2005
The Vatican has dispersed its representatives to the United States to ensure that seminaries prepare future priests to "live chastely." The visits were ordered by the late Pope John Paul II following the sex abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church.
It is a good step in the church's effort to clean up what had been a seamy, ill-kept secret. Meanwhile, the Vatican is about to release a long-awaited decision on whether gay men should be barred from seminaries. If church leaders declare that the priesthood is for straight men only, that will be an overreaction and discriminatory.
As long as celibacy remains a foundation of the priesthood, it would seem that sexual preference is a moot issue. But while many priests honor the pledge of chastity, for others, both heterosexual and homosexual, it is harder.