UNITED STATES
Washington Blade
By ELIZABETH WEILL-GREENBERG
Friday, September 16, 2005
Reports resurfaced late last month that Catholic Church leaders are considering banning gay men from the priesthood, a move critics claim is part of a misguided attempt by the church to fight its sex abuse crisis. News reports have quoted Catholic officials who say the policy is forthcoming, as well as others who deny its existence.
“We don’t have any information on this,” said Bill Ryan, spokesperson for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “We haven’t seen it. We don’t know when or if it’s coming. It’s been rumored for years.”
But Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, told theAbuse Tracker Catholic Register last week that the report would be coming soon.
“I think anyone who has engaged in homosexual activity, or has strong homosexual inclinations, would be best not to apply to a seminary and not to be accepted into a seminary,” O’Brien said, adding that even gays who have been celibate for 10 or more years should not be admitted to seminaries.