SOUTH BEND (IN)
The Observer
By Maddie Hanna
Published: Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Speculation about the release of a Vatican document containing restrictions barring homosexuals from entering the priesthood has stirred debate and emotions both across the nation and at Notre Dame.
The restrictions, which would require Vatican representatives to investigate the 229 U.S. seminaries for "evidence of homosexuality," have been reported by news agencies but not been officially confirmed. But R. Scott Appleby, director of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and an expert on the Catholic Church's recent sexual abuse scandals, called this possible move by the Vatican "sadly punitive."
"If a gay man feels called to the priesthood, [under the proposed new ruling] he must dissemble, or even lie, about his sexual orientation," Appleby said. "In a sense, the Church would be complicit in a lie."
This, Appleby said, would create an "unhealthy" and repressive climate like the one present in seminaries during the highly publicized scandals of recent years.
"We know how that's an unhealthy situation," Appleby said. "It can even backfire."
The reason for the Vatican's statement stemmed from "the concern that some seminaries in the U.S. are becoming a haven for homosexuals," Appleby said. "And the feeling on the part of some people that heterosexuals are intimidated from entering the seminary, or feel uncomfortable, because it's a gay climate."
Theology professor Father Richard McBrien agreed with the idea that a gay climate exists in seminaries. He said the Church's sexual abuse scandals were a major contributing factor to the proposed restrictions.
"The U.S. cardinals themselves asked for this investigation of seminaries in April 2002, at the height of the sexual abuse scandal," McBrien said. "At the time - and since - there were a number of charges, mainly from ultra-conservative Catholics, that homosexuals in the priesthood were responsible for the sexual abuse, 80 percent of whose victims were boys."