AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
November 25, 2005
Page 1 of 3 | Single page
Despite the Vatican's new ban on gay priests, the Catholic Church's struggle with homosexuality is far from over, writes Linda Morris.
BEFORE a Catholic seminarian becomes a deacon, the penultimate step towards priesthood, he makes a vow of chastity. In the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Strathfield, the candidate makes an oath of fidelity to live a life in union with the church and then, wearing a white alb, pledges before the altar:
"I [name], standing here before God and this community, acting with my own free will, declare I will undertake the commitment of celibacy for the rest of my life to serve God and his people through the sacrament of Holy Orders."
The vow has such solemn, binding force in the Catholic Church that the priest can break his vows of chastity only by receiving a formal annulment.