DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
November 30, 2005
BY DAVID CRUMM and JACK KRESNAK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
A long-awaited Vatican document on homosexuality contains as many questions as answers about the church's effort to bar sexually active gay men from the priesthood, said Catholics who read the text released Tuesday.
"The worst thing about this document is that it's vague and uses phrases that people just don't use today, so it's hard to understand what they're even talking about," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit based in California who is an expert on the structure of the church. "Who uses a phrase like 'homosexual tendencies' except a document like this? And what does it mean?
"Conservatives will be able to interpret this statement as saying that all gays should be thrown out of seminaries. Or other bishops can interpret it as saying that homosexuals still can be ordained, if they're ready for a celibate life."
The key phrase in the document, issued by the Vatican agency that oversees Catholic schools, states that church leaders "cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture.' "