COLORADO
The Rocky Mountain News
By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News
November 30, 2005
Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput praised as "common sense" a Vatican document that greatly restricts homosexuals from the clergy, but he stopped short of saying he would categorically bar all seminary applicants who continue to experience same-sex attractions.
"It falls to every bishop - supported by seminary rectors and formation teams - to examine and discern the suitability of every candidate for priesthood on a case-by-case basis that respects the dignity of the individual," Chaput wrote in Tuesday's Denver Catholic Register. Chaput oversees two Denver seminaries that have 94 men enrolled.
The long-awaited Vatican document, released Tuesday in its official English translation, definitively bars from the priesthood practicing homosexuals, those who support the gay culture and those with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies."
However, many church leaders, including Chaput, appear to regard another passage as much less black and white. It identifies "transitory" homosexual tendencies arising from, for example, delayed adolescence.