Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.01.2005
A headline about the new Instruction from the Vatican read, "Vatican bans active gays from priesthood." One might add that it bans active straights from the priesthood, too.
Perhaps the celibacy rule will change. But as long as it applies, those who are in sexual relationships of either sort will not be ordained. That is not new, and indeed it is not news.
In fact, the new Instruction says merely that under some circumstances gays can become priests, and under other circumstances they cannot be ordained. It leaves local officials - bishops and seminary rectors - to decide in individual cases.
The document is a stinging defeat for those Catholic conservatives in Rome and in this country who have been blaming gays for the sexual abuse crisis and wanted to ban them completely from the priesthood.
The issue comes down to whether a homosexual orientation is something people choose or something they cannot change.