STOCKTON (CA)
Record
PAULA SHEIL
Record Staff Writer
Published Saturday, Dec 10, 2005
STOCKTON --The Roman Catholic Church has reaffirmed its position that homosexual behavior is sinful, and ruled that anyone with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" will not be ordained as a priest.
The Vatican initiated an extensive study of all U.S. seminaries in 2002, when the church was faced with a staggering number of clergy sex-abuse lawsuits. Diocese from Boston to San Francisco dealt with accusations of clergy misconduct with children, many of whom were adolescent boys.
Critics of the Vatican document, approved by Pope Benedict XVI and published Nov. 29, say it targets gay priests because of the defrocked pedophile priests, some of whom spent time in prison. Not true, said Bishop Stephen Blaire, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton.
"There is no substantiated correlation between pedophilia and homosexuality," Blaire said. "These are two different issues and need to be treated as such."