CANADA
Globe and Mail
By GILLES MARCHILDON
Friday, October 7, 2005 Posted at 3:13 AM EDT
Globe and Mail Update
Either the Catholic Church's leadership has got it all wrong, or it is a crafty political operator - or both.
It was recently reported that the Vatican will carry out a seminary review, called an "apostolic visitation" that will involve sending teams to conduct interviews with more than 4,500 students and faculty members in 229 seminaries. Their main task will be to uncover homosexuals.
Almost simultaneously, news leaked out that Pope Benedict XVI has approved a new Vatican policy document according to which, men with homosexual tendencies should not be ordained as Catholic priests. The view is that homosexuality is a weakness, an intrinsic disorder that makes priests unable to serve in ministry.
The sums of these two items? Let the hunt begin. The Catholic Church has decided to purge gay men from its ranks.
It will not be a simple task. After all, the Catholic Church is probably the world's largest employer of homosexuals. The damage caused by these two initiatives will be profound: shattered lives and a weakened institution.