Friday, January 16, 2009
THAT SMALL PASSAGE IN THE MIDDLE
Buried in the midst of an AP press release titled "Vatican Gay 'behavior' in seminaries declines" is this interesting claim:
In a report U.S. bishops released this week, the Vatican agency noted past "difficulties in the area of morality" within seminaries that "usually but not exclusively" involved "homosexual behavior." The evaluators said the appointment of better administrators in diocesan seminaries "has ensured that such difficulties have been overcome."
"Of course, here and there some case or other of immorality — again, usually homosexual behavior — continues to show up," according to the report. "However, in the main, the superiors now deal with these issues promptly and appropriately."
The evaluators had no such praise for schools run by religious orders, which critics consistently condemn as too liberal on celibacy, homosexuality and church teaching in general. The report said "ambiguity vis-a-vis homosexuality persists" within institutes run by religious orders. The report also cites those schools for failing to fully adhere to Catholic theology.
Nearly one-third of the 40,580 U.S. priests belong to religious orders.
Coming to a parish near you?
