As the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops gathered at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago last week for a meeting to review their sexual abuse policy, Cardinal Francis George said that gay men should not be admitted into seminaries, the Chicago Tribune reported.
George, who is archbishop of Chicago and vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in light of the sexual abuse crisis, bishops are paying closer attention to the sexual backgrounds of men interested in entering the priesthood. Part of the commitment is that a man is celibate when he enters seminary. ‘Also, anyone who has been part of a gay subculture or who has lived promiscuously as a heterosexual would not be admitted … no matter how many years in his background that might have occurred,’ George said.
The role, if any, of sexuality in the sexual abuse scandal is being debated. Critics have charged there is no evidence that gays are more likely to engage in abuse than heterosexuals. Others have said placing attention on homosexuality is a way of deflecting attention from bishops who allowed the scandal to unfold.
In related news, the Washington Post reported that the bishops affirmed their policy of zero tolerance for sex offenders, voting by a substantial majority to extend the one-strike approach for five years. The vote occurred despite complaints from some priests and bishops that the policy is too inflexible.
The measure bars sex offenders from public church work for life, a step first taken by Catholic authorities in 2002 after hundreds of priests stood accused of sexual misconduct.