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DOCUMENTS. Homosexuality and admission to the priesthood
When it is not proper to admit to the priesthood
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An interview with Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education on the subject of the Instruction about the criteria of selection for vocation of people with homosexual tendencies in view of their admission to the seminary and to Holy Orders
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Interview with Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski by Gianni Cardinale
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 | | Young priests walking on San Peter's square | | |
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On 29 November came the publication of the Instruction
of the Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education «on the
subject of the criteria of selection for vocation of people with homosexual
tendencies in view of their admission to the seminary and to the Holy
Orders». The document, approved in simple form by the Pope on 31
August, bears the signature of the Prefect of the department, Cardinal
Zenon Grocholewski, and of the Secretary, Canadian archbishop Michael J.
Miller, a member of the Congregation of Saint Basil.
To learn the main points of the Instruction, 30Days asked some questions of
Cardinal Grocholewski. Born 66 years ago in Poland (archdiocese of Posnan),
he has worked in the Roman Curia from the time of Paul VI. After studying
in Rome, Grocholewski began working immediately as a simple priest in the
Apostolic Signet, of which he became Secretary in 1982 and Prefect in
October of 1998. The following year he was called to head the Congregation
for Catholic Education, and in 2001 was created cardinal.
Your Eminence, what reasons lie at the origin of the
Instruction?
ZENON GROCHOLEWSKI: In recent years there has been a
spread of mistaken or ambiguous opinions whereby homosexuality is alleged
to be a natural tendency, inscribed in human nature alongside the
heterosexual tendency. It has been claimed that considering homosexuality
as a disorder is discrimination and that homosexual acts are justifiable.
Not only that. People are said to have the right to perform such acts. The
spread of these ideas has already provoked repeated interventions by the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. These are, in fact, opinions
that find no justification whatsoever in the doctrine of the Church: they
are contrary to natural law, they are contrary to the teaching of Holy
Scripture and to the constant Tradition of the Church. And given that these
opinions have in some way penetrated even into certain ecclesiastical
circles, our Congregation has been invited to intervene by many bishops, by
many superiors of seminaries and by the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith itself.
Was this intervention determined only by the spread of
mistaken opinions or also because the phenomenon of homosexuality has
reached considerable scale in the seminaries?
GROCHOLEWSKI: It would be wrong to say that it is a
considerable problem on the level of the universal Church. One can say,
however, that in certain geographical areas the problem is more worrying.
Did the crisis of the priests accused of paedophilia
that has struck the Catholic Church in the United States also play a role
in the creation of the Instruction?
GROCHOLEWSKI: In some way yes, even if the document is
previous to the explosion of the American crisis, which thus can’t be
considered the reason for the document.
The Instruction has been criticized even within the
world of the Church. The former Master General of the Dominicans, Father
Timothy Radcliffe, wrote in The Tablet that he has no doubt that God calls homosexuals to the
priesthood and that they «are among the most committed and dedicated
priests I have met»…
GROCHOLEWSKI: We know that every priestly vocation is a
call from the Lord, but the call comes through the Church, in the Church
and for the Church. For that reason the Church has the right, indeed the
duty, of determining the requisites necessary for being admitted to the
priesthood. One cannot deny that certain people with homosexual tendencies
can carry out their priesthood in exemplary manner. The purpose of our
document is the fact that it is nevertheless not proper to call these
people to the priesthood. I understand that it is a grave decision, but it
was not taken lightly.
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 | | Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski | | |
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In what sense?
GROCHOLEWSKI: We did not take it from one day to the
next, with nonchalance. We consulted several Congregations of the Roman
Curia: that for the Doctrine of the Faith, for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments, for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and
the Society of Apostolic Life, for the Evangelization of Peoples, for the
Clergy, for the Eastern Churches. We discussed the document in three
Plenary Assemblies of the Congregation, up to the approval reached at the
plenary meeting this year, in which around thirty cardinals coming from all
corners of the world took part. The document is the outcome of reflection
and discussion also with experts in the field. In the end it was decided,
as said, that it is not proper to admit to the priesthood those who
practise homosexuality, who have tendencies rooted in homosexuality and who
encourage the so-called gay culture. For practical reasons, based on
experience and founded on the doctrine of the Church, we believe that it is
not proper to admit these people to the priesthood because of the
difficulties that can arise, and experience has taught us that arise they
do!
What is the meaning of the expression «deeply
rooted tendencies»? What can a homosexual tendency that is not
«deeply rooted» be?
GROCHOLEWSKI: No scientific instrument exists to
measure how deeply rooted a tendency may be. Our document helps however to
discern whether it is a matter of a deeply rooted tendency, that is
permanent and generated by an inner need, or whether it is a matter of a
transitory tendency caused by external conditions. As an example of
transitory tendency our document lists the case of incomplete adolescence.
But there can also be other cases. For example the case of those who have
performed homosexual acts in a state of drunkenness, or of those who did so
as a result of determined circumstances, such as having spent many years in
prison. Or of those who have done so out of obedience to a superior or to
earn money. In these cases, however, for the sake of prudence, to check
that it is a matter of a truly transitory tendency, it is well that a
fitting period of time be allowed to pass, which the document establishes
as three years, before proceeding to ordination as deacon.
The Instruction deals with the seminaries. What about
already ordained priests with homosexual tendencies?
GROCHOLEWSKI: Obviously, those ordinations are valid:
one can’t claim them to be invalid. Also when a person discovers his
homosexuality after priestly ordination, he must obviously carry out his
priesthood, he must strive to live in chastity, to be faithful to the
commitment made and to the doctrine of the Church, like all other priests.
He may perhaps need greater spiritual help than others.
The Instruction has been sent out with an accompanying
letter which states, in fact, that the validity of prior ordinations of
candidates with strong homosexual tendencies is not in question. But it is
requested that these people not be allowed to work in the seminaries…
GROCHOLEWSKI: In this case also it’s to do with a
question of what’s proper. Seminaries house lads, young men. So for a
homosexual it’s a very provoking setting, so to speak. Not counting
that some eventual slackness by one of them would have a very deep impact
on the life of a seminarian. One of the fundamental problems for the Church
is the training of priests: of good priests who can be of help also in the
apostolate of the laity. That is why we must be very careful about what
happens in the seminaries. That is the reason why we ask the bishops to
avoid having homosexual rectors and teachers in the seminaries.
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 | | A priestly ordination in Saint Peter’s Basilica | | |
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In the Instruction you ask seminarians with rooted
homosexual tendencies to declare their condition…
GROCHOLEWSKI: The wording of the text is very clear: it
would be «gravely dishonest for a candidate to conceal his
homosexuality in order to accede, despite everything, to ordination. Such
insincere behavior does not go along with the spirit of truth, fairness and
openness that must characterize the personality of those who believe they
are called to serve Christ and his Church in the priestly ministry».
Should a spiritual father or confessor learn of the fact that a seminarian
has rooted homosexual tendencies, obviously they can’t denounce the
fact publicly, but they must do everything possible to persuade the
seminarian to leave the path he is launched on.
Again according to Father Radcliffe, self-declaration
as homosexual runs the risk that the more sincere candidates will leave the
seminary by their own decision, while the more devious
won’t…
GROCHOLEWSKI: It would be a tragedy. I truly hope that
an atmosphere of trust and collaboration is created in the seminaries so
that it doesn’t happen. It’s a question of fundamental honesty
for those who want to become priests.
The Instruction makes no mention whatsoever of the use
of psychology…
GROCHOLEWSKI: The document did not aim to deal with all
the problems linked to the emotional and sexual maturity of a candidate to
the priesthood. Psychology and psychiatry can help a person rid himself of
homosexual tendencies or live his condition chastely. These sciences may
also be of a certain help to those who have incidentally had homosexual
relations without having a deeply rooted tendency. But our document did not
aim to deal with those topics.
There has been talk for years of a specific document
from your Congregation devoted precisely to the use of psychology in the
seminaries…
GROCHOLEWSKI: I have nothing to say on that matter.
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