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Priests on bishops’ agenda
By ROBERT McCLORY
Special Report Writer
There may be a “silver lining” in the recent barrage of
reports about turmoil in the American priesthood, said Fr. Cletus Kiley,
executive director of the Priestly Life and Ministry Committee of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops. “All of this requires us to look seriously
at issues of human formation to see how we’re doing,” he said.
An opportunity will come when the U.S. bishops meet June 15-17 in
Milwaukee, but there is no guarantee of a serious discussion at that event. On
the bishops’ agenda for discussion and approval is a 138-page document
titled “The National Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests.”
Kiley said the document was prepared before The Kansas City
Star series on the high rate of AIDS among priests or the publication of
Fr. Donald Cozzens’ book, “The Changing Face of the Priesthood,”
which speaks openly of a “crisis of confidence” in the American
priesthood.
However, the document as presented has only a few launching points
for development. It does not discuss in detail any particular crisis and does
not so much as mention the words AIDS, homosexuality or sexual
orientation. Among 10 “significant contexts” for priestly
formation in the 21st century, it cites in general the “diminishing number
of priests,” “divisions in presbyterates” (regional groupings of
priests) and “the counterpoint of current sexual mores.”
“Today the former social support for celibacy is gone,”
it notes. “Highly publicized cases of priests’ sexual misconduct have
cast a shadow of incredibility on the professed values enshrined in the
celibate commitment. All this suggests an urgent need for ongoing formation
that enables priests to interiorize their commitment at a deep level.” The
document also states, “While a celibate commitment is not expressed in
genital activity or in an exclusive intimate relationship, the priest remains a
sexual person who is challenged to grow into a mature expression of love and
caring. As the priest internalizes his celibate commitment, his sexuality is
ever more directed toward a vibrant spiritual life.”
In separate sections dealing with formation at different stages in
the priest’s life, the document mentions in passing
“temptations,” such as discouragement, legalism, overwork and
“the violation of sexual boundaries,” and presents them largely as
occasions “to deepen and consolidate their already-made
commitment.”
The implications of homosexuality among priests, which Cozzens,
the president-rector of St. Mary’s Seminary in Cleveland, calls a serious
“destabilizing” factor among priests, must be faced and discussed by
the bishops, said Kiley, adding he would urge them to do so.
Bishop Robert Morneau of Green Bay, Wis., who has called
Cozzens’ book a “must read for all bishops, priests,
seminarians,” agreed that an intensive investigation is required.
“Yes, we are paying attention to these matters,” he said, “but
not adequately. There’s a need for more expertise at the national
level.”
Fr. Donald Wolf, outgoing president of the National Federation of
Priest Councils, said strides have been made in seminary sexuality formation in
the past 25 years. “Today most priests are exceedingly realistic about
their lives,” he said. “They’re neither surprised nor outraged
by sexual or financial scandals” (such as those involving the bishop of
Santa Rosa, Calif., or a high diocesan official in San Francisco). “But
they are embarrassed and they resent implications that the priesthood is in a
terminal state and going to hell.” Wolf criticized as
“questionable” the Kansas City Star research, as did Kiley,
who said the newspaper’s findings on AIDS “don’t ring true”
to many priests who are tired of “getting beat up again.”
But Wolf, too, said Cozzens’ candid comments about the effect
of clerical homosexuality on priests and laity ring true. Asked Wolf,
“What happens in a community when one third of the members are gay, know
they’re gay and know all the others who are gay, while the other two
thirds don’t know anybody who is gay?” This long, unacknowledged
ecclesiastic division has to be addressed, he said, since “it’s got
to be extremely destabilizing.”
Fr. Francis Cilia, vicar for clergy in the San Jose, Calif.,
diocese, said Cozzens’ book has been universally received with respect by
priests. “He’s dedicated and loyal and writing about what he
sees,” he said. “You can’t be angry at the truth.” The
issues he raises, said Cilia, require serious attention.
National Catholic Reporter, June 16,
2000
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