Rochester priests sign letter criticizing church language on gays

Published: 2004-02-10

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (CNS) -- A group of priests in the Rochester Diocese, like a group of their peers in the Chicago Archdiocese several weeks earlier, have issued an open letter criticizing the language of some church officials and documents regarding homosexuals. Rochester diocesan officials said the letter, which they received Feb. 4, carried the signatures of 35 diocesan priests and did not vary from the text of the Chicago letter. Signed by 23 priests and sent in December to Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George and to the Vatican, the Chicago priests' letter protested language used in recent Vatican documents denouncing efforts to legitimize same-sex unions, calling the documents' language "violent and abusive." The letter also expressed concern that Vatican stances were driving gay and lesbian Catholics from the church. "In the recent past, individual bishops, bishops' conferences and the Vatican have assumed a tone of such violence and abusiveness toward these sons and daughters of the church, we can no longer remain silent," the letter said.

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