Bishops' document on homosexuals draws praise, disappointment

Published: 2006-11-20

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. Catholic bishops' new guidelines for pastoral care of homosexuals have drawn praise from some engaged in that ministry and disappointment from others. The focus of disagreement is the document's emphasis on formation for chastity as the central element of church ministry to people with a homosexual inclination. Drafted by the bishops' Committee on Doctrine and approved by the bishops at their Nov. 13-16 fall meeting in Baltimore, the document encourages those with a homosexual inclination to live chastely and to be active participants in parish life. Father John F. Harvey, an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales and founder of Courage, a support program specifically designed to help those with homosexual inclinations live chaste lives, praised the bishops' text and said it would be a boon to those who follow Courage's approach. But Father Jim Schexnayder, resource director of the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries, said the association's leaders were disappointed that "the guidelines characterize homosexual persons as focused on sexual inclinations, tendencies, acts and behavior without reference to the integrity of the fuller lives of faith, love, commitment, service and spirituality of Catholic gay and lesbian persons." Father Schexnayder, a now-retired priest of the Diocese of Oakland, Calif., was one of the founders of the association in 1994.

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