Well, the homosexual document finally hit the press. Everyone has heard of it, so I'm going to limit my analysis. Reproduced here are excerpts from the Washington Post, New York Times, and Los Angeles Times' leading articles on the story:
"There are people on the right wing who from the beginning saw this document as a kind of magic wand that would remove the taint of the sex abuse scandal," said the Rev. John A. Coleman, a Jesuit sociologist at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. "I think that's wishful thinking -- and pretty stupid."
WaPo.
"We're going back to the prehistoric, forcing people to live a lie," said the Rev. Richard J. Prendergast, pastor of St. Josaphat Catholic Church in Chicago. He is a member of Catholics Affirming Homosexual Leadership, a group he said was founded by seven priests, mostly in Chicago. In anticipation of the Vatican document, it has been collecting signatures on a Web site petition saying, "We reject the assertion or implication that persons with a homosexual orientation cannot offer valuable service in leadership roles in our Church."
WaPo
While no bishops have signed the statement, some appear to be sympathetic. "There are many wonderful and excellent priests in the Church who have a gay orientation, are chaste and celibate, and are very effective ministers of the Gospel," Spokane Bishop William S. Skylstad, president of the U.S. bishops' conference, wrote in his diocesan newspaper on Oct. 28. "Witchhunts and gay bashing have no place in the Church." WaPo
The Rev. Fred Daley, pastor of St. Francis de Sales Church in Utica, N.Y., and one of the few priests in the United States who has openly declared himself to be both gay and celibate, said the document contained a faulty understanding of sexual orientation. "I'm a deeply rooted homosexual and I'm proud of that, it's who I am and how God created me, it's not something transitory . . . it's not something you choose," he said. "I've also been ordained for 31 years and I'm committed to the church's discipline of celibacy." WaPo
Francis DiBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which advocates the inclusion of gays in the Catholic Church, said, "It seems that its intent is really to keep homosexuality quiet, to silence gay priests and gay seminarians." Such secrecy, he said, will make it even harder to find candidates who are well adjusted and sexually mature. NYT
Bishop Matthew H. Clark, of Rochester, addressing any "gay young men who are considering a vocation to priesthood," wrote: "We try to treat all inquiries fairly. You will be no exception." NYT
A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said the instructions would have little, if any, effect on how seminaries in the Los Angeles area admit candidates. LAT
Sister Jeannine Gramick, a nun who was ordered by the Vatican in 1999 to stop her ministry promoting the rights of gay men and lesbians, said she believes celibate gays should face no barriers to priesthood.
"I believe that the document shows a lack of understanding of sexuality," Gramick said. "It does not appreciate the dimensions of human sexuality and the continuum that exists in terms of sexual orientation; it is rejecting a whole continuum of people the scientific community recognizes as valid and normal and natural." LAT
Among the foregoing, WaPo had the most one-side coverage. To counter-balance all the negative quotes above, it had just one positive quote. NYT had a fair balance of positive and negative. LAT pretty much just had an extended negative quote from Gramick, but not much else (positive or negative).
I find it interesting to know who the most uncompromising secularists are. Based on this little snapshot, WaPo is.
