Bloomington reacts to gay ban by Vatican

A Vatican official last week reaffirmed the belief of the Catholic church that homosexuals cannot be appointed priests, a statement which has drawn outcry across the nation and in Bloomington. \nThe American prelate overseeing the evaluations, Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, said earlier this month that most gay candidates for the priesthood struggle to remain celibate and the church must "stay on the safe side" by restricting their enrollment. He stressed that the church was not "hounding" gays out of the priesthood, but wants to enroll seminarians who can maintain their vows of celibacy.\nThe statement is not new, as a Feb. 2, 1961, Vatican document, "Instruction on the Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and Sacred Orders," made clear homosexuals should be barred from the priesthood.\nMembers of local clergy and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services believe the statement is politically motivated and sends a potentially counterproductive message.\n"It's a public relations move," said Victor Kinzer, a GLBTSSS representative. "They are playing politics." \nDoug Bauder, IU's GLBTSSS coordinator, said he thinks timing played a big part of the church's reaffirmed stance.\n"The move is a sad symbol of the fears of the right wing at a time when there is really healthy dialogue about gay issues in other religious institutions," he said.\nMany believe this is an attempt by the church to do some damage control from the hit Catholicism took in 2002 when a number of pedophilia cases involving priests came to light. However, even some members of the clergy said there is a missing link. \n"Homosexuality is not pedophilia," said Father Bob Keller, a priest and mentor at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Bloomington. "Neither are hugely rampant among priests. There is no black and white here. The findings are going to be a lot more obscure than you think." \nSome students also feel uneasy about the Catholic Church's mandate.\n"The ruling is frustrating," said Carley Knapp, a Catholic student. "Kicking gay people out of vocations seems to be an incredibly unfair way to reassure the public that the Church has its act together." \nKinzer, a self-proclaimed "recovering Catholic," said he believes Pope Benedict XVI was elected "to be homophobic." He said he believes Pope Benedict was elected to undo the damage of the pedophilia scandals by pushing more conservative policies forward, including this one started at the end of Pope John Paul II's reign. Father Keller said he was "saddened" by the mandate, suggesting that many Bloomington Catholics have been perturbed by the recent news.\n"People have come to me overly dismayed," Keller said. "People just want healthy, trustworthy preachers."\nBauder suggests this mandate contradicts an era when diversity education is at its peak and tolerance.\n"I feel like they are asking the wrong questions and attacking the wrong people," Bauder said. "I don't know what exact message they are trying to get across." \nKnapp said this act is counterproductive for the church and might cause more problems in years to come. \n"At a time when young Catholics are already questioning their beliefs and trying to understand their identities, this decision certainly isn't going to get people excited about going to church," she said, suggesting that the decision will put young catholics in an ethical dilemma. \n"It hurts people who are Catholic," Kinzer said, "and it will certainly be a lot harder to be a gay Catholic youth." \nSt. Paul's has openly stated that despite this bump in the road, its doors are always open and it is more than willing to discuss issues with the Catholic doctrine, as well as sexuality. \n"This will eventually taper down," Kinzer said, "but it is going to be unpleasant until it does." \n-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.