Laurie Goodstein (Extracted from "Priests citing new problem in gay policy", New York Times, November 24, 2005)

"A day after the disclosure of a new Vatican directive that deters most gay men from joining the priesthood, some priests say they are shocked by one easily overlooked clause. It says that spiritual directors and confessors in seminaries 'have the duty to dissuade' any candidates 'who show deep-seated homosexual tendencies' from joining the priesthood."

[Ed: The new Pope may yet surprise those (including me) who thought that the Roman Catholic Church was going to become even more reactionary than heretofore. A few days ago, the Vatican started coming out with strong support for the scientific view of evolution, and two days ago the above directive was announced. I think that Benedict XVI may well be playing a very astute political game -- or, as they say in business language, he's re-positioning the Church. He knows that the RC Church is growing mightily in South America and Africa but taking on voodoo-type colorations there and may not be controllable from Rome in future years (just as Archbishop Williams is losing his grip on the fast-growing Anglican Church in Africa). However, in Europe, recruitment to the RC priesthood is declining steeply and congregations are falling away. In order to re-stabilise the Church in Europe I think it's possible that the married priesthood may not be far away.]