Reading Tea Leaves and Church Documents, Janet E. Smith

By Janet E. Smith, Crisis Magazine, Jan. 20, 2025

Janet E. Smith, Ph.D., is a retired professor of moral theology.

One wonders why it is so difficult for the Church to issue easily comprehensible documents.

Recently, the Italian bishops’ Episcopal Commission for the Clergy and Consecrated Life released “Orientations and Norms for Seminaries” a document that, among many other matters, addresses the seminary formation of men who experience same-sex attraction. The pertinent paragraph, 199, cites “The Gift of a Priestly Vocation” (hereafter “The Gift”), a 2016 Vatican document (which, in turn, is citing “Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders,” a 2005 Vatican document) that states:

In relation to persons with homosexual tendencies who seek admission to Seminary, or discover such a situation in the course of formation, consistent with her own Magisterium, “the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called “gay culture.” Such persons, in fact, find themselves in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women. …

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