WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The archbishop overseeing a Vatican-run inspection of U.S. seminaries said that he was not speaking for the Vatican or the U.S. bishops when he said he opposed admitting to seminaries men who have engaged in homosexual activity in the past or who have strong homosexual tendencies.
"I was reflecting my personal opinion and offering a prudential practice based on 12 years experience as rector (president) of two U.S. seminaries," said Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, in a Sept. 30 statement.
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Read the complete article Archbishop says he's not speaking for Vatican on gays in seminaries from Catholic News Service.
Readers will no doubt remember the previous post when O'Brien made his comments.
A couple of observations
The archbishop wants to defend the visitation from becoming a one-issue affair. He's got his work cut out for him there.
The archbishop has seen the document and his position does not represent its contents. This may be true. I'm not going to speculate too much on the actual contents of the document, but regardless of the 'Italian' mentality of enforcement that has been kicked around this last week, I just have a hunch that the document will be far milder than than the apocalyptic thing it is believed to be.
The archbishop perhaps caught some flak for his comments before. As the head of the visitation, one would expect him to keep his mouth closed while on the job. This 'clarification' of the hat he was wearing when he made his comments is telling.
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