Transcript of Post Interview With Bishop William Skylstad

Tuesday, November 29, 2005 9:20 PM

Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, spoke by telephone Tuesday with Washington Post Staff Writer Alan Cooperman. Here is the full text of the interview:

Q: What's the primary goal of this document from the Vatican?

Skylstad: "The purpose I think of the document from the Congregation of Education is to help in the discernment process of appropriate candidates for the priesthood, and especially those who might have homosexual inclinations or have, that, in general, that gay orientation."

Q: Is it still possible for a man who recognizes that he is gay and stably, permanently so, but who is celibate, to enter seminaries or religious orders?

Skylstad: "I think one of the telling sentences in the document is the phrase that the candidate's entire life of sacred ministry must be 'animated by a gift of his whole person to the church and by an authentic pastoral charity.' If that becomes paramount in his ministry, even though he might have a homosexual orientation, then he can minister and he can minister celibately and chastely.

"If he's principally defined, though, by a deep-rooted tendency toward homosexuality, then I think the church is simply saying that that person cannot effectively minister in priesthood."

Q: So you'd read 'deep-rooted tendencies' to mean those whose self-identification and personality revolves around being gay?

Skylstad: "Yeah, if that's the primary identification. It think the document itself really points to bishops and to vocation directors to help the candidate himself discern the appropriateness of his candidacy for priesthood. It's a document about the discernment, primarily, as one pursues the formation process  or enters into the formation process, perhaps that's more important. Those two, along with the spiritual director, who operates in the internal forum, as we say, with the candidate, can help the candidate and assist the candidate in determining whether he's called to priesthood."

Q: Should vocation directors and spiritual directors encourage gay men to leave seminaries?

Skylstad: "That would be part of the discernment process and whether or not there's a deep-seated condition in the person that would keep him from effectively ministering with authentic pastoral charity. I think that involves several aspects of his pastoral ministry  Does he relate well to people? Would he be consumed by, first of all, his orientation and, secondarily, be fully dedicated to ministry? As I mentioned before, the document specifically states that he should be 'animated by the gift of his whole person to the church and by authentic pastoral charity.' That's a discernment process that has to go on."

Q: What would you say now to priests who are both gay and celibate?

Skylstad: "I've already made a public statement about that regard. There are those in that situation who live very chaste and celibate lives and have lived, I think, a very effective and good priesthood, so those gifts we affirm in the church and we're grateful for their ministry."

Q: So it's clear from this document in your reading that there is a place in the priesthood for a chaste, gay man?

Skylstad: "Well, that has to be the discernment of the individual bishop. I think he has to be primarily motivated by what I said before, the gift of his whole person to the church and to pastoral ministry. That has to be paramount and of primary importance in his dedication to the priesthood."

Q: Some people contend that gay men who in a psychologically mature way understand their own orientation will be ruled out by this document, while those who hide it from themselves and/or from others could still be ordained, so the church could end up with a less healthy group, rather than a more healthy group of priests. Do you share that concern?

Skylstad: "The document calls for an affective maturity in the person and that, of course, is a constant discernment process as a person passes through formation. So I think there is some concern that people will hide their orientation. But really, basically, any healthy candidate for the priesthood must be very open about his entire life with his spiritual director and certainly as we go through the screening process. He has to be open, or should be open, about that. If he's going to go into secrecy about that, then that's not a healthy situation either."

Q: You've talked about being able to make a gift of yourself to the church completely, and how if someone had a deep-seated homosexual orientation that might not be possible. Could you say the same thing about someone with a deep-seated heterosexual tendency?

Skylstad: "Absolutely. It cuts both ways. You're right."

Q: So the issue is not so much the orientation as whether it dominates one's personality?

Skylstad: "I think if the orientation dominates one's personality, whether that be homosexual or heterosexual. You know, a heterosexual person who cannot live the celibate life in fidelity to his mission, in fidelity to appropriate boundaries, is not going to be called by the church to priesthood either."

Q: The document talks about gay culture and doesn't define what that means, but one imagines gay bars and gay pride parades, that sort of thing. Commensurately, could one imagine someone who spends a lot of time going to sports bars and is very macho and makes a lot of inappropriate comments about women's bodies?

Skylstad: "Well, that also demonstrates a kind of immaturity, does it not? We're looking at affective maturity on both sides. So a person who would be engaged in that kind of activity, certainly that's contrary to what priesthood stands for and what ministry should be."

Q: But the document focuses on just one side, homosexuality. Is the other side unspoken but understood?

Skylstad: "I think it probably is inherently understood that we're looking at the other side as well, in terms of the sexual orientation issue. However, I think the burning issue in our society and culture today, including other churches, is the homosexual orientation. It seems to be of a more problematic, difficult nature for us to discern as we look for appropriate candidates for the priesthood. However, you're exactly right that a heterosexual must also have an affective maturity that demonstrates a deep commitment to the church and to authentic pastoral charity, and any person who crosses those boundaries in terms of sexual orientation, in terms of womanizing or lifestyle or whatever it might be, that person would simply not be an appropriate candidate for the priesthood."

Q: The document does not directly mention the sex abuse scandal but seems to refer to it indirectly in a couple of places. What is its relationship to the scandal?

Skylstad: "The document has been already five years in preparation so in a sense it was begun before the sexual abuse situation arose. Now certainly it has come up comcomitantly with that and has even been, in some ways, related to the visitation of seminaries. But its origins were in place five years ago. It's a very complex situation and we're dealing with human beings and we're dealing with the call of the church. This document hopefully will be of asistance to bishops, to formation folks in the seminaries, to formation directors, to spiritual directors, to make sure that we have appropriate candidates for priesthood who can relate to people in a very healthy way, who will not violate boundaries that are inappropriate in ministry."

Q: Some people will read this document as the church's answer to the sex abuse scandal and as blaming gay men. What do you say to that?

Skylstad: "There's no empirical evidence that sexual abuse of minors is directly connected to homosexuality. Having said that, however, the bishops have commissioned a study on the causes and context [of the scandal], as a followup to the John Jay study [on the scope of sexual abuse in the U.S. church since 1950]. This [sexuality] is a very complex and mysterious gift that we all have, and as we sort that out within the church and in the broader society as well, hopefully we can find out what some of the root causes are, and what are the accompanying circumstances of which we need to be aware. All of that I think needs to be moved ahead. I know that some people try to make the connection between the sexual abuse of minors with homosexuality, but as far as I know in the scientific community that connection has not been established."

Q: Your interpretation is clear  the document does not flatly rule out a man who is permanently gay, as long as it does not dominate his personality and he can live celibately.

Skylstad: "As long as he does not have that deep-seated tendency that would obstruct his appropriate relationships in ministry. That's my reading of the document. I'm sure that as we look to the future, too, we will continue to monitor how helpful this document is in terms of assessing appropriate candidates for the priesthood and will allow us, I think, as we look into the future to be in continuing discussion about this topic and how we really make the formation process and the selection process in our seminaries the best possible."

Q: You seem to be suggesting that the church might someday conclude that this document was not especially helpful.

Skylstad: "I hope it's helpful. It's a document that speaks to us at this particular moment. And as with so many documents in the church, as we implement those documents we continue to assess where you are. But given the nature of the high interest of society at large with regard to sexual orientation, the struggles that churches in general are having with this issue, and in our own context of the Roman Catholic Church to make sure that ministers in the church minister with a sense of deep dedication to the church and with pastoral charity, and to make sure they don't cross boundaries in terms of human relationships that are inappropriate."

Q: Is it possible that other bishops will read the document as a more flat prohibition? That they'll read 'deep seated tendencies' to rule out anyone who understands himself to be permanently gay?

Skylstad: "Each bishop has to make his decision in that regard. My sense would be that as long as that primary focus is on dedicating the whole person to the church and to authentic pastoral charity, if that condition is present, then that person would be fit for ministry. That's what the document itself says."