<p><strong>Gay Catholic Group DignityUSA Condemns New Vatican Inspection of U.S. Seminaries for Homosexuality</strong></p> <p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Washington DC</strong>&nbsp;&ndash; DignityUSA today strongly condemned the new Vatican apostolic visitations of the 229 Roman Catholic seminaries in the United States in search of &ldquo;evidence of homosexuality&rdquo; and faculty members who dissent from church teaching.&nbsp; A twelve-page document (<a style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51 0 102); text-decoration: underline; href=http://www.dignityusa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/instrumentum.pdf>download PDF&hellip;</a>) is now being distributed to seminarians and faculty as part of the review as reported on the front page of&nbsp;<em>The New York Times</em>&nbsp;on September 15 2005.</p> <p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >&ldquo;The Vatican continues to be obsessed about homosexuality misguided about human sexuality and misdirected regarding the sexual abuse crisis in the Church stated Debbie Weill Executive Director of DignityUSA.&nbsp;&ldquo;While a review of seminary programs may be appropriate in the aftermath of the sexual abuse crisis an apparent witch hunt for homosexual seminarians and supportive faculty is not.&nbsp; The Church is fostering a climate of hostility towards some of its very best priests and bishops.&nbsp; This is not the Church Christ called us to be&rdquo; Weill added.&nbsp;</p> <p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >&ldquo;While the Vatican fails to address the core issues relating to the sexual abuse crisis DignityUSA reminds Church leaders of several key points:</p> <ol> <li style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; padding-bottom: 6px; >&ldquo;sexuality experts have reportedly instructed the Vatican that there is no link between pedophilia and homosexuality&nbsp;</li> <li style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; padding-bottom: 6px; >&ldquo;gay priests are not the cause of the sexual abuse crisis in the Church&nbsp;</li> <li style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; padding-bottom: 6px; >&ldquo;Church leaders have not accepted responsibility and have not been appropriately reprimanded by the Church for their failures to deal appropriately with the still ongoing sexual abuse crisis in the Church and&nbsp;</li> <li style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; padding-bottom: 6px; >&ldquo;candidates for the priesthood should be evaluated in terms of sexual maturity and their likelihood to be celibate not sexual orientation&rdquo; Weill continued.</li> </ol> <p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><em>DignityUSA is the nation&rsquo;s foremost organization of gay lesbian bisexual and transgender Catholics their families friends and supporters. Founded in 1969 it is an independent nonprofit organization with members and chapters across the country. DignityUSA works for full inclusion of gay lesbian bisexual and transgender people in the life of the Church and Society.&nbsp;<a style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51 0 102); text-decoration: underline; href=http://www.dignityusa.org/>www.dignityusa.org</a></em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>