c. 1999 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ Accusing an activist American priest and nun of causing confusion among Catholics and harming the church, the Vatican announced Tuesday (July 13) it has barred them from any future pastoral work with homosexuals.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith charged that the Rev. Robert Nugent of the Society of the Divine Savior, known as Salvatorians, and Sister Jeannine Gramick of the School Sisters of Notre Dame held”erroneous and dangerous”views on homosexuality and had repeatedly refused to accept church teaching on the subject.

The formal”Notification of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith”also prohibited Nugent and Gramick from holding any office in their orders”for an undetermined period.”Both orders are devoted to education, and the Salvatorians run campus ministries and chaplaincies.

The disciplinary action followed a 15-year investigation by Vatican authorities into the activities of the two religious, who founded the controversial New Ways Ministry in Washington in 1977 and have published two widely read books on issues involving homosexuality and the church.

They are co-authors of”Building Bridges: Gay and Lesbian Reality and the Catholic Church,”published in 1992, and editors of”Voices of Hope: A Collection of Positive Catholic Writings on Gay and Lesbian Issues”in 1995.

The purpose of New Ways Ministry, they wrote in”Voices of Hope,”is to promote”justice and reconciliation between lesbian and gay Catholics and the wider Catholic community.” The order by the congregation, formerly known as the Holy Office, which is charged with safeguarding the church’s doctrine of faith and morals, appeared to challenge the two religious to choose between their life within the church and their work among lesbians and gays.”From the beginning, in presenting the church’s teaching on homosexuality, Father Nugent and Sister Gramick have continually called central elements of that teaching into question,”said the statement, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the congregation.

In the United States, Bishop Joseph Fiorenza issued a statement calling on the priest and nun to”find the way to express their acceptance of the church’s teaching on homosexuality, as sought by the Congregation.””The church’s teaching on homosexuality has remained constant, consistent and clear,”he said,”and the long period of time devoted to examining whether Sister Gramick and Father Nugent accept this teaching indicates these disciplinary measures were not taken lightly.” Dignity/USA, a Catholic organization for gay men and lesbians, issued a statement voicing its anger and dismay at the congregation’s decision.”The efforts of Sister Jeannine Grammick and Father Robert Nugent to build bridges of understanding and reconciliation betwen lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered persons and the Catholic Church is to be commended,”said Charles L. Cox, executive director of Dignity/USA.”Unfortunately, their message of compassion and inclusion has fallen on deaf ears at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.” He said the congregation’s”continued use of `intrinsic evil’ to describe homosexual acts, and implicitly homosexual persons, is a chilling reminder of the church’s ongoing attempt to marginalize and stigmatize pastoral care for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered persons.” Catholic teaching holds that while having a homosexual orientation is a”disorder,”not a sin, homosexual acts are sinful.”The ambiguities and errors of the approach of Father Nugent and Sister Gramick have caused confusion among the Catholic people and have harmed the community of the church,”the congregation concluded.”For these reasons … Gramick and … Nugent are permanently prohibited from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons and are ineligible, for an undetermined period, for any office in their respective religious institutes.” Tracing the history of the case, the notification said that Cardinal James Hickey, archbishop of Washington, in 1984 ordered the two to stop their activities in his archdiocese.

At the same time, the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life ordered them to separate themselves from New Ways Ministry and to espouse”the church’s teaching regarding the intrinsic evil of homosexual acts.” In response, the document said, the religious gave up leadership of New Ways Ministry but remained involved with the group and”continued to maintain and promote ambiguous positions on homosexuality and explicitly criticized documents of the church’s Magisterium on this issue.” The Magisterium is the church’s teaching authority, which is considered authoritative and can be infallible if so declared by the pope.

After receiving”numerous complaints and urgent requests for clarification from bishops and others”in the United States, the document said, the Vatican in 1988 established a commission, led by Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit, to determine whether the religious’ statements and activities were faithful to church teaching.

The commission found”serious deficiencies”in their writings and pastoral activities, which it said were”incompatible”with Christian morality and recommended that they be disciplined. Because the case primarily involved doctrine, Ratzinger’s congregation took over in 1995.

The congregation said that in a series of exchanges, Nugent and Gramick”had sought to justify the publication of their books and neither had expressed personal adherence to the church’s teaching on homosexuality in sufficiently unequivocal terms.” (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

In separate declarations in 1998, the congregation said,”Sister Gramick, while expressing her love for the church, simply refused to express any assent whatsoever to the teaching of the church on homosexuality. Father Nugent was more responsive but not unequivocal in his statement of interior assent to the teaching of the church.” Asked to sign a”declaration of assent”to church teaching, Nugent responded in January with an alternative text, which, the congregation said, modified its declaration”on certain important points.””In particular,”it said,”he (Nugent) would not state that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and he added a section which calls into question the definitive and unchangeable nature of Catholic doctrine in this area.” (END OPTIONAL TRIM)

Therefore, the congregation said it”is obliged to declare for the good of the Catholic faithful that the positions advanced by Sister Jeannine Gramick and Father Robert Nugent regarding the intrinsic evil of homosexual acts and the objective disorder of the homosexual inclination are doctrinally unacceptable because they do not faithfully convey the clear and constant teaching of the Catholic Church in this area.” The notification was approved by Pope John Paul II on May 14, issued by Ratzinger and Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of the congregation, on May 31 and made public Tuesday.

DEA END POLK