PRESS RELEASE
November 29, 2005

For immediate release
Contact: Steven Covington
Executive Director
The National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors (NCDVD)
715-254-0830
covington@ncdvd.org

A national organization that represents priestly vocation directors in nearly every U.S. Catholic diocese issued a statement to its members indicating its welcome and support of the Vatican’s document regarding the ordination of homosexual candidates.

The document, released November 29 by the Congregation for Catholic Education in Vatican City, sets the minimum standards that must be in place before seminary admission or ordination can be considered.

“The document strongly affirms the requirement to live a chaste celibate life in accord with the long standing teachings of the Church,” said the Rev. Leonard Plazewski, director of vocations for the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Fla.

Fr. Plazewski serves as president of the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors, an organization that represents priests and others who promote priestly vocations in Catholic dioceses around the country.

“We receive this instruction from the Holy See in good faith,” Father Plazewski stated, “and realize that the call to live an integrated and chaste life oftentimes conflicts with our society’s sexually pervasive tendencies or the agenda of gay rights groups.”

“We recognize that this new document already affirms what is the present practice of many dioceses and seminaries throughout much of the United States,” he continued. “It sets down norms that should provide guidance in the admission and formation of priests” in each diocese.

The Vatican’s document, Father Plazewski noted, draws an unambiguous distinction between those “who practice homosexuality, show profoundly deep-rooted homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay culture” in contrast to those “with homosexual tendencies that may be simply the expression of a transitory problem.”

NCDVD is the professional association for those engaged in promoting vocations to the Catholic priesthood. The organization, which represents 93 percent of the U.S. dioceses, provides training and resources to diocesan vocation directors around the country. To learn more about NCDVD’s response to the Vatican document, or about vocations to the priesthood, visit www.ncdvd.org.