NATION - controversial Vatican prohibition on Sister Jeannine Gramick's work with homosexuals; Bishop John M. D'Arcy advocates bishop-university dialogue; court voids partial-birth abortion ban in Rhode Island; other religious news

National Catholic Reporter, Sept 17, 1999

Gramick confers with superiors on response to Vatican order

School Sister of Notre Dame Jeannine Gramick said she has submitted to her superiors her decision on whether to obey or challenge a Vatican order to cease her ministry, to homosexuals.

Gramick, in a Sept. 8 phone interview with NCR, said she will not speak publicly about her decision until her community leaders have had the chance to discuss it among themselves and with their respective councils.

The decision and her reasons for it were presented in writing to community leaders, she said, after a period of prayer and reflection.

In July, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith permanently prohibited Gramick and Salvatorian Fr. Robert Nugent from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons and their parents. The congregation asked the pair to give their internal assent to church teaching, particularly on the immorality of homosexual acts. Gramick refused to reveal her personal beliefs, saying her role as a "bridge-builder" between the church and homosexual Catholics made it necessary to keep her views in the background.

In its 1999 assembly, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious passed a resolution stemming from the Vatican decision. The resolution, passed by an overwhelming majority, stated that the "LCWR presidency and members will initiate conversations with official leaders at all levels of the Roman Catholic church to address a pattern in the exercise of ecclesiastical authority experienced as a source of suffering and division by many within the Catholic community."

The assembly, held Aug. 20-24 in Columbus, Ohio, also drafted a statement that acknowledged the pain of persons who are gay or lesbian and their families, and promised that women religious would strive to make the church more of a home for them.

D'Arcy warns mandate could stalemate dialogue

As the U.S. bishops approach a possible vote on legal norms for Catholic colleges and universities this November, one bishop has strongly urged strengthening the current bishop-university dialogue before enacting laws that might "stalemate" it.

"If we force the acceptance of certain laws, will that ensure further progress, or will our progress be halted?" asked Bishop John M. D'Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind.

He said he was afraid the legal approach at this stage will bring a stalemate, and "too much is at stake" to take that risk. "My experience tells me that the road to substantive dialogue holds by far the most promise," he said.

In his diocese, D'Arcy has five of the country's 233 Catholic colleges and universities: the University of Notre Dame, the University of St. Francis, Ancilla Domini College, Holy Cross College and St. Mary's College.

Saying he hoped "to make a modest contribution to the present discussion," D'Arcy devoted a special eight-page insert in the Sept. 5 issue of his diocesan newspaper, Today's Catholic, to his essay on the topic.

"The main area of concern among Catholic colleges and universities in this country has surrounded what has popularly been called the `mandate," he said. "This is a canonical requirement that those who teach theology in a Catholic college or university need a mission or mandate from the proper ecclesiastical authority."

He said both bishop and theologian are called to fidelity to revealed truth, and the mandate "presumes, and wishes to foster, appropriate reciprocity as necessary to a constructive relationship between the pastoral role of the bishop and the research and teaching role of the theologian."

Judge voids partial-birth abortion ban in Rhode Island

Officials of the Providence diocese expressed dismay but not surprise at a federal judge's decision to void a law that bans partial-birth abortion in Rhode Island.

Valerie Sistare, coordinator of the Respect Life Program, said the language in the law was modeled closely after a ban twice approved by Congress but vetoed by President Clinton.

"This [case] will probably end up before the highest court in the land," said Sistare. "We shall renew our efforts to outlaw this horrendous procedure."

On Aug. 20 U.S. District Judge Ronald R. Lagueux, in a 65-page decision, enjoined the state from enforcing the ban, which was passed in 1996 and was amended a year later.

"The definition of `partial-birth abortion' is vague and infringes on" an abortion procedure known as dilation and extraction, "which is legally protected," Lagueux wrote.

Lagueux criticized the administration of Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Almond and state Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse for vigorously defending a ban that, according to Lagueux, was unconstitutional.

Priest, organist charged with stealing religious objects

The Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, the religious community that provides the Tridentine Mass in the La Crosse, Wis., diocese, has been working to repair its public image in September after one of its priests admitted stealing religious objects.

Fr. Glenn Gardner, 38, was sentenced to 180 days in jail Aug. 31 after pleading no contest to charges of burglary and theft related to taking monstrances, ciboria, candelabras, altar candlesticks, a missal stand, an antique incense burner and several large candles from two Clark County churches. The objects were valued at about $9,000.