Vatican bans 2 from work with gays

The Vatican has banned a nun and a priest in the US from pastoral work involving homosexuals and from holding any office in their respective religious institutes "for an undetermined period".

Sister Jeannine Gramick and Father Robert Nugent had been involved for more than 20 years in pastoral activities aimed at homosexuals and were founders of the New Ways Ministry organisation in the Washington Archdiocese.

Announcing its decision yesterday the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of which the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Connell, is a member, said that in presenting the church's teaching on homosexuality Sister Gramick and Father Nugent had "continually called into question central elements of that teaching".

In 1984 Cardinal James Hickey, Archbishop of Washington, prevented them from ministering to homosexuals there, while the Vatican ordered them to separate themselves "totally and completely" from the New Ways Ministry.

It was also found that Building Bridges: Gay and Lesbian Reality and the Catholic Church, a book published by Sister Grammick and Father Nugent, had "serious deficiencies . . . which were incompatible with the fullness of Christian morality".

However, they continued their involvement in pastoral activities with homosexuals. "They also continued to maintain and promote ambiguous positions on homosexuality and explicitly criticised documents of the church's Magisterium on the issue," the Vatican said.

In 1995 their case came before the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and they were invited to respond to questions on their position "on the morality of homosexual acts". Their response failed to dispel Vatican concerns.

The decision to discipline them was approved on May 14th by Pope John Paul.