On November 29, as President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops [USCCB], Bishop Skylstad, Bishop of Spokane, WA, released a USCCB Press Statement regarding the Vatican's promulgation, on the same date, of a document entitled: "Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the discernment of vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders," herein referred to by this writer as the 'Instruction.' The 'Instruction' was signed by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education on November 4, 2005, and was ordered and approved by Pope Benedict XVI on August 31, 2005.

The 'Instruction' is clear and direct — no homosexuals may be ordained to the Priesthood. In light of recent numerous statements by the USCCB President Bishop Skylstad and other U.S. Bishops, implementing and enforcing the prohibition will obviously be another issue. The 'Instruction' is not at fault; instead, the fault lies with the U.S. Bishops, seminary Rectors and seminary Spiritual Directors.

In the USCCB Press Statement, Bishop Skylstad discussed only a select portion of the five-part 'Instruction,' a document which reiterates and reaffirms previous Church teachings ['Opatatam totius' and 'Pastores dabo vobis] against the ordination of homosexual men.

It is within the context of Part 2 of the 'Instruction,' however, that the USCCB's President failed miserably, missing the most vital detail by ignoring the teaching regarding 'transitory tendencies.' Within the 'Instruction's' 5 Parts, Part 2 is perhaps the most significant, yet Bishop Skylstad ignored where Part 2 instructs on 'deep-seated homosexual tendencies' as well as 'tendencies of a transitory problem.' This is a very specific addition to the Church's previous teachings, whereby the Church explicitly bans ordination of homosexual men at their very earliest disordered tendencies should they not be overcome "at least three year before diaconal Ordination."

The addition of the phrases 'transitory tendencies' and the 'at least three-year' period is a long awaited and well overdue doctrine, most necessary in part due to a multitude of U.S. Bishops who have ordained and supported active homosexual priests in the Catholic priesthood, as well as moved them to other dioceses as their immoral homosexual exploit were exposed. This 'transitory tendencies' additive with an 'at least three-year' period of observance as stated within the 'Instruction' leaves no doubt that no one with any homosexual tendencies, be they deep rooted or transitory, can be ordained.

Why does Bishop Skylstad mention nothing of this important Part 2 of the 'Instruction' regarding 'transitory tendencies' and 'at least three years before diaconal Ordination'? The USCCB Statement speaks only of the 'deeply seated tendencies,' leaving the already dumbed-down multitudes to believe that these men are the only ones banned from Ordination to the diaconate. Bishop Skylstad stated in his first paragraph: "The instruction of the Holy See on the admission of men with deeply-rooted homosexual tendencies to seminaries and to Holy Orders, which has been in preparation for almost five years, is a timely document." Not so fast, Bishop.

Further, Bishop Skylstad stated that the candidate could not be ordained when he "identifies himself principally by a homosexual inclination or orientation." This is incorrect. We must remind Bishop Skylstad that the Vatican's 'Instruction' instead teaches that if the candidate were not principally inclined but was still suffering a 'transitory' tendency toward homosexual acts or supporting the so-called gay culture, he cannot be ordained.

In an almost bizarre interview with the Washington Post on November 29, Bishop Skylstad further bumfuzzles the multitudes with further false propaganda. And to further obfuscate truth, Bishop Skylstad makes a badly informed statement in his October 20, 2005 diocesan newspaper weekly column: "There are many wonderful and excellent priests in the Church who have a gay orientation, are chaste and celibate, and are very effective ministers of the Gospel. Witch hunts and gay bashing have no place in the Church." How does Bishop Skylstad know so many gay priests and how does he know they are chaste and celibate? Why does Bishop Skylstad want the world to believe the Pope, and those magisterial world Bishops supporting the Pope, is on a witch hunt?

I suspect the USCCB's President, Bishop Skylstad, doesn't want to 'go there' because this important 'transitory tendency' is a final check point, the heart so to speak, of keeping homosexual men from the priesthood. Bishop Skylstad missed the 'Instruction's' most important teaching.

Therefore, we ask: will the USCCB continue to claim homosexuals can be ordained as long as their life is not 'principally' identified as a homosexual person?

All men who suffer both deep-seated tendencies and transitory tendencies cannot be Ordained. If the USCCB is not acknowledging this important Part 2 of the 'Instruction,' does this mean the USCCB does not recognize and will not implement and enforce all of Part 2?

Does this mean we will have 55 more years of deciding whether to enforce the 'Instruction' as a matter of 'personal interpretation' of the U.S. Bishops and seminary Rectors and Spiritual Directors?