Bishop Skylstad on Homosexual Priests

Bishop Skylstad, on behalf of the USCCB, has issued an explanatory statement to accompany the release of the Vatican document on the admission of seminarians.  (Hat Tip: Open Book) Here's the heart of it:

Formation is not a time for an applicant to begin to resolve serious issues in his life, whether they involve addictive behavior, personal finances, sexual matters, the ability to work collaboratively with others, or any other significant concern.  A candidate still facing issues like these is not acceptable until they are resolved. A man who has a personal agenda that he might place ahead of the Gospel is also not an acceptable candidate. Like marriage, a priestly vocation is not centered on the search for one’s individual, personal fulfillment.

In this instruction, the Congregation for Catholic Education is exercising a Christian realism about what is expected in candidates for the priesthood. This realism understands the challenges of our time. It expresses the valid concern that all candidates must display an “affective maturity” which enables them to relate properly to others as chaste, celibate priests who can faithfully represent the teaching of the Church about sexuality, including the immorality of homosexual genital activity. This realism also makes it clear that it is certainly not acceptable if a candidate practices homosexuality or, whether active or not, if he identifies himself principally by a homosexual inclination or orientation.  It is also not acceptable for a candidate to support the “gay culture” and to be so concerned with homosexual issues that he cannot sincerely represent the Church’s teaching on sexuality. In doing so, he limits his ability to minister pastorally to all those in his care.

But won't many individuals with "deep-rooted homosexual tendencies" have already resolved the issue and accepted the fact of those tendencies, even if they intend not to act on them?  It's not comparable to a gambling addiction that is being worked out.  Even assuming that homosexual tendencies are "objectively disordered," they still are part of the individual's identity.  It seems that coming to grips with that identity is necessary to move forward with a commitment to celibacy.  Does the statement presume that a successfully celibate individual necessarily has less deeply rooted homosexual tendencies than an unsuccessfully celibate individual? 

Another part of Bishop Skylstad's statement seems to raise some tension, albeit implicitly, with the Vatican's position:

Since news of this document was first discussed in the media, the question has been asked whether a homosexually-inclined man can be a good priest.   The answer lies in the lives of those men who, with God’s grace, have truly been dedicated priests, seeking each day not to be served but to serve their people, faithfully representing in word and example the teaching of the Church in its fullness, including God’s revelation that sexual expression is intended only to take place between a husband and a wife in a loving, faithful, and life-giving marriage. 

When Jesus told his apostles how difficult it would be “for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven,” they responded with amazement.  Jesus’ reply reminds us of the power of God’s grace: “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” (Cf. Matt. 19.23-26).

So why is it beyond the power of God to mold an individual with "deep rooted homosexual tendencies" into a "truly dedicated priest?"  Consider the relevant portion of the Catechism:

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

If "Christian perfection" is a legitimate aspiration for individuals with deep-seated homosexual tendencies, why not the priesthood?  Is the Church cabining God's transformative power, or is the fact that the tendencies remain "deep seated" a sign that God's transformative power has not been at work and thus that the individual has not been called to the priesthood?  Does the latter possibility rest on the presumption that homosexuality can be "cured?"

Rob