BALTIMORE, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- New guidelines freeing gay Catholics from trying to alter their sexual orientation is being considered by U.S. Roman Catholic bishops this week.
During their annual fall meeting in Baltimore the bishops will review guidelines for ministering to homosexuals, The Chicago Tribune reported.
Drafted by a conference committee, the documents may encounter opposition from some conservative bishops.
"We are trying to find a language that does not betray the teaching of the church, but will perhaps express it in ways that are not so offensive," Chicago's Cardinal Francis George, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the Tribune.
Recent directives from the Vatican bar most gay men from pursuing ordination and prohibit priests with "homosexual tendencies" from teaching or running seminaries.
"They're lost focus on the needs of the human race," said Sam Sinnett, president of the gay Catholic group DignityUSA. "They're much more concerned with whether two homosexuals are going to get married or not."
