KIM LAWTON: The bishops met in Baltimore, where they also held a Mass in the newly-restored historic cathedral. They focused largely on internal issues, such as adopting new guidelines for ministry to homosexual Catholics. Gay advocacy groups were disappointed that the policy reaffirms church doctrine calling homosexual activity "disordered." But the bishops stressed that gays, like all people, have intrinsic dignity.
Archbishop GEORGE NIEDERAUER (Archdiocese of San Francisco, at press conference): This is a disagreement about the morality of behavior, not about the worthwhileness of the individual human person.
LAWTON: The bishops also voted to reduce the staff and budget of their national office in Washington. The changes were prompted by, among other things, the continuing financial fallout from the sex abuse crisis. Father Thomas Reese of Georgetown University says the reductions could affect the bishops' ability to address controversial issues as they have in the past.
Reverend THOMAS J. REESE, S.J. (Fellow, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University): Their statements on war and peace, their statement on economic justice -- these were documents that were discussed in parishes across the country, got a lot of media attention because the bishops put a lot of effort into them.
