Rome allows priest's homosexuality book

• New York Times Service

NEW YORK After two years of review, a Jesuit priest here has received permission from his superiors in Rome to publish his book o

the Catholic Church and homosexuality.

The Rev. John McNeill, who was told by Rome in 1974 to stop writing and lecturing on the subject until his teachings could be investigated, said he believes his work can help overcome myths, stereotypes and prejudices among Catholics toward homosexuality.

"There is an enormous need in the Catholic community for education and public discussion about homosexuality," he said.

Father McNeill, 50, is the founder of the New York chapter of Dignity, a nationwide group for

Catholic homosexuals that has a membership of 2,000.

In his book, Father McNeill said, he presents the view that "homosexuals are not a threat to the family and are often supporters of family life."

He also seeks to counter the church's traditional position that "all homosexual activities as well as the homosexual condition are contrary to the will of God," by drawing "not so much from theology, but the social sciences."

He became interested in the problems of homosexuals while teaching and counseling at Catholic colleges in the East. He said it was then that he saw a need for the church to recognize that homosexual love could be as legitimate as heterosexual love.

He said, "the church's policy, was for the homosexual to become heterosexual, which most therapists today will tell you is impossible, or to abstain from all sexual expression. The result was to prevent the homosexual entering into any kind of meaningful relationshop.”

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Earlier this week, the Vatican issued a document on incurable homosexuals.

Though it reiterated opposition to homosexuality, the Vatican said who persons are innately homosexual should be treated with understanding and helped to overcome their personal difficulties and their inability to fit into society.

It was interpreted as the most liberal statement on the issue ever released by the Vatican.