A Mixed Messenger from the Vatican?

From today's SFGate.com, the website of the San Francisco Chronicle:

A NEW ARCHBISHOP FOR S.F.
VIEWS
Tolerant statements toward gays
Homosexuals can minister as priests, Niederauer says

"Some who are seriously mistaken have named sexual orientation as the cause of the recent scandal regarding the sexual abuse of minors by priests," Niederauer said in the interview with the Intermountain Catholic News, which was published Monday.

His reference to "sexual orientation" stands in contrast to the Vatican instruction's description of "persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies."

Niederauer said gay men committed to Christ and the church can effectively minister as priests, and he said sexual orientation was "a structure of human personality." In contrast, the Vatican instruction states that men "who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture' " are unfit for priesthood.

Swell.

From the quotes used in the article, Bishop Niederauer's views seem not to have changed merely because he is moving from Salt Lake City to San Francisco. And he does not seem to be in tune with BVI.

Bishop Niederauer's previous ministry was in West Hollywood (home to Cardinal Mahony), which may explain much:

Francis DeBernardo, who leads New Ways Ministry, a national advocacy group for gay and lesbian Catholics, and met with Niederauer in Salt Lake City, said the bishop was genuinely interested in reaching out to the gay and lesbian community.

"With his pastoral experience in an overwhelmingly gay Catholic parish in West Hollywood, and his political experience dealing with extremism from anti-gay forces in Utah, I think that Bishop Niederauer is one of the best candidates to lead the heavily gay-populated Catholic community of San Francisco," DeBernardo said.

This does worry me, however:

As archbishop, Niederauer will have a central role in determining who is ordained in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo, the counties included in the San Francisco.

Who in the Vatican is responsible for assigning bishops to diocese? Were they asleep at the switch or is this another nefarious plan by BVI to throw the opposition off-guard?

While the Diocese of Oakland is independent of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, San Francisco has certain adminstration oversight as well as slightly more secular influence. Additionally, they share the seminary. Bishop Vigneron is very conservative. It will be interesting to see how this plays out between them.

I'm not familiar with the bishops in the other dioceses of Northern California. I do not know how much influence they might have on, for example, the standards for the seminarians. I don't know whether they are conservative or liberal, theologically. If they form a "bloc," so to speak, they could be important.