Dolan: Draft Of Vatican Family Values Document Needs Revision

VATICAN CITY (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan said there's "enthusiastic unity'' among bishops for Pope Francis' attempts to make the Catholic Church more welcoming and present its teachings in new ways.

He told "CBS This Morning'' Wednesday that a provisional document showing unprecedented opening toward gays was a rough draft that needs major reworking.

Dolan spoke from Rome where he's attending a two-week synod on family values.

"This was a draft document, a first stage of what's going to the result of our two good weeks here in Rome," Dolan said. "That's what we're doing, that's the purpose of the senate. You always take that initial document and rework it."

Conservative Catholic bishops Tuesday distanced themselves from the document. They said it doesn't reflect their views and vowed to make changes to the final version.

The provisional document produced at the halfway point of the two-week meeting on family life said gays had gifts to offer the church and that their partnerships, while morally problematic, provided gay couples with "precious'' support.

It said the church must welcome divorced people and recognize the "positive'' aspects of civil marriages and even Catholics who cohabit.

The final text won't be approved until October of 2015, CBS 2's Mary Calvi reported.

Dolan said one of the church's major obstacles is the stereotype of constantly saying "no.'' He said Pope Francis is saying "the church is about a big, resounding yes'' to everything that is good in a human being.

"That's the message we're trying to get across -- that the church isn't some nag, some scold that's always saying, 'no' to the beauty, the truth and the goodness of the human project," Dolan said. "We're there to emphasize it, to strengthen it, to affirm it."

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