NEW YORK (AP) – A top Jesuit official is raising objections about an upcoming Vatican document that’s expected to reinforce Roman Catholic teaching that gays are not welcome in the priesthood, while some U.S. leaders of men’s religious orders are considering a trip to Rome to express their opposition.

The Rev. Gerald Chojnacki, head of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus, said in a letter to his priests that he was asking bishops to tell Vatican officials who are drafting the policy “of the great harm this will cause many good priests and the Catholic faithful.”

Chojnacki wrote in the letter that he had participated in the funerals of several gay Jesuit clergy over the last few years.

“I find it insulting to demean their memory and their years of service by even hinting that they were unfit for priesthood because of their sexual orientation,” he wrote.

Chojnacki said he would be working with the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, which represents leaders of religious orders in the United States including the Jesuits, Franciscans and others, and with bishops to fight “for the opportunity of a gay person to say yes to God’s call in celibate service of priesthood and chaste religious life.”

A priest who supports the protest provided the letter to The Associated Press. A spokesperson for the New York province did not respond to a request for comment.

The New York Times reported that the Rome trip was mentioned in an internal memo to leaders of religious orders sent by the Conference of Major Superiors. The Rev. Paul Lininger, executive director of the conference, confirmed to The Associated Press that a memo was sent, but would not discuss its contents and said no trip was imminent.

The Rev. Alfred Naucke, of the California Jesuit Province, said he saw the memo and it stated that the idea of going to Rome was “under consideration” pending more information on what the Vatican document will say. Naucke said a trip appeared “more likely than not.”

A Vatican official said the upcoming “instruction” from the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education will reaffirm the church’s belief that homosexuals should not be ordained.

In recent decades, Vatican officials have stated several times that gays should not become priests because their sexual orientation is “intrinsically disordered” and makes them unsuitable for ministry. A Vatican-directed evaluation of all 229 U.S. seminaries is underway, and is looking for “evidence of homosexuality” in the schools among other issues, such as whether their instruction keeps with church teaching.

The evaluation was organized in response to the clergy sex abuse crisis that has plagued the church since 2002.

Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, who is coordinating the seminary visits, said in a statement that homosexuality was a concern in the evaluation because “it is one of the issues of our times.”

“Within this cultural environment, there can develop, even among men preparing for the priesthood, an ambiguity both about the church’s teaching with regard to homosexuality and even whether some homosexual activity could be compatible with celibacy,” said O’Brien, who leads the Archdiocese for the Military Services in Washington.

O’Brien had previously said gays should not be ordained, but stressed that he was expressing his own views, not those of the Vatican.

Religious orders are the most independent bodies in the church, with their own governance and election of leaders, although Vatican officials sometimes intervene to impose discipline.

David Gibson, a former Vatican radio newsperson and author of The Coming Catholic Church, said the gay issue is especially important to the religious orders because the number of homosexual priests is believed to be higher in these communities than in the rest of the Church.

“The reason you’re seeing this happen is because this is the time – before the document comes out – that people can make their case,” Gibson said. “These orders know that after the document comes out they’ll be accused of dissent.”