Posted on 07/23/2003 2:43:45 PM PDT by sitetest
The Diocese Report has obtained a copy of a letter from a Vatican undersecretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of apostolic Life, regarding the ordination of a Dominican seminarian, Mr. Patrick Baikauskas in Illinois.
A letter was sent by a supporter of Roman Catholic Faithful (a lay group headed by Stephen Brady) to this and several congregations concerning the order of The Domminican Province of St. Albert the Great and especially their admittance of Mr. Baikauskas to the seminary. Letters were also sent to several prelates in the state of Illinois.
The cause for the opposition to Mr. Baikauskas's admittance stems from his past public and private life that was detailed in a December 2002 article by the Illinois Times. In the article the seminarian is quoted saying several things which the letter writers say is cleary opposed to Church teaching.
He planned to give the Dominican friar every opportunity to turn him away. At their breakfast, he laid it all out: "I'm 47 years old. I'm divorced. I'm a recovering alcoholic. I'm gay!" Baikauskas laughs as he gives each statement greater emphasis. "And you still want to talk to me?"
"Well, of course," the friar said.
Within a year, Baikauskas would be accepted into the Dominican Order of Preachers at St. Dominic Priory on the campus of St. Louis University. This past August he started his first semester at the Aquinas Institute of Theology. He hopes to be ordained in 2007.
According to the same article the seminarian openly admits he is gay and even states that he has the support of his formators.
Now, as Baikauskas settles into Dominican life, there are rumblings that the Catholic church may ban the ordination of homosexuals. Such efforts have usually associated gay identity with pedophilia. Baikauskas thinks banning gays from the priesthood would be wrong.
"I have been offended in the last year when people have used the gay issue as a scapegoat for the scandals in the church. Being a pedophile has nothing to do with being gay," he says.
Besides, he says, the church has been well-served by gay priests. "For whatever reason, gay people seem to be very successful-compassionate, pastoral. This is exemplified by the great many people who are gay and join the priesthood. But becoming a priest has nothing to do with sexual orientation.
"My spiritual formators say you just have to wait and see-that nothing may come of it. Worrying about it is something I'm not going to do."
In aother feature story by the same Illinois Times reporter, Brady challenged Baikauskas to denouce his gay lifestyle and uphold the Church's teaching. However Baikauskas response was less than convincing for Brady as he said,
"I am not sure what he wants me to denounce," responds Baikauskas. "My working for services for people living with AIDS? My working to secure equality in the workplace and housing for gay men and women? The church is not against these things. Neither is the church opposed to people being in love. So I cannot denounce any of those things."
Based on these quotes and other information that was forwarded to the Vatican, Brady and his supporter was sure that Vatican, based on it's own teachings, would declare Baikauskas and any man in a similar position barred from the priesthood. But Brady and says, "This letter represents the Vatican's approval of ordaining militant openly gay men to the priesthood. This was a test case, it was a clear case of who should not be ordained and this is the response we get?"
Undersecretary Torres in his letter writes:
"You included in the packet forwarded to the various Diacasteries as well as to the Holy Father a letter written by Very Rev. David Wright, OP, the Socious to the Prior Provincial clearly explaining the expectations of their formation program regarding celibate chastity, which are in conformity with the teaching of the Church. Certainly these expectations were clearly communicated to Bro. Baikauskas and an assurance of his understandings and acceptance of such was sought, prior to his being admitted into the formation program.
The letter from the Socious also gives us reason to trust that knowing his past, Bro Baikauskas' formators, will be especially prudent in judging his future suitability both for religious life and priesthood.
In light of above, we encourage you to place your trust in God for whom "all things are possible" (Mt:19,26)"
It seems from the Undersecretary's comments that ordaining a militant openly gay self-pro-claimed homosexual activist is to be left as a matter of prudence.
Breaking….
Related Links
Letter from Very Rev. David F. Wright, O.P.
Defender of the faith (Profile of Stephen Brady)
http://www.rcf.org/pdfs/DominicanProvincialResponse.pdf
I think the Apostle Andrew did a stint in this position before getting his promotion to full Apostle.
The 'secret brotherhood' reaches all the way inside the Curia itself.Please add me to your ping list. Tx.
Boy...Am I ever embarassed....All this time I thought being gay had something to do with people of the same gender having sex with each other. Dopey me....
And what naive soul thought otherwise by this point?
Formators? Are those the guys he did the bone dance with Mr. Sphincter with?
FMCDH
I don't see such clear demarcation in the article.
As long as priests abide by their celibacy vows, their sexual orientation should be an automatic disqualifier.
Some of the best priests in my parish have been gay and celibate.
This isn't "disturbing."
This may well be apostacy at the Vatican, at least in this Congregation.
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