Posted on 11/14/2005 6:14:17 AM PST by NYer
Some years ago -- at least 10, I think -- two of our diocesan priests told me that they are homosexual. They came in separately and, as far as I know, neither of them was aware of the other’s visit. I do recall that each said his decision to come out to me was prompted, at least in part, by something I had written in “Along the Way.”
In that particular column, I had referred to a priest from another diocese who told me he had finally told his parents that he was gay. He was elated that his parents took that occasion, so sensitive to him, to reaffirm their love and support of him. I wrote that this man -- whom I had known for years -- had never told me before that he was gay. Telling me that he had told his parents was the man’s way of telling me!
In any case, the two priests of our diocese told me that they are homosexual, and I am glad that they did. It seemed a great relief to them that their bishop -- to whom they are so closely bound in priestly identity and ministry -- should be aware of this important aspect of their personal reality. I know that I was deeply gratified that they entrusted me with that information. I had come to know and admire them through years of shared ministry. Their simplicity and honesty with me only deepened my regard for them.
In the years since, a few other priests -- religious and diocesan priests, here and elsewhere -- have chosen to tell me the same thing. In each case, I have admired their honesty and felt enriched by their trust and confidence.
Lately, I have thought a lot about these friends and prayed for them in a particular way. I have also prayed for priests who are gay but who are not ready or feel no need to tell me about their sexual orientation.
I have thought about and prayed for these men because I know that two recent developments have caused them a lot of pain. One is the Vatican-sponsored Seminary Visitation program now in progress. The other is a long-rumored document from the Congregation for Catholic Education about the admission of gay men as candidates for the priesthood.
Allow me to offer observations about some of the themes and concerns the confluence of these related but distinct elements have raised. My intent is not to deal with all of the questions that could be addressed. That would be impossible here. I wish only to encourage all to be patient with the process of the visitation and fair in the reading of the rumored document, if and when it is published.
1) The priests to whom I referred above love Christ, the church, their ministry and the people they serve. They take seriously their priestly obligations including that of celibate chastity. To read reports in the press, however unsubstantiated those reports may be, that homosexuals will be declared unacceptable as candidates for priesthood is a source of great pain for them and for all of us who know and love them.
2) The Instrumentum Laboris or guiding paper from the Seminary Visitation speaks about the role each bishop has vis-à-vis his seminarians: The bishop will ensure that the seminarians form mature and balanced personalities, are capable of establishing and maintaining sound human and pastoral relationships, are knowledgeable in theology and the living tradition of the church, have a solid spiritual life, and are in love with the church.
3) This wide range of goals or challenges for priestly formation applies to any candidate for priesthood, whether homosexual or heterosexual. The fundamental concern of formation for a life of celibate chastity is for sexual maturity, not sexual orientation. Good seminary formation needs to provide an environment in which both heterosexual and homosexual candidates can grow to commit themselves wholeheartedly, even joyfully, to chaste and faithful celibacy.
4) Critically important as it is, we should remember that formation for a life of celibacy is not the only, or even the primary, issue here. The task of seminaries is much wider than that. Their task is to form candidates toward intellectual, emotional, psychosexual, spiritual and pastoral maturity, regardless of the sexual orientation of the candidate.
I hope that these comments will be helpful to:
* homosexual priests who spend themselves each day in faithful, loving ministry to God’s holy people. We deeply value your ministry.
* to gay young men who are considering a vocation to priesthood. We try to treat all inquiries fairly. You will be no exception.
* to all who may have been confused or misled by premature and narrow reporting of the visitation and rumored document. It is always better to deal with fact than with rumor and half-truths.
Peace to all.
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Bishop Matthew Clark has more to say on the issue of homosexuality in this 1997 homily:
"I think, for example, of how we all need to be as much in touch as we can possibly be with biblical scholarship as it applies to this question. Because I'm afraid the bible is used in ways that are not life-giving, but destructive as it's quoted about gay and lesbian people. I think we need to learn from the human sciences the research of which has yielded a lot of new information that I believe we have not as yet integrated into our knowledge and value systems and which we do not appreciate as elements which can alter honestly held but incorrect assumptions about other persons in our community."
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I don't know. It certainly seems an attempt to bend the Church to their will.
Read this whole article (yes, it is horrible) and you may see some connections; if not between communists and homosexuals in the Catholic church, but at least between homosexuals and those who completely deny the basic tenets of revealed religion while staying in the church with the goal of destroying it from within.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1523107/posts?page=45#45
Gay theology pioneer trusts 'God's shrewdness'
National Catholic Reporter ^ | November 2005 | Robert McClory
The article is a slavering, drooling, trembling, fawning article about an EX Jesuit homosexual "priest" whose goal is to destroy the Catholic church.
The problems in DOR, like Albany and Rockville Centre, are deeply embedded. In the From The Mail column of this week's edition of The Wanderer, a reader writes:
"I am having serious reservations about donating to the following organizations: Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services and the Propagation of the Faith ... "
In their response, The Wanderer refers to an article from the Boston Globe which reported that Catholic Charities in Boston is placing foster children with "gay" couples. The paper then reminds the reader of an article they published in 1998 ...
Ex-priest Marvin Mich, professor of moral theology at Rochester’s St. Bernard’s Institute and a nationally known pioneer working in Catholic circles to facilitate the adoption of children by homosexual couples, spoke of the work he has done for Catholic Charities (CC). Mich claims to have persuaded CC staffers to understand the importance of following state nondiscrimination laws, rather than Church teaching, in the placement of adoptees in the home of same-sex couples. After summarily dismissing Catholic moral teaching , Mich explained that he prefers the statement from the Episcopal Church which declared: "To the degree that the study of Christian ethics is uninformed by the best knowledge our culture affords us, from the sciences and the humanities, our theology then is a disastrously flawed ethical system, even a useless, pretentious, or blasphemous one."
A quick Google search on Marvin Mitch turned up the following Adult Education Class, with Marvin Mitch as lector. This class will be held in 2006
9:30-10:30am, A National Emergency and the Message of the Prophets, Charles Stratton. Celebration Center
9:30-10:30am The Future of the Roman Catholic Church, Marvin Mich. Johnston Hall
Third Presbyterian Church , Rochester, NY. (Anyone up to attending his presentation?)
After great research, we now know how Clark, Hubbard, Mahony and the other pro gay bishops were elevated to their present rank. Archbishop Jadot intentionally chose young priests in order to ensure that his and their agenda had an opportunity to be ingrained into their respective dioceses. We've all witnessed the results. To fully grasp the situation here in Albany, I suggest you read AGONY IN ALBANY. This 10 part series was written in 1991, following pleas for help from catholics in this diocese.
Our one consolation is that their days (okay years) are numbered. Of all Jadot's appointees, only Mahony became a Cardinal. Jadot thought his picks would make it to the College of Cardinals and effect future papal elections. The one thing Jadot never factored in, was the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Reading your comments literally gave me cold chills. brrrrrr......
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I wasn't aware of the problems in Albany, but we have had our own disasters here in Massachusetts. I still cannot believe that Cardinal Law was taken in by the Vatican after his handling of the crisis here. Another tragedy is all of the church closings, which seem to be retribution for the lawsuits against the Church.
Views vary on bishop's column about gay priests
By CRAIG FOX
Finger Lakes Times
cfox@fltimes.com
http://www.fltimes.com/Main.asp?SectionID=38&SubSectionID=121&ArticleID=10198
GENEVA — Joanne Bienvenue of Waterloo wasn’t surprised to hear this morning that Bishop Matthew Clark recently wrote a column assuring homosexual priests that they are welcome in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester.
Bienvenue, a former longtime parishioner of St. Mary’s Church in Waterloo, knew that the bishop had been supportive of homosexual priests and seminarians, and gays and lesbians, in the past.
While she believes in being tolerant of gays, Bienvenue disagreed strongly with Clark’s views, which he made clear in a column that appears in this week’s Catholic Courier.
“I don’t support a lot of things that the bishop has supported. I don’t know about some of the things that the Rochester Diocese has come out with.
“It’s something I feel in my heart,” she went on to say. “There’s no place for gay priests. They lead the parish, and they’re there to teach the Commandments and the way of life of the Commandments.”
In his column, Clark writes that two priests had told him years ago they were homosexuals, and he was glad they came forward because it “was a great relief to them.” Other priests have come forward to him since then about sexual orientation, he notes.
“Lately, I have thought about these friends and prayed for them in a particular way. I have also prayed for priests who are gay but who are not ready or feel no need to tell me about sexual orientation,” he says.
He’s prayed for them, he writes, because of “recent developments that have caused them a lot of pain,” including a long-rumored document from the Congregation for Catholic Education about the admission of gay men as candidates for priesthood.
According to some media reports, the document is expected to dissuade gays from pursuing the priesthood, while some people hope it will say that each applicant for the priesthood should be considered on a case-to-case basis.
Ruth Page, a pastoral associate for the Rochester Catholic Community of Geneva, “appreciates” Clark’s views on gays and homosexual priests and seminarians.
Page hadn’t read the column and was unaware it had appeared in the weekly newspaper, but said she understands why he would not want someone “in his flock to feel pain, to feel distressed or feel uncomfortable.”
She pointed out that ordained priests made a vow to be celibate, no matter what sexual orientation they might have.
“If they have a genuine calling to serve God’s people, they should be allowed to follow their vocation,” Page said, since it would “be a God-given call.”
A key 1961 Vatican document on selecting candidates for the priesthood made clear homosexuals should be barred. But the instruction, and others that followed, have clearly not been enforced in many American seminaries and religious communities. Estimates of the number of gays in U.S. seminaries and the priesthood range from 25 percent to 50 percent, according to a review of research by the Rev. Donald Cozzens, a former seminary rector and author of “The Changing Face of the Priesthood.”
U.S. bishops were expected to take up the subject in private during their national meeting starting Monday in Washington.
Clark has shown his support in the past for homosexuals. Last year, he presided over a Mass for gays and lesbians at a Rochester church.
Jeanette Housecamp, faith formation coordinator with St. Patrick’s Church in Newark, doesn’t believe gay priests should be an issue if they follow the church’s rules for “devotion and celibacy.” She also has never had a priest come forward to her and talk about being gay — it’s something they keep to themselves and don’t discuss with their parish, Housecamp said.
“It’s not much of an issue as people make it out to be. They’re there to administer to the people,” she said. “[Sexual orientation] has nothing to do whether they are a good priest or not.”
But Bienvenue said that some of the more liberal views and actions by the Rochester diocese has made her family look to other Catholic churches in the area. After leaving St. Mary’s, they began attending more traditional services in Ovid, she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Priests found new group 'to affirm the value of our gay/lesbian clergy and religious' (Catholics Affirming Homosexual Leadership)
http://www.cahl.us/index.html
Then it should come as NO surprise that there is connection between our two dioceses. Both bishops shuffled abusive priests back and forth.
This is what all of us must do ... pray ... pray for a conversion of heart. Unfortunately, these priests believe that they are fulfilling the mission to which they were elevated. Recall that Archbishop Jadot appointed them based specifically on their mutual views. Essentially, they have no other views! It has taken me many years to come to grips with this understanding. Now, I pray for their conversion of heart. They did not ask for these appointments; they were chosen by Archbishop Jadot, and believe themselves to be fulfilling this mandate. That is truly frightening!
"Ex-priest Marvin Mich, professor of moral theology at Rochester’s St. Bernard’s Institute and a nationally known pioneer working in Catholic circles to facilitate the adoption of children by homosexual couples,"
Boy oh boy - this could almost tickle your funny bone if it weren't so sad and scary.
It has become so transparent and so predictable.
I mean...it's gotten to the point where it would be a SHOCK if St. Bernard's promoted anything resembling true catholicism.
That was from 1998. Do you know if he is still there?
"That was from 1998. Do you know if he is still there?"
No...but something tells me they're not at a loss for dissenting theologians in that place.
If he's not there - I'm sure they found a "suitable" replacement.
Interesting articles in response to AOC. I pulled the quote from Fr. Nugent because it's so representative of the hate homosexual groups have for the ex-homosexual. They find them really threatening.
So he believes the bible and the Church are wrong about homosexuality. No wonder he welcomes homosexual priests. Wonder what he thinks about chastity?
I guess he sort of answered the question here:
4) Critically important as it is, we should remember that formation for a life of celibacy is not the only, or even the primary, issue here....regardless of the sexual orientation of the candidate.
In Bishop Clark's Homily in 1997 he's in complete and utter dhimmitude to these unrepentant rump rangers.
"....And lastly, and I think in a certain way, above all, we really need to know the faith and life experience of gay and lesbian sisters and brothers. Do we know their stories? Do we know the challenges they face? Do we know the richness of their spirit? Do we know the ways in which their faith has been tested? Do we know how some of our conduct and patterns can make their journeys more painful than they need to be? I raise these questions, not in any sense in the spirit of accusation or blame, but simply to convey, as best I can, what our sisters and brothers who are gay or lesbian have said to me and what has been said to me by their mothers and dads, grandmas and grandpas, and other people who love them, who are concerned that their offspring, whom they cherish, are not held in equal regard simply because they are gay and lesbian persons...."
Its disheartening to read such a whimpering apology from a bishop of all people. "Do we know how some of our conduct and patterns can make their journeys more painful than they need to be? There you have it: No faith, no courage...just grovelling and apologizing for the homophobic Christ: "Do we know the richness of their spirit?..." Yes, you flaming apostate, we know that spirit! It's called L-U-C-I-F-E-R
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Much depends on if they keep their vow of celibacy. However, I do question what role they can play in the Church. Can a homosexual priest rightly advise a heterosexual man or woman during a marital crisis? At one time I might have said "yes", but since the recent events regarding the sexual abuse scandals, I have my doubts.
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