Posted on 04/07/2005 6:20:40 AM PDT by Clint N. Suhks
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Peter Novak has practiced Catholicism his whole life, starting as an altar boy and then studying for seven years toward becoming a priest.
Yet in recent months, the 39-year-old gay man, who did not complete his seminary studies, has been thinking about leaving the church because of the legacy of Pope John Paul's stance on homosexuality.
"It's not an easy life to do that, to want to maintain your identity as Catholic and gay," said Novak, who married his partner in San Francisco last year.
"The church came out very much opposed to gay marriage and I would say that was part of it," he said, explaining why he stopped going to Mass regularly more than a year ago. "It has challenged my ability to feel comfortable in the church."
Under Pope John Paul, the Vatican preached that gays should be treated with compassion but made clear it absolutely opposed gay sex and called homosexuality a disorder. The Pope referred to gay marriage as an "ideology of evil."
The Pope "would be very compassionate to the gay person," said Fr. Donald Cozzens, former president-rector of Saint Mary Catholic Seminary in Cleveland. Yet he would "require of them what he feels the Gospel requires of all of God's people, which is if you are not married, you do not have an active sexual life, whether within a committed relationship or not."
Many gay American Catholics ignore such teachings, as do heterosexuals who skirt church rules against birth control.
In areas such as San Francisco's Castro Street, a center of gay life, Catholic churches perform a delicate balancing act.
In front of the Most Holy Redeemer Church two blocks away, a billboard shows well-built male models urging gay men to telephone.
"We provide the teachings of the church with the understanding that people will make their own choices," said Michael Greenwell, a priest from the Carmelite Order.
GAY CATHOLICS AT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
DignityUSA, a group of gay Catholics, conducts its own services, often with former priests. After a 1986 Vatican letter denounced homosexuality as "an objective disorder," U.S. Catholic churches barred group meetings on their property.
So in San Francisco, Dignity meets weekly at a Presbyterian church.
Catholic teachings on homosexuality may not have changed much under John Paul, but his papacy coincided with the gay rights movements, AIDS and priest sex scandals highlighting issues related to homosexual clergymen.
The Pope also strongly opposed gay marriage, discussing it in his last annual address in January and calling it in his last book published in February "a new ideology of evil," which incensed many gays.
"The clock has been turned back during this papacy for gay people," said Jeff Stone, a DignityUSA member in New York.
In San Francisco, Catholics played key roles during last year's marriage of more than 4,000 same sex couples.
Mayor Gavin Newsom, a Catholic, ignited the issue by allowing the weddings until they were barred by the California Supreme Court. Then, just last month, a Catholic judge ruled California's ban on homosexual marriage unconstitutional.
Both traditionalists and reformers seem to agree the Vatican is unlikely to make changes toward gays under the next Pope.
"I don't think the teaching can or will change," said Mark Brumley, president of St. Ignatius Press, the largest U.S. Catholic publisher.
"Thanks to the legacy of John Paul II, we are going to see a much more energetic and persuasive presentation of the truth of that teaching about human sexuality," he said. "I think the next Pope will build on what John Paul II has done."
The Church has never used the word heretic after Vatican II.
"Yet in recent months, the 39-year-old gay man, who did not complete his seminary studies, has been thinking about leaving the church because of the legacy of Pope John Paul's stance on homosexuality"
He can convert to Episco-Baalian and no doubt would get to be a bishop
Reuters(!) said it this way???!! Someone's head will roll -- that's the elephant in the parlor (of the scandal) that's not supposed to be mentioned!
"Catholic teachings on homosexuality may not have changed much under John Paul, but his papacy coincided with the gay rights movements, AIDS and priest sex scandals highlighting issues related to homosexual clergymen."
Just because you flipped on the lights and the cockroaches are scrambling doesn't mean you throw twinkies on the floor to feed them. You get out the bug spray.
I just hate it when I go to church and that happens...
/sarcasm
morning all...they're starting to come out of the woodwork.
A Gay Catholic? Can't be such a thing. A Gay Christian of any denomination or Jew for that matter. It's an abomination before God. Period. Repent, change your ways.
IMO it ought be Impossible for any to be "Gay" and Catholic
as it is impossible to be homosexual and CChristian. For the two ideas are mutually EXCLUSIVE. The heart soul and mind of the homosexual is identified by their obsession with their sexual identity -for this reason God gave them over to a reprobate mind -to do that which is not convienent. If any accept Christ as Lord of their life then they are "a new Creation" old things are passed away
they are dead to the lusts of the world and foolish if they continue to ressurect the dead. Those who insist they are
gay and Catholic/Christian are either decieved by the deciever or ignorant of the Truth.For those that are Christian ought obey the first great commandment.By this we will know they belong to God, and not to the Father of Lies.
It certainly does. It directly equates it with male homosexuality.
Romans 1:24-27 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
This dude in the article has constructed a very clever strawman. The rule isn't "no sex." The rule is "no gay sex."
If he foreswears the ass-love and marries a nice lady, he can have all the sex they want.
"Kind of amusing the liberals coming out of the woodwork telling the Catholics how to run their church."
Yeah, let them try telling Muslims how to run their religion.
All those who remain in their sin tend to feel that same challenge. The opposite of repentance is clinging to your sin. The disagreement here really isn't with the church...it's with God.
Sure it does.
This is kind of like saying "It's not easy being a Republican when I support only Democrats". How many of the tenents of the Church must you break before realizing that maybe being a preist for the Church is not for you.
"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts."
Paul seems to be saying that their punishment for moral depravity is their queer lifestyle
A sexually active "gay" Catholic is as absurd a notion as that of a peaceful Moslem. A true Catholic can no more be an active homosexual than a true Moslem can be against molesting children, raping women, and chopping off the heads of all infidels.
Worth repeating...
The only gay Catholic I know is committed to a celibate life.
Sez, and I papaphrase, maybe we are born this way but it's up to us to avoid sin. In other words - far from lowering his standards, he insists on keeping the bar as high as possible.
You won't see him interviewed by the MSM.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Peter Norak has practiced Catholicism his whole life, starting as an altar boy and then studying for seven years toward becoming a priest.
Yet in recent months, the 39-year-old necrophile, who did not complete his seminary studies, has been thinking about leaving the church because of the legacy of Pope John Paul's stance on necrophilia.
"It's not an easy life to do that, to want to maintain your identity as Catholic and necrophile," said Norak, who seeks to legitimize man-corpse sex.
"The church came out very much opposed to necrophilia and I would say that was part of it," he said, explaining why he stopped going to Mass regularly more than a year ago. "It has challenged my ability to feel comfortable in the church."
Under Pope John Paul, the Vatican preached that necrophiles should be treated with compassion but made clear it absolutely opposed the practice and called necrosexuality a disorder. The Pope referred to perverted sex as an "ideology of evil."
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