Posted on 03/29/2010 2:17:12 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
A Roman Catholic archbishop who resigned in 2002 over a sex and financial scandal involving a man has written a memoir that describes how he struggled with being gay.
Archbishop Rembert Weakland, former head of the Milwaukee archdiocese, "is up front about his homosexuality in a church that preferred to ignore gays," Publisher's Weekly wrote in a review Monday.
The book, "A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop," is set to be released in June and is described by the publisher as a self-examination by Weakland of his "psychological, spiritual and sexual growth."
The Vatican says that men with "deep-seated" attraction to other men should not be ordained.
Weakland stepped down quickly after Paul Marcoux, a former Marquette University theology student, revealed in May 2002 that he was paid $450,000 to settle a sexual assault claim he made against the archbishop more than two decades earlier. The money came from the archdiocese.
Marcoux went public at the height of anger over the clergy sex abuse crisis, when Catholics and others were demanding that dioceses reveal the extent of molestation by clergy and how much had been confidentially spent to settle claims.
Weakland denied ever assaulting anyone. He apologized for concealing the payment.
In an August 1980 letter that was obtained by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Weakland said he was in emotional turmoil over Marcoux and signed the letter, "I love you."
"During the last months, I have come to know how strained I was, tense, pensive, without much joy," Weakland wrote. "I felt like the world's worst hypocrite. So gradually I came back to the importance of celibacy in my life."
The revelations rocked the Milwaukee archdiocese, which Weakland had led since 1977. But when he publicly read a letter of apology for the scandal, Milwaukee parishioners gave him a a standing ovation.
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee released a public statement last week alerting local Catholics that the book is soon to be published and that it deals in part with Weakland's relationship with Marcoux and the scandal.
"Some people will be angry about the book, others will support it," the archdiocese said.
Weakland, who has been a hero for liberal Catholics because of his work on social justice and other issues, will also address in the memoirs his failures to stop abusive priests.
In a videotaped deposition released last November, Weakland admitted returning guilty priests to active ministry without alerting parishioners or police.
Advocates for abuse victims said that Weakland's cover up of his own sexual activity was part of a pattern of secrecy that included concealing the criminal behavior of child molesters.
The archbishop did not respond Monday to an e-mail request for comment. Weakland, a Benedictine, plans to move to St. Mary's Abbey in Morristown, N.J., this summer.
U.S. Catholics have long debated whether the priesthood had become a predominantly gay vocation. Estimates vary from 25 percent to 50 percent, according to a review of research on the issue by the Rev. Donald Cozzens, author of "The Changing Face of the Priesthood."
Cozzens, a former seminary rector, said in an interview that Weakland's acknowledgment of his sexual orientation "cuts into the denial that relatively few priests or bishops are gay."
But Russell Shaw, a former spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, questioned whether the book would have much impact.
"That one controversial archbishop acknowledges what everybody's known for several years," Shaw said, "I don't think that's going to make any big difference."
i’m not projecting nothing
what about masturbation?
paul wasn’t a priest. he was an apostle who spread the word
Nicely said!
Yeah, that's one of the things about projection.
what about masturbation?
I don't think I want to go there with you.
I have to ask: Certainly you don't think all your passions and desires are uncontrollable?
tou idiou oikou kalos proistamenon tekna echonta en hupotage meta pases semnotetos
Ideally, one whom presides over his own household; holding his children, with all due gravity, in subjection.
As a lifelob=ng Catholic with eons at Catholic girl’s schools and two aunts who are nuns, I have never heard of celibacy referred to as a “gift”.
I often hear of it as a “sacrifice” to Christ ... giving up something to honor God. And sacrifice is a cornerstone of Catholicism.
To say it is a “gist” means that some may not receive that gift, but a sacrifice is free for anyone to give.
“paul wasn’t a priest. he was an apostle who spread the word”
Yet why would Paul say that the one who does not marry, do better? Is that not in scripture? He is clearly preaching to the faithful and clearly, his words here are just as authoritative as others.
He is arguing that to marry, one does not sin, it is a concession, and not a commandment.
>> None of the Above. I’m a Baptist. If I were called to lead a church ... I’d have married the same lovely and gracious woman that I am currently married to. Celibacy is not among my options ... so your question might be better directed elsewhere.
SnakeDoc <<
Fair answer, thanks for your honesty
i’m not talking about myself if i was then it would be projecting
Again, from 1 Cor 7:9
“Yet I wish that all men were like me. However each man has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind. But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am. But if they don’t have self-control, let them marry. For it’s better to marry than to burn.”
So it is, in a way, a spiritual gift!
so not one catholic priest who supposedly isn’t married and is celibate is “ideal”. how can that be?
Are you arguing that he must have children and if he doesn’t have children that he cannot be a priest?
He must be of one woman, (for obvious reasons), and he must be in control of his household. This is the ideal for those who are married and who have children.
“Yet why would Paul say that the one who does not marry, do better? Is that not in scripture?”
He’s not talking about qualifications for bishop
>> OMG, Weakland GAY???!!!
Who’s next? Ricky Martin? <<
Greeeeat, thansk to you I can’t listen to Livin’ La Vida Yokel....Whatever, :)
So only men and women who have a “gift” should become priests or nuns? Not what I learned about giving one’s life to Christ. Not everyone will receive the gift ... but anyone can sacrifice.
i’m not saying it the bible is saying it
If he honestly believed everything else about his church’s faith, then given what he believed about himself, the honest thing, the professional thing for him to have done in the beginning was to resign; not continue in any official capacity dishonestly.
I don’t have sympathy for ANYONE who thinks an organization whose beliefs they oppose is required to accept them into the organization. Such thoughts go 100% against the natural order of liberty, which expects “free association” - you associate with whom you freely chose to - to be it’s paramount feature.
Then you can imagine that for people - other than yourself - it isn't true that "marriage is supposed to be most about sex." And that what is not "humanly possible" for you might be possible for others.
If not, you just might be projecting.
>> To say it is a “gist” means that some may not receive that gift, but a sacrifice is free for anyone to give.
Paul made it clear that it is a sacrifice that most are incapable of making. Thus, the capability is a rare gift.
SnakeDoc
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