Posted on 07/27/2002 8:06:59 AM PDT by sinkspur
In all his years as a Catholic priest, he has never experienced anything so threatening to him and his ministry: being questioned and doubted, not for what he has done or what he believes, but for who he is.
He is a seasoned priest with a record of faithfulness and commitment to the Dallas-area parishes he has served.
He's also gay, although not many people know it: some friends and fellow priests, a number of whom also are gay.
With the scandal exploding in unexpected directions, no one hears the continued ticking louder or clearer than priests who are gay.
And rightly or wrongly, he is afraid these days as Roman Catholic leaders and laity continue to reel from the church's cover-up of sexual abuse and try to figure out which way to go from here.
"I'm terrified now," said the priest, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "People are trying to make oversimplified connections between sexual abuse and being gay, and they're saying, 'Let's get rid of all of them.'
"Any priest who is gay feels at risk. We're not used to living under suspicion. We're used to being trusted."
With the scandal exploding in unexpected directions, no one hears the continued ticking louder or clearer than priests who are gay. Their numbers, like those nationally, are significant in the Dallas Diocese, church officials said.
They hear the voices in the church that equate them with sexual abusers, and that want them out as part of a move to bring the priesthood in line with church teaching that homosexual acts are immoral.
More liberal Catholics say the church should embrace gay priests and end the secrecy before devoted priests are forced out or quit.
The waves of distrust already have broken at the steps of two parishes in the Dallas diocese, offering a look at how the church's next chapter may unfold.
Two priests – including the one who didn't want his name published – came under suspicion after a conservative group resurrected 2-year-old accusations that the men participated in a defunct Internet support group for gay priests.
The unidentified priest wasn't disciplined because he said nothing untoward; the other pastor stepped down because of sexually suggestive remarks about Hispanic men in an old e-mail.
To some, the priests' sin was – and is – being gay.
The call from American bishops for openness about past abuse has not extended to homosexuality itself and what many consider the ecclesiastical don't-ask-don't-tell policy for priests.
Instead, the rising tide of scandal has floated a fundamental question that could chart the church's course in years to come: What place does the Catholic Church want for gay priests?
"There's always been a good deal of sexual activity in the church from the top down, and not just homosexual activity," said psychotherapist and author A.W. Richard Sipe, a former priest who has studied clerical celibacy for 42 years. "What's changed is the revelation of that activity, including sexual abuse of minors. The secret system has been blasted open.
"The church is in a very funny position because its teaching says that homosexuality is so immoral, and the church has so many gay priests. The church could not function without gay priests."
Polarizing viewpoints
Homosexuality in the priesthood, shoved into the glare of public debate, is polarizing viewpoints inside the church and out. Many moderates and liberals contend that gays are being made scapegoats for a corrupt system in which bishops and priests abetted abusers by failing to expose them.
Many conservatives believe that gay priests are the root cause of the church's problems and all its layers of secrecy.
Last spring, Pope John Paul II's press secretary said that besides not ordaining gays, the church should consider removing gay priests.
A cardinal in Detroit recently said the church faced "not truly a pedophilia-type problem but a homosexual-type problem." The cardinal in Philadelphia prohibits gays from entering seminary.
Bishops, who determine which candidates get ordained in each diocese, are split over acceptance vs. a crackdown on gays. The Dallas Diocese does not weed out candidates because they are gay, although scrutiny is heavy, officials said.
A few bishops and at least one cardinal have said gays aren't suitable to become priests.
Vatican officials, after American cardinals met with the pope this spring, vowed to launch the first intensive seminary inspections in 20 years, concentrating on applicants' "suitability" and the schools' "fidelity" to church teachings.
Although some Catholics fear a sexually-oriented witch hunt to bar gays from ordination, orthodox groups consider such hurdles just what the priesthood needs.
"I think that has to happen, keeping homosexuals out of the seminaries and priesthood," said the Rev. Charles Dahlby, a priest in rural Illinois. "The church is desperately trying to avoid looking at that.
"The bishops haven't shown they have that courage."
Others worry that despite a new one-strike-and-out-of-public-ministry policy for abusive priests – adopted last month at the bishops conference in Dallas – unwarranted suspicion of gays threatens to drive them deeper into their closets.
"It's a very threatening climate right now," said Mark Jordan, an author and religion professor at Emory University in Atlanta. "These are priests who have never broken their vows of celibacy, and they're afraid of being taken out of ministry.
"Rather than focus on the institutional problem, people want to go after easy targets."
The focus on homosexuality, Mr. Jordan said, pre-empts the church from discussing more complex issues. He listed the climate of secrecy and clerical power, the discipline of celibacy and its frequent failures, church teachings on sexuality and a growing gay priesthood.
There's no definitive figure for the percentage of gay priests in America. The most rigorous studies estimate 30 percent to more than 50 percent. The latter figure comes from veteran researcher, professor and former seminary rector, Father Donald Cozzens.
Can't be ignored
In The Changing Face of the Priesthood, which openly discusses homosexuality, he said that although questions about gays in the priesthood may seem homophobic, "the proverbial elephant in the living room" can't be ignored. "The longer the delay, the greater the harm to the priesthood and to the church," he said.
Catholic officials must distinguish between priests, gay or straight, who struggle and sometimes fail to remain celibate and those who exploit the priesthood for the cover it provides or its gay network, he said.
To lay activist Stephen Brady, there must be no such distinction.
"Gays should not be ordained," said Mr. Brady, a restaurateur from Illinois who heads a group called Roman Catholic Faithful. "There is justifiable discrimination against a homosexual. The church teaches that."
Parts of the church's stance on gays seem colored in gray.
Opponents of gay ordination often cite a 1961 Vatican document that said gays should not be ordained. The document, "Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and Sacred Orders," isn't widely known among Catholics.
Mr. Brady says bishops have virtually ignored that document. Bishops say canon law never specifically prohibited gays from being priests.
Homosexual acts, on the other hand, have always been immoral in the eyes of the church since they can't create life.
In 1975, a Vatican document, "Declaration on Certain Problems of Sexual Ethics," indicated that simply being gay – without sexual activity – isn't sinful. That was followed by another document that said homosexuality is "intrinsically disordered," which gets conflicting interpretations.
The church needs to clarify all this, Mr. Brady said, "so we know where the hell we stand."
Last month, he used the bishops conference to recirculate charges that Catholic officials have overly protected gay priests, including 10 that his group identified by monitoring e-mails at an Internet site.
Confession wasn't enough for the Rev. Cliff Garner, who apologized to parishioners at St. Pius X Catholic Church in East Dallas for a 1999 message about Hispanic men. It said, in part, "I do have a very special place in my heart for those Latin blooded ones!"
Among more than 300 people who attended, some were forgiving; others wanted him removed.
Father Garner asked to leave the East Dallas parish after an anonymous threat to hurt him.
This month, the pastor at St. Pius criticized parishioners for "the hate and vengeance exhibited by some people."
'What a tragedy'
"When Father Cliff begged for forgiveness, some yelled, 'How many times are we supposed to forgive?' " Monsignor Larry Pichard wrote. "What a tragedy for our parish! What a tragedy for Father Cliff!" Those close to Father Garner said the priest was traumatized and wouldn't comment.
"We just need to let him rest and let him heal," Father Pichard said.
Mr. Brady said he got no satisfaction from the victory. He blamed both Father Garner, whom he said "brought this on himself" with his comments, and higher-ups who allowed him to become and remain a priest.
"I'm not saying he's evil. I'm saying he doesn't belong as a Catholic priest," Mr. Brady said. "I feel sorry for him because he was lied to all along.
"The fact that the bishops are unwilling to discuss the homosexual issue is an indictment against them."
Like many of his peers, Dallas Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Galante concludes that the sexual orientation of a priest or seminarian is irrelevant; they should have "psycho-sexual maturity" and be spiritually and socially healthy.
This moderate view emphasizes that whether homosexual or heterosexual, a priest must fulfill his call to a celibate, chaste life.
Sexual orientation "becomes a moot point," Bishop Galante said, adding that a priest shouldn't think of or identify himself as "a gay priest," as though that were his defining quality.
"I don't like hyphenated priests," the bishop said.
He played down the fears of some priests that being gay has made them targets.
"If they're not acting out, if they're living a devout good life, they have no reason to be fearful," he said. "There are no grounds to remove anybody. They can't be punished."
Some Catholics, however, see an inherent risk in affording gays the respect of the cloth.
Although he acknowledged that many fine, celibate priests are gay, Father Dahlby said he would close the priesthood to gays if he could.
"We don't know they'll have the spirituality to live a celibate life, and we're surrounding them with incredible temptations," he said. "It's unfair to them."
Those who blame gays for the crisis often assert that most of the victims were teenage boys, not children.
Others say that there are no statistics on the victims, which include many females – girls as well as women – and that the crisis is about abuse, not homosexuality.
Many of the worst abusers came through the old seminary system as teenagers in the 1960s and '70s.
'Bing Crosby priests'
"These were Bing Crosby priests," Mr. Jordan said, "products of the supposedly ideal period of American Catholicism." Yet they seem to have had sexual problems as teens that went unresolved and arrested their development, said Monsignor Francis Maniscalco, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"This may be a question of late adolescent behavior and accessibility to victims as much as fixed gender orientation," he said.
Mr. Jordan said the church's mishandling of the crisis is ominous.
"The abuse is not coming from out priests," he said. "It's coming from tightly closeted priests who won't be targeted.
"Five years from now, when the seminaries have been investigated and troublesome priests have been ousted, we'll have another rash of abuse cases."
Transcending his own apprehension, the Dallas-area priest who didn't want to be identified expressed hope.
"As scandalous and unsettling as this is, it's not new in the church's history. The church survives," he said. "A period of renewal ultimately will follow from all this ugliness, a period of grace.
"I can not believe otherwise. God's grace pervades all."
The Church can minister to homosexuals, as to any who suffer from an acute affliction. But you are right, A.Pole. The Church does not need homosexual priests. It has paid an unbelievable price in ruined lives, mental and physical anguish, a massive loss of trust and faith, among young and old alike. They couldn't have done worse if they'd tried.
But improper sexual thoughts are also sinful. (A man who looks at a woman with lust in his heart...)
God does love each and every one of us, assuredly!
Being gay requires demonstration of some sort; either an announcement or a witnessed act. Absent an act, how are we to believe that a priest is gay or simply sad?
Those priests who are active homosexual (what, 1/3 of the priesthood?) have no business being around my sons, ever.
This is the best description of the """GAY""" """PROBLEM""" in the church I've read. Note the use of quotes because it goes much deeper than Gay sex.
How about Ted Kennedy and all the crap he's pulled off.
It is the American Bishops!
Great numbers of priests are shouting it from the rooftops, both in word AND IN DEED.
Most of them are little Ted Kennedys - so greatly concerned about intellectual political correctness - and so little concerned about the welfare of children. They are little, cowardly, banal and sometimes evil men. We deserve a million times better.
Enpowerment.
They can because they have the govenment and media.
Based on what I've seen from you on this forum, I'd say much more of a Christian than you.
Sounds like they have really known about this all along.
Maybe the priesthood should limit their membership to Christians only.
< Hey thanks Scripter. My older son was just accepted to a very prestigious Catholic (all boys) high school in our area. 25% of those who apply are accepted. He worked hard to prepare for the tests and interviews. He is excited and ready to work hard there. But it seems like every school in our area (but this one) has been hit somehow with this sexual scandal. I want so much to believe that it won't happen here as well. But I really don't know who to trust in the Church anymore. I don't believe the bishops on anything at all. I have researched the school very, very thorougly, and there was only one incident (homosexual molestation again) over ten years ago. Still I am fearful and torn. I want so much to trust, and I want my son to obtain all the good things that the Church has to offer. But if something bad happened to my son at the hands of a priest, I would be shattered. It's unbelievable that I find myself in this position as a parent in Christ's Church. Just unbelievable.
OK, so you are more of a Christian.
In my opinion, it boils down to the priest's opinion about his own sexuality. If the priest has gay inclinations but professes that such activity is immoral according to church doctrine, then I see no great problem.
BUT...in my experience, most of the gay priests are flaming liberals who, aside from being gay, do not believe that such a lifestyle is sinful. Thus, they are playing a dishonest game. They are (even when not practicing) attempting to hide behind tolerance to change church doctrine.
Its a question of priority....is the priest a believing catholic who happens to be gay (and who commits his life to spreading the church's doctrines of morality)....or is he a liberal who is attempting to alter the church's doctrines to suit his liberal philosophy? Is he more concerned with spreading catholocism to the world...or liberalism in the church? That is the question.
If I had my way, I'd prefer that the church ONLY ordain priests who are in a heterosexual marriage...thus by and large rendering this point moot (in ancient Judaism, one had to be married before one could be a rabbi).
My advise is that you have a thougthful discussion or two with your son. Make sure that he understand what he needs to understand. Everywhere are problems and part of parenting is to instruct children when it is needed.
Are you really so naive? Imagine a few years in a close knit seminary with 50% of homosexuals. Can you imagine co-ed monastery?
Thank you! The idea that we shouldn't care what a priest's sexual orientation is as long as they are "celibate" is totally naive.
By the same token we shouldn't care if their orientation is pedofilia, bestiality, sado-masochism etc. just as long as they behave themselves. Right.
Sorry, but people with such sexual orientations do no belong in positions of such great responsibility as to be representatives of Christ.
Well put, M. quebecois. That is one of the central questions here.
At the time, I warned the libs not to get too cocky, as this whole affair could well blow backwards against the gays in the church and their liberal apologists. Lo and behold, that seems to becoming true. The laity is angry and afraid....they see church doctrine being openly flouted by gay priests, and are seeing the top management covering for them. They are afraid for their kids, and are baying for blood.
Since I believe that gays (esp liberal ones) who join the priesthood are entering their post under false pretenses, I have little sympathy for their situation now. If they were gay, and had a sincere belief that it is merely an "alternative lifestyle"...then they had no business joining the priesthood to begin with.
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