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Gay Catholics Angry Over Seminary Searches
Bay Area Reporter ^ | 10/02/05

Posted on 10/03/2005 5:43:15 AM PDT by marshmallow

Local gay Catholic parishioners and theologians are angered, yet determined, in the face of the Vatican's pending instruction to bar gay seminarians while it begins inspecting 229 U.S. Catholic seminaries, looking for "evidence of homosexuality" and "signs of particular friendships."

What some are calling a pogrom began with a five-member team of inquisitors visiting St. Louis, Missouri's Aquinas Institute September 25, and will be completed by next spring. A visit to the Bay Area's St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park is scheduled for next month.

According to an 11-page document, 117 bishops and priests, overseen by Military Services Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, will interview all faculty, students, and graduates from the past three years over a four-day period at each seminary. The move is in response to the fallout of the priest sexual abuse scandal.

The instruction, as it is called, reflects concern among some church leaders that Catholic seminaries have become too gay and that lax moral discipline led to the sexual abuse scandal, and implies that celibacy is especially challenging to gay men.

Some conservatives say that seminaries are so gay, (estimates range up to half the students) placing an unfair burden of temptation on gays and straights alike, that straight men are intimidated from joining, and the priesthood is coming to be seen as a gay career.

Others disagree.

"I have never heard that, in my many years of teaching in seminaries, from any seminarian or professor," said a gay East Bay Catholic seminary professor, who e-mailed his comments anonymously through a third party to protect his workplace. "One does wonder whether justifications are being rather desperately searched for, since homophobia and scapegoating don't sound so nice."

"No one feels safe talking," said Bernard Schlager Ph.D., national outreach director at the Pacific School of Religion's Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, noting "an atmosphere of danger developing," of "real fear and terror."

To contradict the instruction in the press could potentially cause problems, he said.

The Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education prepared the order, which underwent three drafts. It was approved by Pope Benedict XVI.

The Congregation for Catholic Education prepared the instruction after gathering advice from bishops, psychologists, and moral theologians worldwide, then circulated a draft among the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. The inquisitors will report directly to the Vatican, which could respond by issuing the instruction barring gays from seminaries and ordination, while expected resignations would worsen the already deep Catholic clergy shortage.

Pope Benedict, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, headed the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, which investigated the priest sexual abuse scandal. He spoke last spring of a need to "purify" the church when the scope of abuse allegations became known.

The pope named San Francisco Archbishop William Levada as the new prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith earlier this year.

"If they do this purge and run out every gay person, they will not have enough people to minister," said Mario Porrigino, a born and raised Catholic San Franciscan and president of the local chapter of Defenders, a leather-identified Catholic group that meets monthly.

The instruction does not represent a theological change. The catechism calls homosexuality "objectively disordered" and gay sex an act of "grave depravity." But in the 1970s and 1980s, that policy was ignored in U.S. seminaries to varying degrees.

Some informed sources say the instruction will be made public when a Rome bishops' synod ends October 23.

U.S. cardinals requested the "Apostolic Visitation" in 2002, while discussing the sexual abuse crisis with Pope John Paul II.

The anonymous theologian said his students "tend to be emphatically against homophobia (and misogyny), so these times are particularly embarrassing for Catholics who want to be in ecumenical dialogue, as Vatican II encourages, and personally reject homophobia (and misogyny). Personal orientation is not an academic issue here. For instance, many of those who are most distressed by the upcoming visitation are quite evidently straight."

Gay groups respond

National LGBT leaders were quick to label the Vatican's move a smokescreen to divert attention from the church's lack of response to the priest sexual abuse crisis.

"Church leaders have not accepted responsibility and have not been appropriately reprimanded by the church for their failures to deal appropriately with the still ongoing sexual abuse crisis in the church," said Debbie Weill, executive director of Dignity USA, a gay Catholic group.

"This is part of the church hierarchy's calculated – and frankly, evil – campaign to scapegoat gay people for the decades of appalling sex abuse of children and young people that it alone created, nurtured, and covered up," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. He called the instruction a smokescreen to hide the "abject, willful negligence of the hierarchy."

"When the church makes gay men a scapegoat for pedophiles, it ignores one problem and creates another," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "It does nothing to keep children safe or punish criminals."

"It is rather appalling that someone like [former Boston] Cardinal [Bernard] Law is off in Rome being honored, and outstanding gay seminarians are, apparently, about to be pressured to leave," said the seminary professor.

"They're sort of looking for an easy solution, not drawing on the knowledge base of what motivates this behavior," said longtime Dignity member Paul Riofski.

"It's based on a bigoted stereotype, trying to switch the attention away from their corrupt system to gay people, which is ludicrous," said Porrigino, calling pedophilia a fundamental institutional phenomenon of the church hierarchy to indoctrinate young men.

"It all has to be rethought from the very beginning. This whole system of taking young boys and perverting their psychosexual development has been going on for hundreds of years. So what you get is, by teaching them silly things like, the church is your mate, you're not allowed to have normal relationships with other people. It stunts them at the age they enter," he said.

Gay Catholics say the problem is with, conversely, denial of sexuality. Priesthood candidates should be evaluated in terms of sexual maturity, said Dignity's Weill.

The seminary professor defined sexual maturity as "serene acceptance of the sexual dimension of oneself and others, as a mysterious God-given gift, without forced repression, on the one hand, and without promiscuous, inappropriate (acting out)� on the other hand.

"If one has made the free, celibate option, it would mean the capacity of channeling much of one's erotic energy into love of God and love of all people, especially the poor, the oppressed, etc. Lying to self or others – that doesn't seem helpful to psychological maturity or to Christian life and ministry," the professor said.

"My definition of sexual maturity is to love fully as God has called us to do," said Gino Ramos, 45, a former alter boy who is in his third term as the Dignity/SF chapter's co-chair and who recently came out to fellow parishioners at his church in Antioch. "That includes sex and spirit. If a priest wants to be with a partner, they can benefit from those gifts."

"That does sound reasonable," said the seminary professor. "Regarding the obligation of celibacy for all priests, many are of course wondering whether that remains a good idea, given the critical shortage of priests. We know that St. Peter was married, and we know there was the optional celibacy approach for priests also in the Catholic Church for the first many centuries, not to mention the example of the Orthodox, etc. Does it make sense to continue to exclude the possibility that one might be called both to the priesthood and to marriage?"

Catholics interviewed also stated their determination to change the church from the grassroots.

Dignity, Riofski explained, was founded in 1969 and came out of the Vatican II era of the late 1950s, when Pope John XXIII called for ecumenical councils to examine the core elements of "priesthood of the people," humanism, and social justice.

The San Francisco chapter, founded in 1973, had the full support of the San Francisco Archdiocese for its first 15 years, meeting at St. Boniface, St. John's and St. Peter's.

But when Dignity added to its mission statement that their relationships are blessed by God, pressure from Rome against ministering to LGBT people led parishes, one by one, to evict Dignity chapters nationwide between 1986 and 1989.

"The position on homosexual acts is pretty well founded," said Maurice Healy, communications director for the city's archdiocese. "It won't change until Dignity drops their rationale, which is contrary to Catholic teaching."

"We should not let this deter us from speaking the truth as we see it," said Riofski.

"I'm torn," said Joe Curtin, a Dignity member since 1987. "Part of me says it's time to find some other faith, or way to be spiritual. The other half says, don't be a fair weather Catholic. And we have some hurricanes coming down."

The Vatican's visitation document also asks the investigators to consider whether there is "a clear process for removing" dissident faculty, if seminarians know how to moderate Internet use, and several dozen other points.

"I believe in the process, that minds that are closed can be opened," said Riofski. "In the scope of history, the conversation continues to unfold, God's revelation is ongoing."

According to Healy, because the CCE was working on the instruction process and considering the issue of admitting "people with homosexual orientation" as priesthood candidates before the 2001 sex abuse scandal, therefore, scapegoating has a history of its own separate from the abuse.

"The sex abuse scandal is really not related," Healy said, adding, "The moral view of homosexuality stresses treating the homosexual with dignity and respect. We don't damn people."


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; General Discusssion; Ministry/Outreach; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture; Theology
KEYWORDS: homosexualagenda; religiousleft; seminary; sin
"I'm torn," said Joe Curtin, a Dignity member since 1987. "Part of me says it's time to find some other faith, or way to be spiritual. The other half says, don't be a fair weather Catholic. And we have some hurricanes coming down."

There's actually a third option, Joe.

"Repent and believe the Good News".

1 posted on 10/03/2005 5:43:16 AM PDT by marshmallow
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To: marshmallow
What some are calling a pogrom

Perhaps that overstates things.

2 posted on 10/03/2005 5:49:22 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: marshmallow
Gay = sin
Sin = Gay

Romans 1:26-28 makes that 100% clear
God delivered them up to disgraceful passions.
their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural.
Men did shameful things with men,and thus received in their own persons the penalty for their perversity.
They did not see fit to acknowledge God,so God delivered them up to their own depraved sense to do what is unseemly.

What part of this Scripture do the Gay,s not understand?
3 posted on 10/03/2005 6:46:51 AM PDT by pro610 (faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.Praise Jesus Christ!)
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To: marshmallow

I'm quite pleased that the Roman Catholic Church is trying to clean up, but why bother to announce ahead of time what you're doing? The homosexuals now have time to clean up any evidence that might lead to finger pointing in their direction.


4 posted on 10/03/2005 7:12:02 AM PDT by ServusDei (Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! [Monty Python's Flying Circus])
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To: marshmallow
I didn't know that there were "GAY" Catholics... I thought there were Roman Catholics...that followed the Vatican's commands....

the homosexuals need to realize that like spoiled children, Daddy says you can't have sex with other men... and young boys in church... sorry.

So why don't you just move along and try to infect the Boy Scouts so you can hunt down little boys to molest.... bunch of depraved freaks...

Homosexuality is deviant behavior..... deal with it. It's not 'normal' and no amount of fake/psuedo-science is going to make it 'a normal choice'.

There is something wrong with the inability of these men to correctly identify at some stage in their life with being men.... and not some sexual addict with the inability to build relationships with women.

All they are doing is projecting the disgust they feel for themselves onto others and somehow trying to protect their egos by making it a "choice" ... and not some compulsion they can't control. Like an addiction to heroin, pornography, over-eating, etc..... If they want to be 'gay Catholics'.... become methodists....

5 posted on 10/03/2005 7:44:38 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (liberals suck......... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.)
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To: marshmallow
. . . Defenders, a leather-identified Catholic group . . .

LEATHER-IDENTIFIED???

6 posted on 10/03/2005 7:47:08 AM PDT by madprof98
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To: marshmallow
Well, now that the "gay" Catholics have made hyphenated "Catholic" identity not only possible but acceptable, when will we see adultorous-Catholics, covotous-Catholics, contracepting-Catholics, etc. form advocacy groups within the Church?

If the gays have "dignity" can the adulterers have "diversity"?

7 posted on 10/03/2005 7:57:16 AM PDT by conservonator (Pray for those suffering)
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To: marshmallow
The official seal of dignity and all their supporters:


8 posted on 10/03/2005 8:01:59 AM PDT by Convert from ECUSA (Not a nickel, not a dime, no more money for Hamastine!)
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To: marshmallow
"We should not let this deter us from speaking the truth as we see it," said Riofski.

Because, of course, the truth is always subject to the ultimate judge. The human being.

Hey! Nothing disordered in that statement, is there?

9 posted on 10/03/2005 10:29:08 AM PDT by siunevada
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To: ServusDei

The homosexuals now have time to clean up any evidence

EEEEEEWWWWWWWW!


10 posted on 10/03/2005 8:03:02 PM PDT by moog
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To: marshmallow
They sure don't sound gay, they sound kind of sullen and bitter.
11 posted on 10/03/2005 8:10:58 PM PDT by murphE (These are days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed but his own. --G.K. Chesterton)
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To: murphE

They sure don't sound gay, they sound kind of sullen and bitter.

HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

Actually gay takes on a negative connotation now. People say, "That's so gay," meaning that's not very good.


12 posted on 10/03/2005 8:13:03 PM PDT by moog
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To: marshmallow
Vatican to Start U.S. Seminary Evaluations
Apostolic Seminary Visitation To Begin This Fall
U.S. Bishops to Begin Inspecting Seminaries
Prelate Says Gays Shouldn't Be Ordained
American overseeing Vatican evaluation of US seminaries says gays should not be ordained

Vatican to Check U.S. Seminaries on Gay Presence
POPE APPROVES BARRING GAY SEMINARIANS
Pope bans homosexuals from ordination as priests
Questions Arise Over Seminary Inspections
New Vatican Rule Said to Bar Gays as New Priests

New Vatican Rule Said to Bar Gays as New Priests (ABOUT TIME)
VATICAN: HOMOSEXUALS ARE NOT TO BE ORDAINED AS CATHOLIC PRIESTS
Homosexuals in the seminary; A Global Church in a Globalized World
Gay Men Ponder Impact of (Anti-Gay Clergy)Proposal by Vatican(Barf Alert)
Aquinas Seminary is First for Scrutiny

Vatican Begins Inspections At St. Louis Seminary (Rector: No homosexuality-pedophilia link)
The Sins of the Seminaries
Notre Dame Experts React to Potential Seminary Rules
Seminary Reviews Not Just About Homosexuality, Says Prelate
Jesuit Official Rips Expected Ban on Gays

Jesuit Official Rips Expected Ban on Gays
Jesuit official protesting expected Vatican ban on gay priests
A Catholic Moment of Truth
Gay Catholics Angry Over Seminary Searches

13 posted on 10/03/2005 8:50:23 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: marshmallow
The inquisitors will report directly to the Vatican

No agenda in this article. /s

14 posted on 10/14/2005 10:36:52 PM PDT by tuesday afternoon (Everything happens for a reason. - 40 and 43)
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To: ServusDei

The stuff you are hearing is spin. Wait for the final statement. Given the number of priests who have contracted HIV and AIDS, we have a very reliable method of determining who is gay. No psychological profiles. Just look at their medical records.


15 posted on 10/15/2005 12:26:36 AM PDT by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
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To: marshmallow
Lets try this on for size..
NO ONE IS BUYING THE BS, THAT THERE IS A BIT OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GAYS AND PREOPHILES, IT'S ONE AND THE SAME!!

16 posted on 10/15/2005 12:44:13 AM PDT by carlo3b (http://www.CookingWithCarlo.com)
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To: marshmallow
Bernard Schlager Ph.D., national outreach director at the Pacific School of Religion's Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry

Astonishing.

17 posted on 10/15/2005 12:55:46 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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To: tuesday afternoon

Heheh yes... i wonder when news of the thumb screws and iron maidens they packed for good measure being held up at some airport is going to come out??


18 posted on 11/10/2005 5:32:09 PM PST by ketelone
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