Exactly! He served the parish commendably for so many years but when it came to his sexuality, he chose to leave. FWIW, I know several gay catholics in partnered relationships who are drawn to worship on a regular basis. They are obviously aware of catholic teachings on the subject yet come all the same because a priest does not address the topic more directly in a homily. Once challenged, however, they run. If they are so aware of the church's position, what is it that keeps them coming, especially when they have no intention of changing their personal relationship. (this is a rhetorical question).
yeah.
Reminds me of when our parish had a missionary come to give a "mission" and he gave a sermon on the church's teachings about no sex outside of marriage. A lot of the laypeople were upset.
My son, who for various reasons was in a private Christian school, came out aghast and said: Mom, do you mean Catholics believe the same things that Brother Fetterman teaches?
Needless to say, this was in a diocese where the gay priest scandal had caused many to leave the church, and a parish where later, when one young priest ran away with the RCIA teacher, cause the pastor to shrug and quip: well at least he ran away with a woman...
(I should note this pastor was a good man, and worked hard to clean up the church after the previous gay pastor had caused a major scandal...he was the one who okayed the missionary to preach the sermon to wake up the sleeping sinners in the church)