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."
G O O D.
I'm not Catholic but I imagine that the next Pope's 'stance on homosexuality' is going to be the same as the last one's. /repeat/
Gotta love the religion of moral relativism, it's all the same sin. Bet this Sodomite isn't repentant.
If this would happen more often in the seminaries, the Catholic Church would be way better off. We do not need seminarians who are not serious about dedicating their life to God's will and laws...
I second that. As long as the Church follows God's clear word that male homosexuality is "an abomination", the gays will never feel comfortable in a church.
Life is often not easy.
The Catholic Church should excommunicate Gavin Newsom. He is clearly a heretic...
Simple solution, don't be a Catholic, problem solved.
The Bible doesn't address female homosexuality.
Why would a homosexual want to be Catholic! [puzzled] unless they simply have an agenda to hurt the church - as the have to a point.
Maybe even them feel to 'dirty' they can't stand it.
Sorry, no sympathy from me for those w agendas to hurt what is good (i.e. boyscouts).
How hard is it for these people...
Let me rephrase.
How difficult is it for these people to simply come up with their own religion with its own rules instead of trying to impose their views on everyone else?
It's not an easy life to do that, to want to maintain your identity as Catholic and an adulterer, thief, drug addict, [insert your own habitual sin here].
I guess its time for the Church to change its stance on all the disciplines we don't like, eh?
Kind of amusing the liberals coming out of the woodwork telling the Catholics how to run their church.
I grew up (kinda) Catholic...you have to admit that the priestly lifestyle is certainly something that would attract gays, and I'm not slamming Catholics, its a great religion, but if one were predisposed to being gay, and you had this career/vocation which allows you not to marry and be in concert with other men........
I know how he feels. I found the Church's stance against theft and adultery too onerous. I have stopped going to Mass because of the church's intolerance of my lifestyle.
;-)
I'll expect to see this story in James Tarranto's Best of the Web under the heading "What would we do without Gay Catholics?"
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