Holy Gay Purge

by Lewis Whittington

Like a scene out of Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, the Salem witch-hunt play that was actually about Sen. Joe McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Hearings, Roman Catholic cardinals made it perfectly clear last week where they stood on gays in the priesthood. They pointed to homosexuality as “a disorder” and the root cause of the pedophilic scandals that have rocked the foundation of the church. The bishops and cardinals want gay priests out of their ranks and new policies of “screening out” gay seminarians, already in place in Philadelphia and Boston, will become the standard across the country.

Get rid of gay priests and all will be well in diocese everywhere -- no sexual misconduct with minors anymore, no celibacy problems and no sexual harassment in the seminaries. Georgetown University theologian Chester Gillis told Face the Nation on Sunday that there is no direct link between celibacy and pedophilia, "at least in the literature." But apparently there is a direct link between homosexuality and abuse of minors, and the cardinals plan to write the book once and for all. Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops, called for the church to make sure that "the Catholic priesthood is not dominated by homosexual men" and that they must look for candidates who are "healthy in every way."

But apparently the pope has left room for sexual offenders to remain priests in case there would be, as the Holy See termed it, a chance for "conversion." The pope wants to make sure everyone's rights are respected, except if the priest is gay, of course. Since gay priests will no longer be clergymen, why do they have to worry about future molestations? Maybe they are just talking about gay-identified priests, distinct from priests, cardinals, bishops and popes who are not homosexual but have had occasional sexual encounters with the same sex. Those priests would not be an abomination in the eyes of the church because, like prisoners, men cloistered with their own sex will substitute orientation for sexual gratification, but in no way do they consider themselves homosexual.

Philadelphia's Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua weighed in heavily against gay priests, likening homosexuality to alcoholism, drawing specious conclusions. "There's a difference between a heterosexual candidate, what his choice of celibacy is, and that of a homosexual celibate." He believes straight priests are giving up a good secular life, contrasting a gay priest who would be giving up "what the church considers an aberration, a moral evil." At least the cardinal is consistent; he has always been openly anti-gay.

In the past few decades the Catholic Church has seen its ranks of fresh seminary students diminish. Obviously, during this time many men who were either closeted gays or gays who sought to pursue a celibate life entered the priesthood. Just as the church bishops and cardinals have allowed "cheating" relationships with priests involved with women, they knew and allowed gay priests to have affairs.

During the Vatican meeting, Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit said behavioral scientists believe the sexual-molestation scandal unfolding in the Catholic Church is "not truly a pedophilia-type problem but a homosexual-type problem." In New York, Monsignor Eugene Clark commented during Mass on April 21 that homosexuality was "a disorder'' and said that admitting gay students into seminaries is a "grave mistake.'' A Newsweek survey showed that 55 percent of Catholics polled believe screening out gay priests wouldn't make a difference solving the pedophilia problem, hardly a vote of confidence among the faithful.

There have been unsubstantiated estimates that anywhere from 10 percent to 40 percent of priests could be homosexual. There has been tolerance and acceptance of gay men as clergy, even when the church's stance on homosexuality among its congregants has been one of condemnation and intolerance. Whispers of secret gay societies and gay clergy "retreats" span the history of the church. Since the gay secular world is no longer closeted, it has changed the dynamics of secrecy over homosexuality within the church. This crisis is settling the church's ambiguities over homosexuality among its ranks in the most reactionary way, indicting all gay priests as predators.

Meanwhile, gay seminarians and priests are being called on to come forward as being morally unfit. So even as gay priests collectively pay the price for sexual misconduct of individuals, it is almost a relief that the perpetual veil of secrecy about priests being gay has been officially lifted. One wonders if the heterosexual hierarchy will faithfully deal with their own homophobia, contradictions and hypocrisies.

Lewis Whittington is a local freelance writer. If you would like to respond to this Slant or have one of your own (850 words), contact Howard Altman, City Paper interim editor, 123 Chestnut St., third floor, Phila., PA 19106 or e-mail altman@citypaper.net.

-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there