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 Anti-Gay Strategy Archdiocese Disowns Msgr. Clark's Vicious Anti-Gay Homily Head of U.S. Conference of Bishops Spins Bigoted Approach |
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By Jack Nichols
But Father Andrew Greely, conversing Tuesday with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, said any member of the Church hierarchy who attacks the gay community is "scapegoating." "The Catholic left blames celibacy," he said, "The Catholic right blames homosexuality." Gay journalist Michelangelo Signorile predicts that the U.S. cardinals in Rome will "actually accomplish little with regard to a discussion of human sexuality." Signorile believes that "the summit's intention is to map out strategy to avoid public relations disasters for the church itself, at best offering up a plan to work better with legal authorities in cases of abuse." In the meantime, a firestorm of criticism is growing in New York because of an anti-gay crusade that was ignited in a Sunday homily delivered by Msgr. Eugene Clark at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Msgr. Clark, standing in for Edward Cardinal Egan currently in Rome, blamed the crisis in the Church squarely on homosexuality. Astonished by the public's fury over such scapegoating, the New York Archdiocese backed away Monday from the monsignor's ill-advised sermon. Archdiocese spokesperson Joseph Zwilling explained to reporters that Msgr. Clark was "speaking for himself." In fact, Msgr. Clark seemed to back away from his own comments saying they "have been misconstrued and misinterpreted." Many observers are convinced that Msgr. Clark, standing in for Cardinal Egan, delivered his anti-gay speech as a test run, and that he did so with the full approval of the Cardinal in order to see if such a strategy might succeed.. After all, they note, Msgr. Clark's assault on the homosexual community had merely echoed what Pope John Paul II's own spokesperson, Joaquin Navarro-Valls had said at the Vatican in March. And at a more prestigious level of the American Church hierarchy, the head of the U.S. Conference of Bishops, Bishop Wilton Gregory, spoke from Rome: "It is an ongoing struggle," he said, "to make sure that the Catholic priesthood is not dominated by homosexual men." At this writing, forty-four prominent New York activists and journalists have signed a letter addressing the Church's anti-gay scapegoating. A urgent meeting is planned for today. It will begin at 8:00pm in the LGBT Center at 208 West 13th Street in Manhattan. A notice from a growing list of activists throughout New York's gay community reads: Urgent Town Meeting - Respond to the Catholic Church's Attacks! "Dear Friends,
"To plan this response, there will be an URGENT TOWN MEETING ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, at 8:00pm at the LGBT Center at 208 West 13th Street (many thanks to the Center for finding space on such short notice). Please Pass This Message on to Your Friends and Contacts |
New York, New York--While Pope John Paul II chats with cardinals from the American branch of the Roman Catholic Church about sexual abuses by its priests, those clergymen left behind in the U.S. began the blame
game in earnest, hoping to shift responsibility for Catholicism's self-manufactured crisis onto the heads of
the many homosexual priests in its employ.
