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 Respond to Grim Clergy Crisis Rainbow Sash Movement & Dignity/USA Blast Church Bias Banishing Gays Would Rid Catholicism of 1/3 of its Bishops |
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Compiled by GayToday
The Rainbow Sash Movement (GLBT/S Catholics) says the Vatican statement is in "direct opposition to its own stated position of opposing all forms of unjust discrimination against the homosexual person." The comments by Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the chief spokesman for Pope John Paul II, were made at a time when a growing body of research suggests that a large proportion of Catholic priests are gay, and scholars who study sexuality and the priesthood said any effort to bar them would lead to a dramatic reduction in the number of priests in the United States. ''If they were to eliminate all those who were homosexually oriented, the number would be so staggering that it would be like an atomic bomb; it would do the same damage to the church's operation,'' said A. W. Richard Sipe, a former priest and psychotherapist. Mr. Sipe has studied the sexuality of priests for 25 years and has written three books on the subject. ''It would mean the resignation of at least a third of the bishops of the world. And it's very much against the tradition of the church; many saints had a gay orientation, and many popes had gay orientations,'' Mr. Sipe said. ''Discriminating against orientation is not going to solve the problem.'' Navarro-Valls made his comments in an interview published in ^The New York Times. ~He said ''people with these inclinations just cannot be ordained'' and suggested that just as a marriage can be annulled if the husband turns out to be gay, so the ordination of gay men might also be made invalid. ''That does not imply a final judgment on people with homosexuality,'' Navarro-Valls also said. ''But you cannot be in this field.'' Mary Louise Cervone, President of Dignity/USA, the nation's oldest and foremost organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Catholics said: "This is nothing more than a vicious and transparent attempt to shift the blame, in an effort to deny institutional culpability" in light of recent clergy sexual abuse scandals. This is about violence against children and abuse of power. It has nothing to do with sexual orientation.
"Members of our Church know the difference between abuse of children and a healthy, mature sexuality. They see the sex abuse issue for what it is--a symptom of a repressive, arrogant system that sees self-preservation as more important than caring for individuals." Cervone concluded by expressing sympathy for all victims of clergy sexual abuse, both male and female. "To be abused by someone who also serves as a representative of the Church, and, indeed, as a representative of Christ, is a truly wrenching betrayal of all that is sacred. We in Dignity/USA pray that all such victims get appropriate treatment and care, and find some way to be at peace." |
Washington, D.C.--The Vatican, in its first comments on its clergy's sexual abuse crisis, has declared that gay men should not be ordained as priests. Dignity/USA and The Rainbow Sash Movement, both GLBT Roman Catholic reform groups, have condemned such comments by the Pope's chief spokesman.
