We have seen many despicable attacks on the Church and our priests, but this honestly is about as low as you can go.
The Washington City Paper has this:
A new Web site hopes to use the oldest trick in the book to combat the Catholic Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage: A good, old-fashioned forced outing!
At ChurchOuting.org, you’re invited to scroll through a list of every Achbishop, Bishop, and Reverend in the Archdiocese of Washington, zero in on one you know is gay, and then submit your “detailed account of how you know the priest in question is being hypocritical through his silence.” (Alternately, get at them via Twitter or Facebook).
Tim Graham at Newsbusters notes “The web site’s creator is Phil Attey, who just last year was an Obama Pride coordinator in DC. The DC gay magazine Metro Weekly adds that Attey worked for the left-wing gay activists at the Human Rights Campaign for the “bulk” of the 1990s.”
The website gives this as its raison d’être:
For generations, in Catholic churches across the country, LGBT youth are told they should be ashamed of who they are and that they should lead loveless lives as social and religious abominations. The emotional, psychological and spiritual abuse inflicted on them by Catholic priests and our church hierarchy is in reality as damaging as the physical or sexual child abuse anyone would quickly condemn. Yet to this abuse, few raise their voices and say “ENOUGH!”
So opposing gay marriage is the same as child abuse. The sad irony that the priest doing the actual child abuse were mostly homosexuals is lost on them.
It goes without saying that this evil invites the slander of any good priest against whom somebody has a grudge. Just evil.
Perhaps sensing the evil of what they are doing, they try to couch it in the language of “choice.” Why do they always try to conflate evil with choice? Anyway:
It is not the intention of this site to complicate the lives of closeted gay priests, rather to help them make the difficult choice to stand up against the hateful and harmful new direction the Church hierarchy is taking the Holy Mother Church
Ahem, there is nothing new about it. Our “hateful bigotry” goes all the way back to Jesus and beyond. They are going to help priests “choose” to oppose the Catholic Church, whether they like it or not. Not much of a choice.
November 24, 2009 at 2:04 pm
A most excellent post, eulogos!
November 24, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Ah, the old liberal canard, "Judge not lest thee be judged." Unfortunately, for too many, this equates to confirming people in their sin. Most of us are aware that we are sinners and that we are to answer for our sins, but does it do anyone any good when, in the name of compassion, we tell them that everything they do is okay?
Is it any wonder that marriage has suffered at the hands of a popular culture that ignores the sinfulness of that adultery?
God is our ultimate judge (as it should be), but we have the duty as Christians to point out the failings of our brothers and sisters in the light of Christ's mercy.
November 24, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Debating gays in the clergy or same-sex unions is one thing… but gay slurs? And anonymously of course. (11/23, at 12:47 pm) How are we supposed to have a mature discussion with that sort of thing?
November 24, 2009 at 6:13 pm
That is messed up. But do they not get that catholics don't teach that being gay means you can't be loved it just means you must be chaste? Theoretically, wouldn't a priest who was a homosexual be honoring the call to chastity by being completely celibate?
Catholics don't have a problem with gays, we have a problem with what they are choosing to do. I don't see why that's so complicated for people to understand.
November 26, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Sorry, after seeing the shame and pain of the sex abuse victims and a billion dollars in pay outs I'm not in favor of gay priests staying in the closet.I'd like to know who to keep my nephew from.
November 27, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Good evening,
I would like to share my own experience. I am a life-long Catholic. Due to my father's job with the U.S. military, our family traveled quite a bit; we kids were fortunate to attend parochial school when my dad was assigned to Washington, DC. I mention this because I have known scores of priests; as an altar boy, Boy Scout and as a CCD student in High School I had friendships with many priests.
The very best priest I have ever known is gay and is celibate. My priest has taken my confession, has counseled me when I desperately needed advice, has celebrated my good times and has helped me mourn the passing of grandparents and of my dear step-mother. I, and others of my friends, have had our own moments of doubt when we weren't sure if God was listening, but our beloved priest always stood by our side – I am certain his goodness and sage counsel saw more than a few wavering Catholics through a crisis, and kept them in the fold – he did for me. He is the finest example to all Catholics whom he meets, and he is one of my oldest and closest friends.
The contention because of his sexual orientation he is not to be "trusted" around children is a shameful and base calumny. The uncharitable comments suggesting he, and other gay yet celibate priests, ought not continue in the priesthood are, frankly, un-Christian. I especially note people calling for the "deviants" and "heretics" to be "defrocked"…Kate, Steve, Indentured Servant Girl, et al…
I decided to post here because my priest is considering whether, in this climate of institutional finger-pointing, meanness and downright hatred, whether he will even be allowed to continue as a priest, as he is known to be gay, albeit celibate, by his superiors. If he is no longer allowed to be a priest, the Church, to which he has devoted thirty years, will be all the poorer for it.
I hope all the readers here will consider eulogos's post, above, and deal more charitably with our fellow Catholics, especially priests, who struggle with same-sex attraction. Our priests need our support, and if the best among us are reviled by the pitiless self-righteous pharisees, what hope have any of the rest of us?
Your brother in Christ, Matthew16