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Pedophile Protection Observations In a conversation with a well qualified school teacher who is a convert to Catholicism, she stated that she believes that as many as 75% of priests may be homosexual. Later, in consideration of what she had said, I reflected upon a number of priests in the archdiocese and had to admit the possibility that a high percentage of them might at least be homosexually oriented. I told her that I had considered the possibility that 40% of priests might be homosexual but found it hard to believe that the numbers she suggested could be correct. In using the term homosexual I am not distinguishing between those who are chaste and those who are active / practicing homosexuals. Shortly after ordination I had reflected that it would be terrible that if as many as 2% of priests were homosexual. Perhaps a year later in a conversation with a highly placed priest of the archdiocese he stated that approximately 35% of priests were homosexuals. It was most disconcerting to read the following article in which Fr. Cozzens, the head of a Catholic seminary, says that estimates range as high as 60% of American priests are homosexual. Unfortunately the article states that, "Cozzens is not against ordaining gay men, and concedes some effective bishops and even some popes may have been gay." I totally disagree with his position of not being against ordaining gay men. I personally believe that it should be incorporated into the Code of Canon Law that homosexual orientation invalidates ordination, that is, makes homosexual orientation a diriment impediment to ordination. I further believe that an active homosexual cleric or religious (including pedophiles) should incur a totally reserved automatic excommunication that remains unforgivable while remaining in such position. Such sin would be a permanent impediment in regard to returning to religious life. While the expulsion of active homosexuals would possibly, even probably, cause a significant temporary decline in the number of available priests, I believe that in the long run the Church would have a great increase in vocations with a correspondingly healthier priesthood and consequently a morally healthier Church and world.
August 18, 2000 Feast of St. Jane Frances de Chantal The Remnant – August 15, AD 2000 – Michael J. Matt, Editor "Gay Culture" Threat to US Priesthood Heterosexuals are made to feel uncomfortable, Noel Young A leading American churchman is claiming that the Roman Catholic priesthood has become "primarily a gay culture" that deters heterosexual men from taking up vocations. The Changing Face of the Priesthood, by Father Donald Cozzens, says an exodus of experienced priests from the church, many of them to marry, has drastically altered the gay-straight ratio. "At issue at the beginning of the 21st century is the growing perception that the priesthood is, or is becoming, a gay profession," Cozzens writes. "Heterosexual seminarians are made uncomfortable by the number of gays around them." "The straight seminarian feels out of place and may interpret his inner destabilization as a sign that he does not have a vocation for the priesthood." Cozzens, a priest for 35 years, is head of St. Mary's Seminary in Cleveland, Ohio. He does not go into whether gay priests indulging in sexual relations are violating vows of celibacy, but he says: "The sexual contacts and romantic unions among gay seminarians create intense and complicated webs of intrigue and jealousy." Dean Hoge, a specialist on the priesthood at the Catholic University of America, describes the Cozzens book, now on sale in Ireland and Scotland, as "the most important we have seen on Catholic Priests for years." Bishop Robert Morneau praised the author. "I think he raises some very important issues," he said. "We need to look at what's going on." Cozzens was well aware he was stirring up a storm when he wrote his book. After one interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which provoked calls for his resignation as rector of the local seminary, he has stopped giving interviews. He told the reporter: "I had to write this book. Parts of it have been percolating in my soul since my days teaching at college. "I don't think we, in the Church, have asked ourselves what is God's spirit saying to us through these most recent crises the sexual misconduct with minors and the large numbers of priests who have stepped away from their calling. Cozzens covers many other ills of the priesthood in his book, but it is chapter seven, Considering Orientation, that has drawn all the attention. "I confess to a certain anxiety as I begin this reflection on homosexuality and the priesthood," he writes. "Whatever it said about such a sensitive and complex issue is open to misunderstanding and seeming insensitivity. Some will deny the reality that many observers see as changing the face of the priesthood that the percentage of homosexual priests and seminarians is significantly higher than society at large. "Others will see any attention given to the phenomenon as a symptom of the homophobia that is characteristic of individuals with less than open minds. Still others will wonder what difference sexual orientation makes in the celibate lives of priests." Cozzens says the need gay priests have for friendship with other gay men, and their shaping of a social life largely comprised of other homosexually oriented men, has created a gay subculture in most of the larger US dioceses. The Catholic Church in America has paid out many millions of dollars in child sex abuse cases. Cozzens points out that most priests who are abusers target teenage boys, unlike most other child abusers who tend to target girls. Figures for the number of homosexual priests in the American Church are very difficult to pin down. Cozzens says estimates range up to 60%. Cozzens is not against ordaining gay men, and he concedes some effective bishops and even some popes may have been gay. But, he argues, an overwhelmingly gay clergy affects how lay people view the priesthood and also the intake of recruits. He says the priesthood's crisis and the Church's crisis of soul is in part a crisis of orientation. "Sooner or later the issue will be faced more forthrightly than it has been in the closing days of the 20th century. The longer the delay, the greater the harm to the priesthood and to the Church." "The West Wing" an Emmy award winning TV show This web site is produced by Life Enterprises Unlimited. Please help us to continue this service. Mail contributions to: 
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