Jul 23, 2004   | COMMENTS     

MERCED, Calif. (AP) — A Merced priest was removed from his parish following allegations he was active on gay dating Web sites. Rev. Jean-Michael Lastiri oversaw 5,000 people in St. Patrick’s parish. His activities were examined by the Roman Catholic Faithful, a group that investigates abuses in the church. Lastiri is being sent to a Maryland treatment facility, Bishop John T. Steinbock of the Diocese of Fresno said in a statement last week. Steinbock learned July 14 of “a Web page and chat room of [Lastiri] that was totally inappropriate.” Lastiri told Steinbock that he had not engaged in any inappropriate sexual activity, and that he “only entertained fantasies through this activity on the Internet,” according to the bishop’s statement. Lastiri had told the Merced Sun-Star that the accusations were false. He told the paper he had been criticized by some parishioners for leading the church in a liberal direction after the transfer of a more traditional priest last fall. The Illinois-based group that investigated the priest claimed to have evidence he met gay men in an Internet chat room and arranged for meetings when he was traveling, including a copy of an exchange between the priest and another man that was printed on the back of church stationary.

National poll finds Catholics more supportive of civil unions
NEW YORK — Across the country, support for civil unions for same-sex couples is stronger among Catholics than last year, while opposition among Catholics to gay sacramental marriage is on the rise, News10Now of New York reported. A new poll combined the efforts of Le Moyne College sociology professor Robert Kelly and Zogby International in Utica to find out what American Catholics think about gay marriage, the news outlet reported. “What you see with the fall-spring comparison is that Catholics are becoming more supportive of civil unions, less supportive of civil or sacramental marriage,” Kelly told News10Now. Most Catholics think gay couples should not have access to a traditional marriage but should have equal rights, Kelly told the news station. “When a same-sex couple is willing to make all of those commitments, those life-long commitments, that intertwining of fates that we talk about when we talk about long-term partnerships, marriage, that they ought to be protected the same way as other folks are,” Kelly told News10Now.

Calif. minister apologizes for likening same-sex marriage to terrorism
NIPOMO, Calif. — A comment by Rev. Rick Eastman that compared gay marriage to a terrorist attack on the traditional family prompted protesters to picket the San Luis Obispo Church of the Nazarene on Sunday, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported. Eastman apologized to picketers after his morning sermon but re-emphasized his opposition to same-sex unions, according to the Tribune. “I do believe strongly that marriage is between a man and a woman,” he said, the newspaper reported. “In hindsight I should not have used [the word terrorist]. I’m sorry, and I apologize to the people it would have hurt.” Eastman’s comments were made to the Tribune a week ago regarding a proposed federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, the newspaper reported. “I’d say we can focus on terrorist attacks, but I believe this is a terrorist attack on the family, in a sense,” Eastman told the Tribune.

Indiana bishop urges ban on gays as Catholic clergy
BOSTON — Bishop John M. D’Arcy this week said the Catholic Church must better screen seminarians and prevent gays from being ordained as priests, the Boston Globe reported. As early as 1978, D’Arcy questioned the reassignment of priests accused of sexual misconduct, the Globe reported. “We must be very careful of who we accept in the seminary and who we ordain as priests,” D’Arcy told parishioners at Our Lady of the Presentation Church, the Brighton parish in which he grew up, the Globe reported. D’Arcy is now bishop of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese in Indiana, the newspaper stated. “It’s time to ordain men of quality, not to just look for numbers,” he said, according to the Globe. D’Arcy said to put a gay man in the priesthood, a mostly male environment, is unfair, the Globe reported. “We don’t put these [heterosexual] men in with attractive women,” D’Arcy told the Globe, referring to seminarians. “You’re putting him in with men. It’s not fair to him, it’s not fair to them, it’s not fair to the church.”

Gay church group invited to Bush adoption session
LOS ANGELES — The Bush administration invited the predominantly gay Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches to participate in a summit to help the government set adoption and ...