Sep 30, 2005  |  By: ELIZABETH WEILL-GREENBERG  | COMMENTS     

Father James, a gay Catholic priest living in California, isn’t sure if the Vatican’s planned ban on gay men in seminaries will affect his position but the psychological effect, he says, is the same.

“It’s like having your family reject you,” he said in a telephone interview. “You feel a call to service as a priest, then you find a document that says anybody like you is unfit to do the work you’re called to do. It hurts.”

Father James asked that his identity be protected because some “self-appointed watchdogs” scour the Internet looking for gay priests to report to the bishop.

Anxiety among gay priests has intensified since reports emerged that the Vatican is planning to ban gay seminarians. The details on who would be excluded or how it could be enforced are still unknown.

The announcement came shortly before church officials began visits to American seminaries to question students on a range of topics, including whether they know of any gays in their seminary. The move to remove gays amounts to scapegoating for the church’s sex abuse crisis, critics say.

Several sources contacted by the Blade said gay seminary students and priests are afraid to talk to the media, even anonymously.

“No one wants to talk on the record,” said Mark Jordan, a professor of religion at Emory University. “There is a fear of retaliation.”

Walter H. Cuenin, a pro-gay Boston priest and outspoken critic of the church’s handling of the sex abuse crisis, was recently forced to resign from Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton, Mass.

Throughout Cuenin’s tenure, officials have reprimanded him for supporting gay rights. Operation Rescue Boston posted on its Web site a letter by a church official, dated July 8, criticizing Cuenin’s church’s support of a Gay Pride parade. The letter has not been authenticated, an archdiocese spokesperson told the Boston Globe.

Rev. Richard G. Lennon wrote, on behalf of Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley, “I note in your letter and in the material that you sent specifically the point that you bring to the archbishop’s attention is Father Cuenin’s bulletin announcement inviting parishioners to participate in the ‘Gay Pride’ parade. Please know that the archbishop is very disturbed by the information that you, along with others, have sent to him regarding this event and the involvement of Father Cuenin.”

Cuenin’s replacement will be Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, a supporter of traditional church teaching on gays and former spokesperson for Cardinal Bernard F. Law. Cuenin helped organize a campaign to pressure Law, who was at the center of the Boston sex abuse crisis, to resign.

The archdiocese insists that Cuenin broke the rules by receiving a $500 monthly stipend and a leased Honda Accord, the Boston Globe reported.

‘It’s about power’

The ousting of Cuenin, coupled with the seminary visits and proposed ban, indicate to many Catholics that the church is not interested in stopping sex abuse — it’s trying to attack gays and supporters of their rights, critics said.

“This is not about faith, it’s about power,” Father James said.

Unlike many seminary students who are in their 20s, Father James went to school when he was 40. He had already been living as a gay man for close to 20 years. His openness about his sexual identity helped him to be a better priest, he said.

“I was a person before I became a priest,” he said. “Once I was established in my identity as a gay man I could answer the call to become a priest. Knowing who I am, the process of coming out — it’s very, very beneficial to my service as a priest.”

Many Catholics fear that the ban will add another layer of secrecy to church life — and secrecy, they point out, is what caused the sex abuse crisis to begin with. The policy will mean some gay men will leave the church, but others, they say, will stay and lie.

“What the church does with this policy is it condemns them to an immature understanding of their sexuality or repressed sexuality which will lead to acting out behaviors,” said Bob Silva, president of the American National Federation of Priests’ Councils.

He noted that there is no connection between pedophilia and homosexuality.

“The fact of the matter is with pedophilia accessibility is the key – not whether it’s a boy or girl, it’s who they have access to,” he said. “Priests have access to boys in very intimate ways.”

Jody Huckaby, executive director of PFLAG who studied to become a priest, agreed that the Vatican is missing the real ...