Homosexuality in the Church

This week, Michael Voris has two Vortex episodes on the issue of homosexuals in the clergy. I’ve embedded both below, each followed by its script.

I'll make some comments of my own, too. First, I’d like to mention Michael S. Rose’s book, Goodbye, Good Men: How Liberals Brought Corruption into the Catholic Church, which was published in 2002. Rose addresses many facets of the priestly vocations crisis, including the “Gay Subculture” in chapter 4 of the book.

Rose’s work is pretty convincing, even though many of his informants were unwilling to disclose their identities. No wonder! Promoters of the homosexualist agenda in the secular world have become more and more violent in their language and actions; you know that when a 14-year-old girl can’t even voice a pro-traditional-marriage viewpoint without getting death threats, something is very wrong with our society. The homosexualist agenda in the Church relies less on such overt terrorist tactics (I think…), but is also strong and vociferous. Consider, for example, the blatant refusal of the Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministry, or CALGM, to sign an "oath of personal integrity" to Catholic teaching given to them by Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Diocese of Oakland, CA.

In a CNA article from 2011, Louie Verrechio, reflecting on the John Jay Report about the causes of priestly sexual abuse of minors, noted the inescapable conclusion that such abuse is related to homosexuality. But abuse of minors was not the focus of his article; instead, he examined “The Liturgical Impact of Homosexuality in the Priesthood”. It’s an interesting article that makes a good follow-up to the information Voris is presenting in his Vortex episodes.

Verrechio provides an interesting discussion about the source of some of the serious liturgical abuse that continues to permeate the Novus Ordo Mass. First, he notes that:

Psychiatrist Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, a consultant to the Vatican Congregation for Clergy and a leading expert with more than 35 years of clinical experience treating priests and others who suffer with Same Sex Attraction (SSA), said in a recent interview with regard to homosexuality in the priesthood, “Narcissism – a personality disorder in which an insatiable need for admiration often leads to attention-seeking behavior – is prevalent among men who struggle with homosexuality. This conflict results in a need to draw attention to his own personality in the liturgy rather than to surrender his personal identity in favor of Christ.”

While narcissistic behavior certainly isn’t the exclusive franchise of homosexuals, Dr. Fitzgibbons’ insights speak directly to the reason why homosexual men are ill-suited for the priesthood – a truth that comes into ever sharper focus when viewed through the lens of the sacred liturgy.

…A quest for self-fulfillment on the part of the priest is the antithesis of the spirit of the liturgy, but according to Dr. Fitzgibbons, homosexuals often tend “to see and to treat their own pleasure as the highest end.”

This being the case, a substantial degree of tension can exist between the homosexual cleric and the liturgy properly celebrated, one that is overcome only with resolute determination to engage in intensive therapy and prayer, and even then with great difficulty. 

Setting aside “chicken and egg” arguments for the time being, it would seem that the apparent increase in homosexual orientation among the priestly population, coupled with the liturgical crisis that emerged in the decades after the Council, has created a perfect storm.  

… Given the fact that the Council Fathers encouraged neither the dramatic change in the priest’s posture toward the people nor the construction of free-standing altars to accommodate the practice, it is reasonable to wonder what sorts of influences and pressures within the priestly population itself may have allowed for such a radical liturgical innovation to take hold so quickly.

Now, I don’t propose to offer an exhaustive treatment here, but I would suggest that at least one contributing factor among many may be suggested in the data found in the John Jay Report.

In a graph that plots “Incidents of Sexual Abuse by Year of Occurrence” (on pg. 8) one finds a steep increase in cases of abuse (which again, are overwhelmingly homosexual in nature) taking shape just as liturgical experimentation was gathering worldwide momentum in the mid-1950s. From there we see cases of abuse spiking to unforeseen levels that are then roughly maintained over a 10+ year period beginning in the late 1960s - the very point in time during which the push to create a liturgy celebrated versus populum reached critical mass and found favor in so many places. 

Coincidence? Perhaps, but then again maybe not.

There are, of course, countless problems with having priests who embrace the homosexual lifestyle; but there are also problems with those who, while not embracing and living that lifestyle, are still sympathetic to it and/or will simply not speak out against it.

But since the Eucharist is the source and summit of our Christian life, the damage done to the liturgy by the homosexualist agenda is the very worst problem of all. It will affect everything else in our Catholic lives.

For other Vortex posts, click on the "Vortex" tab at the top of the page.

Vortex from July 23, 2012

The Script:

It’s a subject no one really wants to discuss in the open.  Every now and then it emerges in an article or book, but then gets the short shrift as clergymen pass over it as quickly as possible.

The subject? The powerful and influential homosexual sub-culture…or should we say semi- sub culture.

Here in Rome, it is no secret; and if you get into discussions with the right people who are well informed, the homosexual mafia is not only a given, but their power and influence are more far-reaching than almost any Catholic in the pew would ever imagine.

These homosexual clergy and their allies have caused tremendous damage to the Church and it’s about time the issue was talked about plainly and openly.

We’ve touched on this topic every now and then – from the so-called Gay Masses in St. Joseph’s Parish in Sydney [Australia]’s  Newtown neighborhood, to the Gay Mass at St. Francis Xavier in the New York Archdiocese, to London’s So-Ho District Gay Mass at The church is Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory.

It doesn’t take a master’s degree or a Papal diploma to know these abominations are evil.  Can you imagine St. Augustine or St. Thomas or Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen giving their blessings to these?

But here’s the larger point.  These are allowed to happen – as well as many other things – because of the pervasive presence of active and passive homosexuals among Catholic clergy…many of them very high ranking who wield enormous amounts of influence.

And here at the Vatican, the question is being wondered about and whispered about: how can this network be put out of business?  The problem is that it appears to be so widespread, and on every level, that no one is sure how to tackle it.

…[T]here are a few open homosexuals in the clergy – some of them bishops like Rembert Weakland who ruled the archdiocese of Milwaukee like his own personal gay Club Med from 1977-2002 when he stepped down in disgrace after his former male “lover” blackmailed him for nearly half a million dollars.

Weakland is just the tip of the iceberg, however.  The homosexual clergy sex abuse crisis which became public ten years ago has brought a number of homosexual clergy – including bishops – to the public eye. 

It’s not the point of this Vortex episode to go back and re-visit each of those cases – they are notorious and easily discoverable on the internet – but rest assured, there are many of them.

The point is to engage in the larger discussion of the power this network of gay priests and bishops wield, and how they use that power not only to live a life of sexual immorality, but to silence those who seek to expose their evil.

Moreover, they have been complicit in willfully doing all they could to pervert the liturgy, seminaries, schools, and every other institutional aspect of church life they could.  They have viciously sought to destroy the faith by undermining it at every turn.

This has all tied into a much larger broad based agenda on the part of the homosexual movement in general to force society into accepting same-sex attraction and acting on those attractions as normal and even good.

The movement coalesced in the late 1960’s – in what some have called The Evil 60’s – for a variety of events that occurred in that turbulent decade.

Militant homosexual activists began to organize socially and politically in the early and mid-70’s, and it was then that they publicly said it was organized religion that would be their greatest obstacle.

So they first began subtle attacks on Protestant groups – fighting to be viewed not as sinners, but as equals.  They joined various denominations and became ministers and leaders, and advanced the so-called gay-agenda.

At the same time, modernist Catholics were banging the drum for greater hand-holding with Protestant groups, and this trend has continued non-stop since. With a bridge to a more “open and welcoming” style of theology, Catholic homosexual clergy now had the opportunity to meet each other through already established social and political networks.

And meet they did.  Up to this time, homosexual Catholic priests had remained somewhat isolated from each other except for the occasional meetings.  But with networking channels now available to them, a sea change happened.

The Protestant Clergy Gay Network model was imported into the halls of Catholic clergy, and shortly thereafter, a whole network began developing – oftentimes under the banner of social justice.  One big organization was Call To Action, which got its start in the Detroit Archdiocese in 1976.

While many consider it the first, Call To Action would not be the last.  Soon more blatant gay Catholic groups would begin emerging, like Catholic Coalition for Gay Civil Rights; Dignity; New Way Ministry; and others which openly protest Church teaching, and call for change.

Attached to these mostly lay groups were numerous priests and diocesan staffs all across the country – various priests who in fact would move up the ranks to become heads of seminaries…monsignors…and bishops.  And what they shared in common was their homosexuality, and their desire for the Church to accept their sin as a virtue.

So they spent decades kicking orthodox straight men out of seminaries, persecuting priests who fought against them, and insuring that they get as many homosexuals ordained as they possibly could.

As part of the larger plan to overthrow Church teaching, they have struggled mightily and quite successfully to undermine ALL sexual morality teachings of the Church. 

It was many of the loudest voices who opposed Humane Vitae, Pope Paul’s 1968 condemnation of birth control – and still oppose it – who have also come out in favor of greater acceptance of homosexuality in general: civil unions and even same-sex marriage.

While this is somewhat of an overview of WHAT went wrong and how it happened, the much more pressing concern is this: how to eradicate this evil from the bosom of the Church.

Here in Rome, which admittedly moves very slowly with everything, the fruits of the homosexual clergy culture in the Church – a mass falling away from the faith – is only now being realized in all its ugliness. 

In many ways, it’s very secretive; and no doubt, in not a few cases, it is able to threaten to blackmail. But however it’s done, there are those in the Vatican who say this network must be exposed and ended before any more souls are lost.

Vortex from July 24, 2012:

The Script:

Following up on our report yesterday about the influx of gay positive males into the Catholic priesthood and episcopacy over the past 50 years or so…there is more than ample evidence that this is the case.

For example, in 1977, Christian Brother Gabriel Moran was speaking before the annual conference of Christian Brothers and heavily intimated in his speech that religious communities were the ideal setting for homosexual relations.

Then there are the widely publicized cases of priests openly challenging Church teaching on homosexuality and receiving absolutely no reprimand or discipline whatsoever.

For example, the Jesuit Magazine America in 1978 made the incorrect claim, "The application of Scriptural texts that condemn homosexuality is dubious at best".  

Uh, no, they are not dubious – but they played into a gay party line coming from pro-gay Protestant Churchmen who contested that Sodom and Gomorra were not destroyed because of homosexuality, and spread the falsehood that it was because they had not been hospitable to their guests.

Not a few Catholic priests were happy to use that line and say it far and wide in CATHOLIC circles – and not a few bishops let them get away with it unscathed.

Then there is Dominican Father Donald Goergen who wrote a widely-circulated, pro-homosexual book entitled The Sexual Celibate.

Far from suffering penalties from the Vatican's Congregation for Religious, Goergen was actually REWARDED and elected Provincial of the Chicago Dominican Province, after the book was published.

Some of this is documented in the now out of print book  The Homosexual Network. It was written by Fr. Enrique Rueda in 1982, who was in shock at what he was seeing all around him in the clergy – bishops and well as priests.

Speaking of Chicago…perhaps no single bishop had a greater hand in advancing the homosexual sub-culture in the United States during the past 50 years than Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.

Stories have circulated for years about how gay or gay-friendly much of the Chicago clergy was…or is…and that Mundelein Seminary was a virtual training ground for gay clergy; and it was not alone.  One former student for the priesthood was quoted as saying it was not a seminary, but a “feminary” – enjoying a similar reputation as quite a few others, including Rome’s North American College.

And with regard to Chicago…get this. In the mid to late 80’s, it was becoming apparent even in Rome, that the homosexual movement within the Catholic clergy in the United States was strong and growing stronger.

One of the centers of that rebellion was a group called Dignity, a group of dissident Catholics who claims its sole purpose is "to unite all gay Catholics, to develop leadership, and to be an instrument through which the gay Catholics may be heard by the Church and society." Dignity clearly states that its aim to "promote the cause of the gay Community”.

The Vatican eventually ordered the group out of all Catholic parishes – something that many diocese in the US were very slow to do, defying Rome and being disobedient.

In Chicago, Cardinal Bernardin cleverly used an entirely different tactic. He complied with Rome’s orders. He refused Church recognition to Dignity. However, he created an office called AGLO (Archdiocese Gay and Lesbian Organization), practically identical to Dignity. That office is still operating today, and one of its listed resources is Fr. Richard Sparks, a notorious dissenter from Church teaching.

And moreover, several former Dignity officers ended up as members of AGLO. So what the Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago – a prince of the Church – did, in effect, was ended up protecting Dignity by giving it a new and apparently "respectable" identity.

It should be noted that Bernardin requested in his will that the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus sing at his wake in Holy Name Cathedral…which they did in fact do.

And one further note: Bernardin exercised quite the influence in the naming of a good number of bishops in the US.  Many are his protégés and were advanced for that very reason.

The list of these types of accounts could make a dozen books and hundreds of articles…and as a matter of fact they have.  There was even a website called St. Sebastian’s Angels which was a meeting place for dozens and dozens of homosexual clergy, including at least one bishop.  The site closed down after it was discovered, and the bishop was relieved of his duties.

It is of course horribly sad to talk about of any of this.  But the larger point is this:  Men like this, who hide behind collars and under miters, are responsible for the destruction of the faith of GOD knows how many people.

And it’s not just a question of active homosexuals in the clergy, but those who are sympathetic to their cause because of existing friendships from days in seminary, for example.

The homosexual agenda, which is antithetical to Catholic thought and teaching, has been promoted and advanced, or at the very least, ignored or given a wink and a nod, by many many of the very people sworn and graced to protect the faith.

Is it any wonder that when it comes to clear and express preaching on Catholic sexual teaching so much of the clergy is simply silent? Even now, in the face of Obama’s contraception mandate, the issue has been twisted into one of religious liberty other than what it actually is – which is an evil and unjust law because it promotes the intrinsically evil practice of contraception.

Could it be that so much of the clergy has fallen absolutely mute on sexual teaching because so much of the clergy disagrees with it, and may actually be living a life contrary to it – including a vast array of secretive homosexuals who are protected by a network of other homosexuals, or those sympathetic to them in the hierarchy?

Given how SO MUCH has gone wrong in the Church in this area of sexual morality and still continues unabatedly, why has there not been even ONE clear definitive statement from any bishops’ conference clearly stating what has gone wrong, and reaffirming in no uncertain terms the Church’s teaching?

It , after all,  a cleanup effort from the Vatican itself in the wake of the homosexual priests sex abuse crisis that hopefully began something of a reform.  Why was that effort not forthcoming from the US Bishops themselves, who clearly MUST HAVE KNOWN what was going on and cannot be unaware of the homosexual network in their own ranks and among their own clergy and religious orders?

The sex abuse crisis did not drop out of the sky.  It was homosexual in nature.  It was homosexual priests preying on teenage boys. It was bishops – some of whom with questionable associations with homosexual clergy and sympathetic to them – who engaged in a massive cover up.

And even today, it is still many bishops and their staffs that allow the so-called Gay Masses to continue right in their diocese and performed by their clergy.  These priests are promoted, given positions of authority – sometimes in high Church circles – and continue to undermine Church teaching with very alarming regularity. 

And they continue to go unpunished, undisciplined, and unexplained.  Here in Rome, clergy will tell you quietly and privately that even they cannot say some of this publically for fear of retribution.

But the truth of this ongoing situation must be exposed.  Good and faithful Orthodox Catholics – laity and clergy – cannot continue to run into this buzz saw of twisted theology and modernist clap trap promoted by a secretive homosexual militancy every time they want to advance the truths of the faith.

The same thing has always been true in the Church: accept the teaching or leave, but don’t work to undermine the faith for the advancement of your own diabolical and wicked ends.

Years after the miraculous vision of Our Lady at Fatima, Sister Lucy one of the three children who the Queen of Heaven appeared to, said  “a diabolical disorientation” – her words – would seize hold in the Church.  Could this be what she was referring to?