Conservative Anglo-Catholicism Dominated by Gay Men?

I bookmarked a post by Andrew Sullivan a couple days a go and had forgotten it until this morning since the boyfriend and I will be attending Catholic mass with my mother - it means a lot to her and I basically hold my nose and go in order to please her. The experience is always interesting watching the various Dominican priest who run the university parish and guessing which ones, if not all, are closeted gays (the pastor of the downtown parish is definitely a queen). Then, of course, there are the gorgeous college boys for scenery. The experience also brings up the farce of the Catholic Church's jihad against gay priest, without whom the Church would cease to function. Andrew's column and a quoted article in it look at the hypocrisy and emotional sickness that are the hallmark of the today's Catholic Church hierarchy. Here are some highlights:

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Chris Dierkes, who has both Catholic and Anglican roots, notes an irony in the Pope's recent actions [to invite break away Anglicans to join the Catholic Church as a church within the Church]:

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If personal experience and lifelong immersion in a sub-culture is any form of persuasive evidence, I can tell you that conservative Anglo-Catholicism — at the clerical level — is totally dominated by gay men. Mostly repressed. What used to be called when I was in seminary, the pink mafia. And the thing that is the initial trigger for this decision is the upcoming very likely to happen decision to ordain women as bishops in the Church of England (there have already been women priests there for about 15 years or so). Which has a certain irony in this case. If these Anglo-Catholics join the Roman Communion they can join up with very conservative Roman Catholic groups like Regnum Christi and The Legionaries of Christ, also totally dominated by closeted gay fellows. You don’t need to be Sigmund Freud to see the awesome tragic humor in a bunch of non-wife-having grown men wearing pink dresses (and in the Pope’s case super expensive fabulous Prada shoes!!!) telling everybody else they shouldn’t be gay.

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Andrew continues on with his own further observations. The day he hopes for when gays can be full members of the Roman Catholic Church may someday come, but in the interim, I have no regrests in leaving Catholicism and becoming a Lutheran. Why remain in a church where one is daily told that they are inherently disordered, thaat ther relationships are evil and that they are utterly unworthy. It f*cks you up big time. Thus, for anyone coming out, I believe that it is absolutely crucial to leave your faith group if it is hostile to gays. Here's more of what Andrew says:

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We're not supposed to talk about this aspect of the drama in the Vatican. But there is as much an overlap of closeted gay priests and bishops with liturgical and theological orthodoxy as there is of closeted gay politicians finding ways to oppress other gays who are out and open. Part of this is a function of generations. If you had based your life - and sacrificed much of your emotional health - on the "intrinsic disorder" theory, you aren't exactly happy to reverse yourself in your old age. It suggests you gave up your life for an intrinsic illogic.

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So Benedict's sisterly outreach to the closet case smells-and-bells brigade among the Anglicans makes total sense. It's partly about keeping all the queens under one roof - and surrounded by incense and lace. Weird, I know. But true.

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In short, we are talking about a bunch of bitter old queens who resent gays who have not squandered their lives in perpetual self-hate. Our very existence reminds these closet cases of the fact that they have missed living their lives fully and they hate us for it.