Catholic Church Hypocrisy and False Sympathy for Orlando Victims

Fr. Tony with Pope Paul VI

When I had the good fortune of being one of the 50 attendees at the December, 2008, LGBT Blogger Summit in Washington, D.C. - the event was underwritten by Microsoft and Progressive Insurance and hosted at the offices of the Center for American Progress - one of the bloggers I met was Tony Adams, a/k/a "Father Tony."   For background, Tony is a former Catholic priest who was once stationed at the Vatican.  There, he got to witness first hand the hypocrisy of the Church hierarchy on the issue of homophobia.  Suffice it to say, as Tony witnessed, there are MANY largely closeted, self-loathing gays at the Vatican.  Sadly, many of them (much like closeted Catholic Republicans such as Rick Santorum and Ken Cuccinelli) seem to direct their self-hatred at LGBT individuals.   

What is our main offense? We have found self-acceptance and moved forward with our lives as the Creator - whoever he/she/it may be - made us to be and in the process we have refused to subscribe to ignorant writings of unknown Bronze Age authors that denigrate us and deem us deserving of death.   We've found happy lives - unlike these high clerics- and worse yet, we have been role models for others in respect to throwing off the hate and misogyny marketed by the Catholic Church.   Despite their own complicity in fanning the flames of homophobia and anti-LGBT animus, in the wake of the massacre at a gay club in Orlando, many of these same self-loathing clerics issued meaningless statements of "prayers and condolence" for the victims and their families.  In a piece in the South Florida Gay News, Father Tony urges all of us to mark these hypocrisy filled statements back marked "return to sender."  Here are some highlights:  

The expressions of sympathy over Orlando sent by the Roman Catholic pope, cardinals and bishops in the form of sweet words for the victims and their families need to be returned to sender because no heap of flowers nor blazing bank of candles can glove the blood on the hands of those who daily condemn us in the name of their god.

The pope refused to mention the LGBT community in his official expression of horror at the massacre. He said, “We all hope that ways may be found, as soon as possible, to effectively identify and contrast the causes of such terrible and absurd violence.” He will not have to look far beyond his own house to find those causes of hatred. But how will he uproot them when he cannot even bring himself to say that the specific target of the gunman was the LGBT community? I suspect his heart is filled with guilt.

Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley says, “There is no place in the church and in society for hate and vilification of any person or group of persons. All people are created in the image and likeness of God, blessed with the gift of human dignity that calls for our respect and love.”  What he avoids mentioning is his belief that LGBT Catholics who have gay sex forfeit that God-given dignity and choose a clear and speedy road to hell. I do not think the 49 Orlando victims were celibate. Does he? In his heart, does he see their unrepentant souls in hell?

Chicago Archbishop Cupich said, “You know, 30 years ago the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a letter describing as deplorable the fact that some homosexual persons, as they put it, have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action […] they said that such treatment deserves condemnation from the church’s pastors whenever it occurs, so I believe it was important to raise my voice in this moment because this is what the church is asking us to do and has asked us to do for over 30 years now.”

If the directive has been in place for thirty years, his words invite us to ask the obvious. Could this slaughter have been avoided if this church had practiced what it preaches rather than effectively exclude LGBT souls despite all its rhetoric?

Cupich also calls for greater “outreach” to the LGBT community. Greater outreach? How about calling up all those Dignity chapters that were booted out of Catholic Churches and told they would have to hold their meetings elsewhere? How about apologizing for that and inviting them back? Until that happens, these official statements are just sweetly worded veneer over something rotten.

These insensitive patriarchs of Roman Catholicism have no right to jump on the bandwagon of Orlando grief in order to feel reconciled with those they continue to ostracize and persecute. To honor the victims, we must rebuff the Catholic bishops looking to be photographed with us in mourning just as they have shunned and excluded us from full celebration at their table. We should not allow the Catholic Church to enjoy its deceitful and self-serving performance unchallenged.

Locally, many Catholic parish priests stand by the open doors of their churches to receive the coffins of the victims and to recite traditional words of mercy and to sprinkle the remains with holy water, but these gestures are false. In life, the men and women in those coffins were not allowed to enjoy the consolation of the Catholic Church if they were openly and actively gay. In death, they are being used to assuage the guilt of their arrogant shepherds.

Only one Catholic bishop, the soon-to-be-retired Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Florida, goes beyond hollow rhetoric and owns his church’s complicity in the massacre when he says, “Sadly it is religion, including our own, that targets, mostly verbally, and often breeds contempt for gays, lesbians and transgender people.

Attacks today on LGBT men and women often plant the seed of contempt, then hatred, which can ultimately lead to violence.” This is not the first time Lynch has spoken with authenticity about LGBT issues. He will be missed.

The Roman Catholic Church is not the only church to have nurtured a culture of homophobia and fear that coaxes a maniac to murder, but it is first among many. Real sympathy calls for action. Orlando is an opportunity that will be ignored by Catholic bishops whose false requiems are unacceptable.

Tony is 100% correct. All decent, moral people need to shun Catholicism until Church dogma and the constant denigration of LGBT people ceases everywhere. The same goes for every other Christian denominations that clings to selected passages in Leviticus while ignoring the many dozens of other things labeled as "abominations" in Leviticus.  Passages written by unknown authors who knew NOTHING of modern science, modern medicine, mental health care advances, and a near limitless list of other types knowledge.  Embracing ignorance is a choice, as is supporting institutions that daily denigrate others and inspire hatred by their actions regardless of lip service to the contrary.  In contrast, being LGBT is not a choice -  it is simply who we are and no more of a choice than breathing. 

Vatileaks: Vatican Properties Used as Brothels and Massage Parlours for Priests

Last month the bitter old men at the so-called Synod on the Family at the Vatican voted to maintain the Church's anti-gay and anti-woman.  Now, perhaps in retaliation or to merely humiliate the  corrupt and homophobic Roman Curia, a purported mole in the Vatican has leaked information suggesting that numerous Vatican owned properties in Rome are being used as brothels and massage parlors frequented by Catholic priests.   A piece in The Independent looks at this latest scandal and again notes that the Vatican owns the property that is home to Europe's largest gay sauna.  Equally delicious are reports that the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, a/k/a The Inquisition, is involved  with some of the properties.  Here are highlights:

Vatican-owned properties in Rome are operating as seedy saunas and massage parlours where priests pay for sex, according to the latest in a series of leaked reports to embarrass the Church.

It is also claimed that Vatican officials are allowing buildings to be rented out at peppercorn rents as favours to powerful colleagues and turning a blind eye to shady property deals, as well as allowing addresses to be used as red-light establishments.

Among the properties mentioned in the document, made public by a Vatican mole, are premises in two streets close to the Italian Parliament and a solarium near Piazza Barberini, according to press reports.

One particular Vatican department, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, has been highlighted in the list. It owns hundreds of high-value properties in central Rome, worth hundreds of millions of euros.

Two years ago it emerged the Vatican had purchased a €23m (£16m) share of a Rome apartment block, 2 Via Carducci, which housed the Europa Multiclub, Europe’s biggest gay sauna. Tales of visiting priests were legion, and a section of the sauna’s website promoting special “bear nights” included a video of a hirsute man stripping down and changing into a priest’s outfit.

Meanwhile, sources quoted by Ansa news agency said that Pope Francis hoped to close the leak investigation and draw a line under the affair before the Vatican’s special Jubilee Year, which begins on 8 December. Some observers believe the leaks are part of a campaign to undermine his effort to reform the Curia.

One senior figure, Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda, and another official have been arrested by Vatican police over the leaks, while it has emerged that four cardinals have also been questioned.

Why do I find the word "hypocrites"  on my lips? 

Former Vatican Insider: More than 50% of Priests are Gay

This past weekend, Roman Catholic bishops gathered at the Vatican to kick off a second installment of their synod on so-called family issues.  During the lead up to the synod, two gay Catholic priests have been fired from their positions because of their relationships.  Further underscoring the Church's animus towards gays, Pope Francis opened the synod by basically repeating his view that God entrusted the earth to the alliance between man and woman: Its failure deprives the earth of warmth and darkens the sky of hope.”  Meanwhile, a former Vatican insider has stated in an interview with German magazine Stern that he believes 50% of priests, including those at the Vatican, are gay.  Gay Star News looks at these statements:

David Berger, an openly gay academic who formerly worked for the Vatican, said the number of gay men working in the Catholic Church was well above average – even more so in the papal state.

‘In the Vatican, I experienced the number of gay men to be even higher,’ he said in an interview with German magazine Stern.  ‘I guess around half [of the men working there].’

‘On one hand it’s down to homosexuality being demonized in the Church. It’s a very severe sin,’ he said.

On the other hand, the image of a celibate priest, who is never questioned about not having a wife, was very attractive for gay men, Berger continued, as they wouldn’t have to explain themselves and wouldn’t be bothered into marriage.

‘So you have the advantage of having many gay men with a guilty conscience.
Berger also said the biggest rule in the Vatican was while people could have gay sex, in public they should always remain true to the Church’s principles and not talk about it.

‘I think that may be down to being gay being an important apparatus of power,’ Berger told the Stern.

‘After a coming out, those in power don’t have anything left with which to hold you down. That’s a disaster beyond all expectations.’

David Berger worked as an academic at the Pontifical Academy of St Thomas Aquinas in Vatican City; when he came out as gay, he was forced to leave.

It goes without saying that the hypocrisy of these bitter old men is off the proverbial chart.   But there is much more involved in the misogyny of the Church and it centers on psychologically damaged, self-loathing closeted men.  Michael Bayly, a gay rights activist Catholic and blogger friend, lays out the true level of hypocrisy and dysfunction that is the Catholic Church hierarchy and much of the priesthood.  Here are excerpts:

The Roman Catholic priesthood has long been a haven for a certain type of gay man – one who, for whatever reason, does not experience, or care to seek to experience in the wider world, validation for who they are sexually.

Before the rise in the West of the gay liberation movement of the late 60s-early 70s, the priesthood was one of a very few environments where homosexual men could gather and live together without arousing undue suspicion. More importantly, it was perhaps the only environment where they could gain power and experience respect and deference.

Consequently, I think it's fair to say that the priesthood has historically attracted a disproportionate number of homosexual men. For many of these men, the price paid for a life of power and prestige involves the maintaining of a secretive sexual life. . . . . Another price that we know has been paid by many men – both gay and straight – is that of a stunted psycho-sexual development. One sad consequence of this can be seen in the clergy sex abuse scandal. I would argue that it's a minority of abuse cases that involve actual pedophiles, i.e., adults sexually attracted to prepubescent children. Instead, many, if not most of the caes, involve grown men attempting to act-out or come to terms with their sexuality with non-consenting teenagers and/or young adults with whom they share a similar level of psycho-sexual development.

Just as with heterosexuals, the vast majority of homosexuals can and do choose to live lives marked by ongoing psycho-sexual growth, loving relationships, and sexual integrity and health. We see the benefits of this choice all around us in the lives and relationships of the gay individuals, couples, and families we know and love.

Where we're not seeing it is in the Roman Catholic priesthood.

This is because the clerical culture of the church, unlike wider society, continues to denigrate and malign homosexuality and its expression. And yet we know that this same culture is heavily populated by homosexual men – not the type "on the outside" that accept and celebrate the gift of their sexuality, but rather the type that is self-loathing, secretive, and often psycho-sexually stunted. 

A celibate life can be fostered and maintained, but only if sexuality – in all its beauty and complexity – is acknowledged and respected, something that's not happening in the priesthood. Gay men in the priesthood are forced to live secret, isolated, and often sexually furtive lives.

No good can come from such a state of affairs, as we're painfully witnessing almost on a daily basis.  

What's stopping the many gay priests and bishops from stepping out of their closets of secrecy? Is it the lure of the rich trappings of power and prestige also housed in these closets? Is it fear of losing this power and prestige? Is it more practical – the fear of simply losing their position and thus their source of income? Do some really believe what the clerical leadership teaches about homosexuality?

One thing I do know for sure is that our gay brothers within the feudal world of the Vatican are giving gay men everywhere a bad name. I must admit that as a gay Catholic man I resent this. So many of us have made the difficult journey to a place of self-realization and integration, and discerned that it's the truly enlightened and authentically spiritual path to tread. And yet our so-called spiritual leaders refuse to recognize it, let alone embark on the journey themselves. I don't want our church to be led by such hypocrites and cowards.

[T]he whole leadership system must be reformed. We can no longer depend upon a "good" pope, i.e., one who thinks like us, to come in and make everything better. A benevolent autocrat is still an autocrat. It's time we acknowledged that the church took a terribly wrong turn when, around 1600 years ago, it assumed the trappings of empire during the time of Constantine. No more overlords, autocrats, emperor-like popes.  

These men want to dictate morality to others and love to condemn other gays, yet they are totally screwed up emotionally and psychologically themselves.    Worse yet, they are for the most part totally clueless on matters of family life and intimate relationships, but want to define how others should live.

San Francisco Archbishop: Church Employees Must Not Masturbate

If the caption of this post sounds insane, welcome to the insane and neurotic world of the Catholic Church hierarchy that remains obsessed with all things sexual no matter the reported statements of Pope Francis.  Among the most insane sitting archbishops is San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone - yes, the one of DUI fame and purported "father of Proposition 8" - who has issued a pronouncement binding on employees of Catholic institutions and schools within his archdiocese that bans among other things pornography and masturbation.  How exactly Cardileone would enforce this mandate is left to speculation.  The San Francisco Chronicle has details.  Here are highlights:

The conservative Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco has developed a new document for Catholic high school faculty and staff clarifying that sex outside of marriage, homosexual relations, the viewing of pornography and masturbation are “gravely evil.” 

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s document applies to faculty and staff at four Catholic high schools: Riordan and Sacred Heart in San Francisco, Marin Catholic in Kentfield and Serra High School in San Mateo. It states that administrators, faculty and staff “affirm and believe” the controversial statements, which will be part of the faculty handbook.

The document goes on to say that marriage is between “one man and one woman,” despite California law allowing same-sex marriages. It also notes that sperm donation, the use of a surrogate and other forms of “artificial reproductive technology” are also gravely evil.

The document notes that while not all staff at the schools are Catholic, they are “required to stand as effective and visible professional participants and proponents of truly Catholic education.” Those who are not Catholic “must refrain” from participating in organizations that “advocate issues or causes contrary to the teachings of the church.”

Anyone as obsessed with all things sexual as is the case with Cordileone must have severe psycho-sexual issues of their own.  Especially since research has shown that the most vociferous homophobes are the ones most "turned on" by gay porn.   Part of me cannot help but wonder how soon until Cordileone is under investigation for sexual abuse like Archbishop John Nienstetd.

   

Vatican Backtracks on Pro Gay Comments

Yesterday I posed the question as to whether or not the Roman Catholic Church was capable of changing its anti-gay mindset.  The question was prompted bf the release yesterday of a preliminary document that stated that gays had "gifts to offer" and seemed to suggest that a major shift - an "earthquake" is the term used by some - and gay bloggers such as Andrew Sullivan and liberal news outlets had near orgasms over the "change" that they hoped Pope Francis was ushering in.  For my own cynical part, I said that I would NOT be holding my breath or expecting any real change.  Based on new reporting from CNN, it seems that perhaps I was the one who was correct.  Faced with a backlash from spittle flecked far right Catholics who need to look down on others to feel good about themselves and likely self-loathing closeted gays in the Church hierarchy, the Vatican is already backtracking on yesterday's gay positive statement.  Here are highlights from CNN:

Under furious assault from conservative Catholics, the Vatican backtracked Tuesday on its surprisingly positive assessment of gays and same-sex relationships.

In a report Monday, the Vatican had said that gays and lesbians have "gifts to offer" the Christian community and acknowledged that same-sex couples can give "precious support" to one other.

The statement, an interim report from a closely watched meeting of Catholic clergy here, was widely praised by liberals. It is believed to be the first time the Vatican has said anything positive about gay relationships.

One longtime Vatican journalist called the statement a "pastoral earthquake."

But many conservatives complained that the statement watered down church teaching and did not accurately reflect their discussions here, where nearly 200 Catholic leaders are meeting to debate pastoral approaches to modern family life.

In response to such reactions, the Vatican backtracked a bit Tuesday. In a statement, it said the report on gays and lesbians was a "working document," not the final word from Rome.

The Vatican also said that it wanted to welcome gays and lesbians in the church, but not create "the impression of a positive evaluation" of same-sex relationships, or, for that matter, of unmarried couples who live together.

But gay rights groups say that's precisely the impression the Vatican gave Monday

Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American and head of the Vatican's supreme court, said the report "lacks a solid foundation in the sacred Scriptures." Other conservatives called it a "betrayal."

"I actually don't think this is as much of a backtrack as we usually see!" said Marianne Duddy-Burke, head of the gay rights group Dignity USA.

"I think that response to this report was swift and intense, and I'm sure many bishops want to be sure people aren't reading more into it than is there," she continued. "However, it is undeniable that there has never been any Vatican document that made positive, respectful statements about same-sex relationships, so that is an undeniable breakthrough."

I continue to believe that if sane Catholics want the Church to change, the way to make that happen is to walk away and tell pastors and bishops why you are leaving, and most importantly, stop giving ANY money to the Church or its affiliated organizations.  Not one single penny.   This way, the Vatican will ultimately have to decide whether it wants to (i) change or (ii) become an increasingly irrelevant church of followed by ignorant, uneducated populations increasingly confined to the backwaters of the world.  Just as the Christofascists are killing the Christian brand in America, the legalistic, bitter bureaucrats in the Vatican will kill Catholicism. 

Pope Francis Admits a "Gay Lobby" Exists At the Vatican

Some estimates put the percentage of Catholic clergy who are gay at over 50%.  This reality should come as little surprise given that the Catholic Church's celibacy requirement provided a perfect cover for closeted gays and the for sexually dysfunctional and pedophiles.  Now, Pope Francis - for whom I have little use from what I've seen of the man so far - has admitted that, surprise, surprise, there is a gay lobby if you will within the Vatican.   My only questions are (i) whether this lobby includes former Pope Benedict XVI and his handsome personal secretary, and (ii) whether they will be swept up in the coming witch hunt for gays.  Google News looks at this less than surprising admission. Here are highlights:

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has admitted the existence of a "gay lobby" inside the Vatican's secretive administration, the Roman Curia, allegedly exposed during a leaks scandal, according to a Latin American Catholic website.

Back in February Italian media claimed that a secret report by cardinals investigating the leaks included allegations of corruption and blackmail attempts against gay Vatican clergymen, and on the other hand, favouritism based on gay relationships.

"In the Curia, there are truly some saints, but there is also a current of corruption," the pope is quoted as having said during an audience last week with CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women).

"There is talk of a 'gay lobby' and it's true, it exists. We have to see what can be done," the 76-year-old pontiff is quoted as saying on the Reflection and Liberation website, which was flagged up by religious news agencies on Tuesday.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told AFP: "It was a private meeting, I have no comment to make."  The secret report compiled by a committee of three cardinals for the pope's eyes only was the result of a broad inquiry into leaks of secret Vatican papers last year -- a scandal known as "Vatileaks".

Just days before pope Benedict XVI's resignation in February, the Panorama news weekly and the Repubblica daily said that the report contained allegations of blackmail attempts and gay favouritism -- though Lombardi insisted at the time they were "conjectures, fictions and opinions."

The Argentine pope has made reforming the Roman Curia -- the heavily criticised and intrigue-filled administration of the Roman Catholic Church -- a priority of his papacy, but said it would be "difficult".

If a witch hunt does in fact ensue, let's hope that the closeted gays spill their guts to the media and maximize PR damage to the Vatican.   Any organization that has systematically protected child rapists and threatened and intimidated victims of sexual abuse deserves to be destroyed.

Roman Catholic Jacuzzi: The Pink Elephant in the Vatican

Disgrace gay Cardinal Keith O'Brien

The stories of the hypocrisy and double lives of members of the Catholic priesthood just keep on coming out of the flood gates that the Vatican would be only too happy to slam closed.  Not long ago this blog looked at the fact that the Vatican owns the biggest gay bathhouse in Rome.  And a cardinal lives in the same apartment block.  Now a new book is out that looks at a yearly gathering of gay priests where the priests "let their hair down" and step briefly out of the closet.  The author looks at the bizarre world of these priests and the messed up psychological state that they must obviously live in.  Here are highlights from the author's piece on Huffington Post:

In October 2010 I discovered the secret retreat where these priests meet in private once a year to let their hair down and be openly gay together for the week. I was not on a mission to find and expose such a retreat; I booked a cabin with the aim of being alone to concentrate on writing, and it happened to be at the same place and time as the priests. The disorganized resort allowed my stay without realizing what else they were hosting. As a gay former Catholic altar boy, I could not believe both the luck and horror of this discovery: Here I was, in the heart of the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, face to face with gay men whose teachings give a moral backbone to homophobia and discrimination against their fellow gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, men who uphold a value system that made me feel terrible as a teenager and made the process of admitting to myself that I'm gay torture because of its unbearable moral dilemma: Repress your sexuality or be damned! I immediately knew how politically important this retreat was and wrote down my experience with the priests as it was happening. 

[T]he Vatican clings to its stance against gay rights. Before Pope Benedict XVI resigned, he intensified his rhetoric, describing gay marriage as a threat to peace and denouncing those who he claims reject their God-given gender identities, arguing that their actions are destroying the "essence of the human creature." Before becoming pope, Pope Francis echoed these remarks, calling gay marriage "an anthropological step backward." It will be heartbreaking if this closeted gay mafia's influence sways the Supreme Court's decisions.

Roman Catholic Jacuzzi could have easily been used to publicly chastise gay priests as hypocrites, but as I witnessed firsthand the painful lives that these conflicted men lead, my position transformed from utter disdain to compassion. The gay priests I met told me that they estimated that the majority of their peers were gay. The gay men who are attracted to the priesthood are those who were brought up in the homophobic culture of the church. The church is both their problem and their solution, offering a respected position with the added value of a vow of celibacy that creates a seemingly perfect closet -- that is, until your unfulfilled urges get the best of you and preaching against what you are clouds your consciousness.

This past Easter morning, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said that he would like to be more welcoming to gay and lesbians. It might do him well to start with his colleagues and open a real debate about the church's closeted gay staff. In the 1970s Harvey Milk famously preached that coming out is the central action to advance gay civil rights. I would like to build on that and invite all gay Catholic priests to be brave enough to join the movement. Their honest sexual freedom is key to ending homophobia and ushering in a new worldwide era of gay equality in which the Catholic Church has an opportunity to reinvent its position and play a new role that truly teaches love instead of hate.

It's a sad commentary on the Church and how religious brainwashing warps and destroys so many lives.