Sitting in Satan's Lap

My good friend and colleague Dan Cassidy, for whom I have boundless admiration and the highest personal regard, has responded to my posting pointing out the tremendous influence and power that the organized left wields in the Roman Catholic Church, especially in the Roman Seminaries which are in large part dominated, so I and others assert, by a "gay" clique of leftists.

Dan, while not denying that the situation as described here and elsewhere existed in the recent past, has written that the current and previous pope have taken positive steps to ameliorate this state of affairs.

I am posting here a collection of observations on the gayness of the Roman seminaries, some quite old and some quite recent, by various authorities within the Roman hierarchy. Then follows a list of references that contain great detail about the same.

My challenge to Dan and others is to make me believe that the situation as described in these writings no longer exist. Explain to me what concrete and tangible steps have been taken to correct this deplorable state of affairs in the Roman seminaries, show me the measurable impact of the papal reforms.

I can find nothing to refute that many, if not most, Roman seminaries are oppressed by an unwholesome homosexual atmosphere.

Let the reader be the judge.

This from www.religioustolerance.org
Father Donald Cozzens wrote that several studies have concluded that about 50% of priests and seminarians are gay.

David France of Newsweek, referring to St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, CA, wrote: "Depending on whom you ask, gay and bisexual men make up anywhere from 30 percent to 70 percent of the student body at the college and graduate levels."

Rt. Rev. Helmut Hefner, rector of St. Johns Seminary "accepts that his gay enrollment may be as high as 50 percent."

Gay journalist Rex Wockner commented: "When I was in the Catholic seminary in my early 20s (St. Meinrad College, St. Meinrad, Ind., 1982-1983; University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Ill., 1983-1984), at least 50 percent of the students were gay....At St. Mary of the Lake, the straight students felt like a minority and felt excluded from some aspects of campus life to such an extent that the administration staged a seminar at which we discussed the problem of the straight students feeling left out of things..."

Author and sociologist James G. Wolfe estimated that 55.1% of seminarians were gay.

Does the gay sub-culture in seminaries affect heterosexual seminarians?
Many priests and theologians have commented about the gay sub-cultures in Catholic seminaries:
An anonymous priest from the Boston area commented in an interview with Joe Fitzgerald of the Boston Herald: "there's a subculture of gay priests and everyone knows it. I went through seminary with a lot of them and got hit on. And when I reported it, I was harassed to a point where, emotionally, it was very difficult to get ordained. I'm not the only one who had to fight to get through it; I know guys who left because of it. It was clear there was a cabal tacitly saying, 'Don't bother reporting this stuff.' You wouldn't believe the self-justifications, like, 'Well, celibacy only applies to not getting married, so since we're not getting married we can do whatever we want.' It was horrible, with a lot of intimidation, but I stayed because I felt this was what God was calling me to do; besides, if I'd walked, they'd have won."

Father McBrien, a theologian at the University of Notre Dame, commented that some seminary students "...who feel they have a genuine vocation for priesthood go into a seminary and feel very alienated by the gay culture. I don't say this in any homophobic sense. It's just the reality."

Pope John Paul II held a meeting with the American cardinals which dealt with the clerical sex scandals. Afterward, Bishop Wilton Gregory, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said: "One of the difficulties we do face in seminary life or recruitment is made possible when there does exist a homosexual atmosphere or dynamic that makes heterosexual men think twice [about entering.] It is an ongoing struggle to make sure the Catholic priesthood is not dominated by homosexual men."

R. Scott Appleby, a history professor at Notre Dame, said: "People I know quite well have left the seminary either in disgust because people are not keeping vows, or in alienation because they’re not gay. In some cases it’s a serious problem."

The Most Rev. Wilton Gregory said: "[T]here does exist a homosexual atmosphere or dynamic that makes heterosexual men think twice."

The Rev. Charles Bouchard, president of the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis said: "I think straight priests and seminarians shouldn’t be whining. I just don’t think it’s a big deal."

Father Donald Cozzens wrote: "What impact does the gay subcultrue have on the straight priest and seminarian?....straight men in a predominantly or significantly gay environment commonly experience chronic destabilization, a common symptom of which is self doubt...Their psychic confusion, understandably, has significant implications for both their spiritual vitality and emotional balance."

Timothy Radcliffe, Master of the Order of Preachers, commented on the emergence of a homosexual sub-culture within a seminary or religious order: "It can threaten the unity of the community; it can make it harder for the brethren to practice the chastity which we have vowed. It can put pressure on brethren to think of themselves in a way that is not central to their vocation as preachers of the Kingdom..."

References:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
1. "Gay Priests," Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, 2002-MAY-10, at: http://www.pbs.org/
3. David France, "Gays and the Seminary," MSNBC, 2002-MAY-20, at: http://www.msnbc.com/
4. "Catholic Seminary Admissions Tighten in Scandal," The Data Lounge, 2002-MAR-27, at: http://www.datalounge.com/
5. "Vatican threatens gay purge of priesthood," The Data Lounge, 2002-MAR-6, at: http://www.datalounge.com/
6. Rex Wockner, "The end of Catholicism in America," PlanetOut, at: http://www.planetout.com/
7. James G. Wolf, "Gay Priests," Harper and Row, 1989, Pages 59-60. Cited in Father Donald Cozzens, "The Changing Face of the Priesthood: A reflection on the priest's crisis of soul," Liturgical Press, (2000), Page 99.
8. Joe Fitzgerald, "Priest fears gays in ranks pose threat to Church," Boston Herald, 2002-MAR-6, at: http://www2.bostonherald.com/
9. Melinda Henneberger, "Pope delivers apology to victims of sex abuse," New York Times, 2002-APR-24, at: http://www.starnews.com/
10. Op Cit, Father Donald Cozzens, Page 101.
11. Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., "The Promise of Life," International Dominican Information, # 361, 1998-APR, special number, A Letter to the Order, Page 96.