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Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct: Breaking the Silence
"Why did it take 30 years for American bishops to listen to the victims of Catholic clerical abuse?"
Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct: Breaking the Silence is a compelling indictment of Roman Catholic teachings on homosexuality and sexuality. Inspired by The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism, Mark Jordan's controversial examination of homoeroticism in American Catholic culture, this groundbreaking book examines how the current crisis of clerical abuse affects and stigmatizes gay priests living in a climate of hysteria and condemnation. The book's contributors, an eclectic mix of scholars and clerics, question whether the church can survive centuries of secrets and scandals.
In the wake of very real concerns about a possible inquisition launched by the Catholic Church against its gay members, Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct continues the efforts of the Gay Men's Issues in Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion to honor the work of Mark Jordan, who contributes his thoughts on the issues raised by the book. A panel of former Jesuits, a former seminarian with the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, a Dominican, a Franciscan, and several feminist authors present different perspectives on gay priests, clerical/ecclesial misogyny, games of power and abuse, and religious scapegoating, writing with eloquence and pain, a great deal of pride, and a touch of justifiable divine righteousness.
Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct includes:
"Celibate Men, Ambivalent Saints, and Games of Desire"
"A Call to Liberation of Gay Catholic Clergy"
"Speaking Loud or Shutting Up: The Homosexual-type Problem"
"Those Troubling Gay Priests"
"Catholicism and a Crisis of Intimate Relations"
and much more!
Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct: Breaking the Silence is an invaluable resource for academics, members of the clergy, seminarians, chaplains and counselors, and anyone interested in homosexuality and religion.
Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct: Breaking the Silence is a compelling indictment of Roman Catholic teachings on homosexuality and sexuality. Inspired by The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism, Mark Jordan's controversial examination of homoeroticism in American Catholic culture, this groundbreaking book examines how the current crisis of clerical abuse affects and stigmatizes gay priests living in a climate of hysteria and condemnation. The book's contributors, an eclectic mix of scholars and clerics, question whether the church can survive centuries of secrets and scandals.
In the wake of very real concerns about a possible inquisition launched by the Catholic Church against its gay members, Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct continues the efforts of the Gay Men's Issues in Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion to honor the work of Mark Jordan, who contributes his thoughts on the issues raised by the book. A panel of former Jesuits, a former seminarian with the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, a Dominican, a Franciscan, and several feminist authors present different perspectives on gay priests, clerical/ecclesial misogyny, games of power and abuse, and religious scapegoating, writing with eloquence and pain, a great deal of pride, and a touch of justifiable divine righteousness.
Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct includes:
"Celibate Men, Ambivalent Saints, and Games of Desire"
"A Call to Liberation of Gay Catholic Clergy"
"Speaking Loud or Shutting Up: The Homosexual-type Problem"
"Those Troubling Gay Priests"
"Catholicism and a Crisis of Intimate Relations"
and much more!
Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct: Breaking the Silence is an invaluable resource for academics, members of the clergy, seminarians, chaplains and counselors, and anyone interested in homosexuality and religion.
282 pages, Hardcover
First published June 15, 2005
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September 19, 2024
A SERIES OF ESSAYS OF THESE CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECTS
The Introduction to this 2005 book states, "This is a timely book. The current hysteria of the general Catholic populace, American bishops, and the Vatican has sadly tended to link the issue of clerical pedophilia with homosexuality. Much of the current crisis surrounding clergy sexual abuse is due to a church culture that for centuries has failed to develop and advocate a healthy sexual ethic and has kept secrets to prevent Catholics and outsiders from becoming aware of how important male-to-male desire has been to the development of its clergy.
"The Roman Catholic Church has long been fiercely homophobic, yet it is an intensely homoerotic culture. Men attracted to men have formed the ranks of its priests, male religious, bishops, cardinals, and popes. Some have been icons of sanctity and even raised to the level of saints. The Catholic Church has used a wide range of homophobic strategies to mask a homoerotic clerical culture. This has resulted in institutional secrecy, keeping scandals and the true nature of its priesthood hidden from public view." (Pg. 1)
They add, "In 2000... the Kansas City Star, wrote a wonderfully sensitive story of Catholic priests who had died of AIDS. The numbers of priests dying from HIV-related illness was four times the numbers of the general gay male population... When the Kansas City Star was able to document nearly 400 deaths of priests to HIV... the Catholic hierarchy ignored the story." (Pg. 2)
They add, "Many responsible and good gay priests are serving the church. For instance, Father Mychal Judge, a New York fire department chaplain, gave his life as a hero of September 11, 2001. Yet if the Vatican has its way, Father Mychael, who was openly gay, could be judged an invalid priest along with thousands of others. This response by the Vatican is another telling example of cultural and religious hysteria in response to the perennial human fact of same-sex male desire. It reveals a church that is unable to deal honestly and forthrightly with the adult sexuality of its ministers." (Pg. 3-4)
The book includes sixteen essays; many of them made in response to Mark Jordan's book 'The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism.' (Jordan himself contributes the concluding essay.) One essayist commenting on Jordan's book states, "Estimates of homosexual priests in the U.S. Catholic church range anywhere from 10 to 25, to 50, and as high as 75 percent. This pervasive clerical closeting truly bothers Jordan... Clerical closeting is a problem, Jordan maintains, because of the chilling silence it imposes on any open---and really honest---conversation about homosexuality and the church." (Pg. 72)
Another essayist says, "I am Catholic, because I am an Irish citizen. I am also Wiccan, practice Buddhism through my karate practice, and am a deeply spiritual being. But Catholicism is a core part of my identity, and if asked my religion, I often still simply say 'Catholic.' I say that I am Catholic the way the performer Madonna is Catholic. The church can not get rid of me. It has to accept me, through my baptized entry, as well as my birthright entry... I do not understand the general ahistorical attitude toward the church's attributes when we discuss its faults. Often we assume that these negative aspects of Catholicism form the entire entity of the church for us as homosexuals. The reality is that the church is a big institution with a long history of commitment to social justice, such as the work of the activist Dorothy Day and her creation of the Catholic Worker Movement." (Pg. 147)
Another essay comments on Donald Cozzens' book The Changing Face of the Priesthood: "It was Cozzens's chapter on sexual orientation, however, that fanned into flame a long smoldering controversy... Cozzens quotes studies that found from 23 percent to 58 percent of priests, and 48.5 percent of seminarians are gay. These figures are similar to estimates made by Richard Sipe, the most respected researcher in this field, who was a monk for 20 years and then became a psychiatric specialist in the field of clerical sexual habits... Sipe estimated that 30 percent of priests were gay..." (Pg. 175)
This is an informative and broad series of essays that will be of great interest to anyone studying these issues.
The Introduction to this 2005 book states, "This is a timely book. The current hysteria of the general Catholic populace, American bishops, and the Vatican has sadly tended to link the issue of clerical pedophilia with homosexuality. Much of the current crisis surrounding clergy sexual abuse is due to a church culture that for centuries has failed to develop and advocate a healthy sexual ethic and has kept secrets to prevent Catholics and outsiders from becoming aware of how important male-to-male desire has been to the development of its clergy.
"The Roman Catholic Church has long been fiercely homophobic, yet it is an intensely homoerotic culture. Men attracted to men have formed the ranks of its priests, male religious, bishops, cardinals, and popes. Some have been icons of sanctity and even raised to the level of saints. The Catholic Church has used a wide range of homophobic strategies to mask a homoerotic clerical culture. This has resulted in institutional secrecy, keeping scandals and the true nature of its priesthood hidden from public view." (Pg. 1)
They add, "In 2000... the Kansas City Star, wrote a wonderfully sensitive story of Catholic priests who had died of AIDS. The numbers of priests dying from HIV-related illness was four times the numbers of the general gay male population... When the Kansas City Star was able to document nearly 400 deaths of priests to HIV... the Catholic hierarchy ignored the story." (Pg. 2)
They add, "Many responsible and good gay priests are serving the church. For instance, Father Mychal Judge, a New York fire department chaplain, gave his life as a hero of September 11, 2001. Yet if the Vatican has its way, Father Mychael, who was openly gay, could be judged an invalid priest along with thousands of others. This response by the Vatican is another telling example of cultural and religious hysteria in response to the perennial human fact of same-sex male desire. It reveals a church that is unable to deal honestly and forthrightly with the adult sexuality of its ministers." (Pg. 3-4)
The book includes sixteen essays; many of them made in response to Mark Jordan's book 'The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism.' (Jordan himself contributes the concluding essay.) One essayist commenting on Jordan's book states, "Estimates of homosexual priests in the U.S. Catholic church range anywhere from 10 to 25, to 50, and as high as 75 percent. This pervasive clerical closeting truly bothers Jordan... Clerical closeting is a problem, Jordan maintains, because of the chilling silence it imposes on any open---and really honest---conversation about homosexuality and the church." (Pg. 72)
Another essayist says, "I am Catholic, because I am an Irish citizen. I am also Wiccan, practice Buddhism through my karate practice, and am a deeply spiritual being. But Catholicism is a core part of my identity, and if asked my religion, I often still simply say 'Catholic.' I say that I am Catholic the way the performer Madonna is Catholic. The church can not get rid of me. It has to accept me, through my baptized entry, as well as my birthright entry... I do not understand the general ahistorical attitude toward the church's attributes when we discuss its faults. Often we assume that these negative aspects of Catholicism form the entire entity of the church for us as homosexuals. The reality is that the church is a big institution with a long history of commitment to social justice, such as the work of the activist Dorothy Day and her creation of the Catholic Worker Movement." (Pg. 147)
Another essay comments on Donald Cozzens' book The Changing Face of the Priesthood: "It was Cozzens's chapter on sexual orientation, however, that fanned into flame a long smoldering controversy... Cozzens quotes studies that found from 23 percent to 58 percent of priests, and 48.5 percent of seminarians are gay. These figures are similar to estimates made by Richard Sipe, the most respected researcher in this field, who was a monk for 20 years and then became a psychiatric specialist in the field of clerical sexual habits... Sipe estimated that 30 percent of priests were gay..." (Pg. 175)
This is an informative and broad series of essays that will be of great interest to anyone studying these issues.
July 2, 2023
An advertisement for The silence of Sodom. Repeating void slogans.
Read
July 30, 2011Well worth a read. It shows how the Roman Catholic Church is the most homophobic, yet also the most homo-erotic institution on the planet.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews