A Bishop Has Finally Said It! We Need a Canon Law Banning Homosexuals from the Priesthood

First posted on the Les Femmes blog.

My husband and I with the priest who witnessed our marriage on the left (Fr. Hugh Monmonier) and Fr. James Haley on our 25th wedding anniversary 

I spent about 25 years in regular contact with Fr. James Haley who became a cancelled priest in the Diocese of Arlington when our former bishop, Paul Loverde, deep-sixed him over his efforts to address the homosexual problems in the diocese. While Arlington had a reputation for orthodoxy, there were a number of active homosexual priests practicing sodomy and using gay porn. Some of the cases went public because of Fr. Haley's perseverance to uncover the truth. Also, several good men left the priesthood voluntarily because of their experiences with the homosexuals.

I pray for one young priest to this day who was sent to St. Luke's Institute, a place with a scandalous reputation, by Bishop John Keating. When he was a transitional deacon at our parish in Alexandria, we became friends and he was a gift to our family. Later, after ordination, Bishop Keating assigned him as a pastoral associate in a parish with an active homosexual pastor (now dead). It was a nightmare for that poor, young priest. He once told me that his pastor's boyfriend "doesn't like me." Of course he didn't. He was young and handsome, certainly eye candy for an aging pervert priest who probably enjoyed the jealousy exhibited by his partner.

I lost contact with the young priest after he left, although I ran into him one day in D.C. and had a brief conversation. When I read about cancelled priests these days I can't help thinking about both him and Fr. Haley. While my young priest friend left voluntarily, his vocation, like Fr. Haley's, was murdered by homosexuals in the priesthood and the failure of bishops to address the problem and fix it. They still haven't and, with the latest synod fiasco, it appears unlikely they will. Instead, the acceptance of homosexuality and its celebration in the Church appear to be on the horizon, unless our up-to-now patient God decides to intervene with an asteroid or two.

Why am I recalling these matters today? 

Over the years in my frequent conversations with Fr. Haley, he often asked rhetorically whether there was even one bishop, just one, who would answer the question of whether he could live in the convent with women if it was acceptable for a homosexual to live, pal around with, vacation, etc. with men. If a heterosexual man couldn't live in the convent because of the temptation and scandal of such an arrangement, why could a homosexual live in a situation with men (especially young seminarians and priests) to whom he was physically attracted.

Good question!

Well, the challenge is met. I've found a bishop who is saying exactly what Fr. Haley said was needed: a canon law forbidding homosexuals from the priesthood. In his book, The Springtime that Never Came, Bishop Athanasius Schneider says exactly that:

I believe that clear and rigoroous norms should be introduced, explicit regulations that exclude men with evident homosexual tendencies from the priesthood. Such men should never be ordained. This should be introduced as an explicit norm of canon law: if there is a clear proof and evidence that a man has homosexual tendencies, he must no be admitted to the priesthood. This should be the case even if such a person has undergone therapy. It must be clearly spelled out, with no exceptions. This should happen for the sake of the whole Church, all the faithful. We cannot allow affectively unstable people to become priests....We need to be completely clear here: since homosexuality is a form of pathology, such men cannot be ordained to the priesthood under any circumstances. This rule should be codified in canon law.

The bishop doesn't address the problem of those homosexuals already ordained, but by extension it seems clear that any priest engaged in homosexual behavior should be removed. On my Fr. Haley blog, a commenter asked (in 2009) how you would tell whom to ban? I responded, remember this was 2009, with this:

--guys acting out homosexually in the seminary - unfit, dismissed from the seminary (instead of the heterosexuals who oppose women's ordination - See Good-bye! Good Men by Michael Rose.)

--two priests having sex with each other -- immediately removed (In Arlington the bishop was given proof of this. Both priests are still pastors.) 

--all the priests on the Sebastians Angels website - immediately removed including Cardinal Reginald Cawcutt of Australia

--priests who advertise for homosexual partners on the internet -- immediately removed (Fr. Jean-Michael Lastiri who did exactly that is still a priest in good standing in Fresno under Bishop Steinbock and in charge of a parish. His homosexual friend molested the nephew of another priest. He is an imminent danger to children.)

--any priest who "comes out" like Fr. Geoffrey Farrow who left voluntarily, but should have been suspended if he didn't. He was shilling for the homosexual agenda as a closeted gay. Now at least he's not doing it in a roman collar. More info at http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=6e4000c7-94ee-44d6-b175-0dcae86e8418

--Any priest promoting the homosexual agenda - They are in violation of Church doctrine and a public scandal. Actually Canon 915 also applies to them. But there is a high probability that fthey are homosexual as well. Fr. Steve Meriwether of Most Holy Redeemer in San Francisco is in this category. His public scandals are legion.

Canon Law would give a good bishop the necessary authority to deal with these situations. Of course, many bishops don't want to deal with them as the sex abuse scandals illustrate. And the question remains, how many bishops are themselves gay who would never invoke Canon Law against their erring priests because they are in the same boat and may even be the targets of blackmail.

Those shepherds who love the Church and wish to protect the souls of their flocks would have the necessary canonical authority to act and at least a few probably would. Actually, however, they might not have to because the homosexuals would no doubt go to the gay-friendly dioceses and stay away from the good ones where they were unwelcomed.

Things are a mess and have gotten a lot messier since 2009. The homosexual problem not only continues, but there are cases of priests "coming out" and being celebrated by their flocks and their bishops. How long will God be patient with this abomination and all the other sins, especially the murder and corruption of His innocent little ones? We are in big trouble. If you aren't praying the daily rosary and going to Confession frequently, better start! The day and the hour may be closer than you think.