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.

Bishop Burbidge, Where is Fr. Escalante?

The more things change, the more they stay the same. One more good priest, Fr. Ronald Escalante, is being smeared and the Arlington Diocese appears to be an enabler under the guise of confidentiality. Goodness, we've heard that before. The "confidentiality" never seems to assist the falsely accused. I recently wrote an article for the Les Femmes newsletter about Fr. Christopher Buckner who was exonerated of an abuse allegation, but was still included on the list of "credibly accused" without acknowledgement of his exoneration. Shall we talk about sins against the eighth commandment?

Here's the original story I put on my Les Femmes blog about this disgraceful episode:

The Problem in the Church? It's Homosexuality in the Priesthood!

I had a long talk with Fr. Haley a few days ago. What is it he wants from the Church? What drove him to stir up the wrath of Bishop Paul Loverde over the homosexual problem in the Diocese of Arlington? What led to his excommunication and persecution?

The answer: He called for the proclamation of moral truth! Isn't that what ALL OF US should want? Isn't proclaiming the truth the purpose of the Church? Jesus told the apostles to go forth AND TEACH? What were they to teach? THE TRUTH so that, knowing the truth, we could embrace it and be saved!

Fr. Haley wants the Church to proclaim the truth on the morality of same-sex attracted men being ordained to the priesthood. Let me put it in the form of a question:

The Vigano Atomic Bomb: What's Next?

I had a long conversation with Fr. James Haley yesterday about the Vigano bombshell [Read the letter here.] We talked about the crisis in the Church and the necessity for all the cancer to be cut out.

How can the window thrown open to the corruption in the hierarchy not be a vindication of this brave priest? Fr. Haley lost everything in an attempt to get his bishop, his spiritual father, to do something about the filthy corruption poisoning our Church?

How might things be different if 15 years ago someone in authority had listened to him. After his trial, Father Haley spoke to several bishops who told him nothing would be done about it. A few clergy said the important thing was to get him back into ministry, but he insisted the truth be told. "It will NEVER happen!" he was told.

Fr. Haley Deserves Our Thanks; He was a Man Ahead of His Time!

The McCarrick scandal has finally blown the cover off the cover up and people need to demand change before the next generation of altar boys and seminarians get the Uncle Ted treatment. We haven't even begun to see the end of this. And so I urge you to take a look at a few articles (and comments) I've posted at the Les Femmes blog.

Excuse My Bluntness, but Some Clerics are Idiots! Take Cardinal Farrell, for example!

Building a Bridge for Man-Boy Love?

Abuser McCarrick got the Red Hat; Fr. Haley Who Tried to Protect the Flock Got the Butcher's Knife

He Preyed on Men Who Wanted to Be Priests

Reading stories about Cardinal McCarrick's sordid history of abuse make me so angry I need to go out and pound rocks. Sadly, he is becoming the icon for the hierarchy. How many of his "brethren" are just like him? If not abusers themselves, enablers and advancers of the abusers.

The Synods on the Family gave us a magnified view of so many evil men in red hats willing to lie and preen in front of the cameras while they undermined the faith. When I see the dissent to Church teaching among the "princes" of the Church, I recall Bishop Bruskewitz at the Dallas meeting making a motion to study the link between dissent and the sex abuse scandals. He couldn't even get a second! The bishops just wanted the bad news to go away or at least be redirected.

Surprise! Surprise! Cardinal McCarrick is a Homosexual Sex Abuser!

Surprise! Cardinal McCarrick is a sex-abusing homosexual who got away with it for years because of his power and prestige. Well all I can say is ho-hum. I wrote this in 2010 and this in 2009. 

Several years ago (I think it was between Christmas and New Year's) we visited the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It's a place I love and the decorations at Christmas are always breathtakingly beautiful. What wasn't beautiful that day was the celebrant at Mass -- Cardinal McCarrick. I spent the Mass praying for him and had a barf bag ready when he got up and gave the looooong, rambling homily. What a monumental hypocrite!

When the revelations came out this week about the cardinal, all I could think was --- well, it's about time! Everybody knew for years that McCarrick was homosexual using his power over others to act out. Those who could do something about his continued scandal just didn't care! Why not? Is it because he knows all the other boys in the club? He used his power and privilege against those under him. Did he also use it to keep those above him silent? 

"Uncle Ted" spent years enabling all kinds of pro-abortion Catholic politicians who championed the murder of the innocent. Are we surprised that he himself would abuse innocent altar boys? I recall the incident when he walked down the aisle after Mass (I think at St. Matthew's Cathedral in D.C.), saw abortion champ Ted Kennedy, took him by the arm, and exited the church arm and arm with him. I wasn't there but the media was and what a photo op for a scandalous Catholic politician! 

And, of course, there was the Kennedy funeral and graveside reading of selected sections of the Vatican letter giving the impression that Kennedy was an exemplary Catholic. Oh...and then there was the other letter when Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) sent a memo saying Communion "must" be withheld from pro-abortion politicians who publicly scandalize the flock. Cardinal McCarrick kept that one a secret. Wouldn't want to rock the boat amongst his pro-abort friends.

Yes, it's high time for Cardinal McCarrick to disappear from public ministry. But we should remember that he was an icon of the Church in the United States which continues to raise men just like him to positions of prominence and power while throwing good priests like Fr. James Haley to the wolves for exposing the truth. Let's pray for Cardinal McCarrick's repentance. But I hope you'll pray even harder for Fr. James Haley.