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Former Catholic theologian says much of the clergy is gay
Published: 21 Nov 10 14:05 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20101121-31317.html
The former publisher of a conservative Catholic magazine has claimed that a large share of Catholic clergy is gay, and called for the Church to change its homophobic attitude and teaching.
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As a gay man himself, he told Der Spiegel in an interview that living among the Catholic homophobia was a nightmare.
“It must be acknowledged that a large number of Catholic clerics and trainee priests in Europe and the United States are homosexually-inclined,” he said.
He said when he was writing for theological magazines, he had to use phrases such as fornication-partner rather than life-partner, and that the neutral word homosexual could not be used, but gay men were described as perverse sodomites.
“The worst homophobia in the Catholic Church comes from homophile priests, who are desperately fighting their own sexuality,” he said.
“Obviously, those who follow their urges are repudiated more fiercely when one is so painfully repressing that disposition oneself.”
Now working as a teacher in Cologne, Berger outed himself as gay this April after the Bishop of Essen Franz-Josepf Overbeck described homosexuality as perverse and a sin during an appearance on a television chat show.
Berger’s book about his experiences within the Church The holy illusion – a gay theologian in the Catholic Church which is published this week.
The Local/hc
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Also check out the pdf titled the "gay gene" hoax by Ryan Sorba
A bunch of unmarried men dressed in flamboyant silly costumes who never tire of telling the world how sinful homos are... and who on the other hand don't mind delighting themselves to the occasional altar boy...
The entire Catholic priesthood is one big closeted gay pride parade. Any psychiatrist specializing in sexual self-repression would have a field day. They're all so deep in the closet, they are having adventures in Narnia.
Nothing wrong with being gay, whatever floats your boat... but at least don't make everybody else's lives miserable just because you can't bring yourself to fess up to it.
Virginity is not the true value of a church. Why would a person with a normal sexual desire, and a love for a spouse want to serve in a church that demanded they be virginal? I'd rather work somewhere else.
Greetings from South Jersey, USA
I am shocked, shocked to hear this. It is a total surprise to me.
You have to be queer to spout this rubbish.
All the abuse has been homosexual, but it's not the homosexuality that's wrong, it's the Catholics that are the problem. Just like all the terrorists have been Muslim, but we don't want to offend them by singling out their religion or their book which commands to exterminate or convert the non-Muslim, because that would be too accurate or something.
Thanks for the biblical misquote, yanksavage, but while the PC police "may have" stuck the word "boy" in front of the word "servant" in Matthew 8, it's going out on a weak limb to claim that "may have been ancient wording for a gay partner." Since Jesus viewed the old testament as God's word, as did the Jews he lived with, your supposed ancient code would have been a ticket for stoning.
"Former Catholic theologian says much of the clergy is gay"
Suddenly 2% is 10%....
How they do love to inflate their numbers, to make it seem more "normal" in spite of no scientific support of a genetic tie, save for that spewed by psychologists and psychiatrists misinterpreting scientific data.