Attorney Elizabeth Schwartz - Q & A

“I didn’t come out – even to myself – until after college. Sometimes when I come out to friends who knew me way back when, their reaction is ‘Oh we always knew you were a lesbian, but we never dreamed you’d be a lawyer!’”

The double L-worded Attorney Elizabeth Schwartz is a fascinating study in the twists and turns that life can bring even for someone as self-directed as she.

On March 26^th, she was named an honoree for this year’s Women Worth Knowing of the Miami Beach Women’s Conference. In her acceptance speech about the rights of unmarried couples, she spoke of being appreciative that the honor highlighted her work for the LGBT community and that discrimination is not acceptable. The award is now seventeen years old and Attorney Schwartz is the only out lesbian to have won it in recent years.

Did she always want to be a lawyer?

(You can read the rest of my interview with Attorney Schwartz after the break or head over to the current issue of South Florida Gay News)

Jason Kidd - Still Great at 37

For some reason, when I watch Jason Kidd, I think I understand the art and philosophy of basketball as practiced by a master. He makes what he does look effortless and lyrical. Not lumbering, like many other basketball players.

Tonight I am watching the Spurs-Mavericks play-off game. Jason Kidd demonstrates how even late in his career he has retooled some of his skills. He is now the greatest three-point shooter alive. On the court, he seems short and it's easy to forget that he is 6'4".

He was raised Catholic. I wonder if he still believes.

Jeffrey Lena - Is He Fauxtticus Finch?

In this perusal of the so-called mysterious connections that made American attorney Jeffrey Lena the Vatican's defender, the research presented ought to lead us to conclude that Cardinal Levada is probably the man behind this selection.

An interesting choice and probably a good move. An unsophisticated shlemmiel of a lawyer will probably engender more sympathy than a high-powered armada of french cuffs. He need only prove one thing: immunity from our jurisdictions. He has already had some success invoking the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act.

If he needs them, I'd gladly lend him my set of gold cufflinks bearing the Vatican coat of arms.

It will probably be decades before he writes about all this and tells us what he really thinks of B16.

Is This Finally The Sound Of The Fat Lady Singing?

This is Extremely Significant. Hans Küng speaks with a theological authority that exceeds B16's. At the Pontifical Gregorian University, we spent much more time considering his writing than we ever spent on Ratzinger's.

From time to time, Hans Küng has gotten into hot water because of some of his opinions, but he has never been marginalized. This is not the first time he has questioned papal infallibility, and it has cost him his right to teach theology at Catholic universities, but in the context of the current Catholic crisis, this open letter packs a powerful punch. This is a perfect example of what happens when a man of wisdom gets old: he sheds the nonsense and freely states what he knows to be true. Ratzinger also got old, but without gaining wisdom and that is why we are in the current difficult situation. 


If the future of the Catholic Church is of even mild interest to you, I would encourage you to read every word of his open letter to the Catholic bishops. And then fasten your seat belts. It's been centuries since the Catholic Church has been through anything like this. What will soon unfold will make the Second Vatican Council look like a hiccup in its history. 


Read the full text of the letter after the break.

The Paternity of Bishops to Priests

Any bets as to how long the Vatican spokesman Rev Federico Lombardi can keep dancing before he throws in the towel?

Raymond Burke - A Cartoon Bishop

This reports on a sputtering speech given by Vatican official Archbishop Raymond Burke a contemporary of mine in Rome although I barely remember him. He's close to an aneurysm over the fact that some American nuns don't fall in line with Rome. The fact that thousands of American nuns are onboard with the President's health care reform has distressed Rome. The additional fact that thousands of American nuns are resisting Rome's apostolic inquisition visitation, is also vexing him.

If the Archbishop had hewn his message to a better core: belonging to an organization means subscription to its basic creed, he'd have been more convincing. Instead, he uses the words defiance, betrayal, disobedience and loyalty. His core message is "How dare those nuns...."

I bring you these things because they help us understand what it means to be Catholic. Ray Burke says it means unthinking allegiance to the Vatican. I say it means thoughtful openness to the perfect message of Jesus Christ as presented in the gospels. Ray Burke would say that is not enough of a foundation for membership in the Catholic Church and that there are two thousand years of tradition that one must honor. I would respond that those cheeky American nuns are honoring that tradition, just not the same chapters that Ray Burke wants them to honor.

The question becomes "Who owns the spirit of Catholicism and where does that spirit reside today?" American Catholics are fearlessly answering that question.

Another Smart and Bold AntiBertonean

Here is a really fine opinion piece written by a well known priest Father Edward Beck of the Passionist order. He is a frequent TV commenter and also has his own show.

What is most fascinating is the fact that when the first anti-Rome shots were fired, the clergy waited to see if those priests would be silenced by the hierarchy. That did not happen, and now dissenters are beginning to pop up all over the place. So far, the voices are singular, but it won't be long before the clergy organizes in opposition to Rome in these matters, and that will be the beginning of the end. Very Norma Rae.

I told you this would happen.

The Catholic Bishops of England Don't Buy Bertone

Another crack in an already weak foundation.

This high-level vocal disagreement with Rome is startling and significant and a throwback to those centuries of yore when bishops and cardinals duked out their differences and a pope could lose power, be required to fend off rivals and "heretics", or fight for his life. All over the globe of Catholicism, even the polite and less pugnacious bishops are climbing into lifeboats.

But the Catholic Church in England and Wales went further, issuing a rare rebuttal of Cardinal Bertone's comments.

Father Marcus Stock, general secretary of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said: "There is no empirical data which concludes that sexual orientation is connected to child sexual abuse.

Legislation to watch

In Connecticut, the General Assembly is considering a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations in the case of childhood sexual abuse.

The ordinaries (bishops) of Connecticut's archdiocese and two suffragan sees (Hartford, Bridgeport and Norwich) are opposed to this law because it might cost them a lot of money and money is what they love more than accountability or compassion.

In a letter begging Connecticut Catholics to oppose the bill, the bishops say this:

This bill would retroactively eliminate the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits related to allegations of child sexual abuse.  Connecticut already has the longest retroactive statute in the United States – 30 years past the age of 18.  Over the past several years in states that have even temporarily eliminated the statutes, it has caused the bankruptcy of at least seven dioceses. House Bill 5473 would make Connecticut the only State without a statute of limitations.  This bill would put all Church institutions, including your parish, at risk.

 The nature of bankruptcy litigation puts all assets at risk, even if your parish has had no past incidents, reports or allegations of child abuse.  That is why it is important for you to join other Catholics across Connecticut in opposing this legislation.

 And this is not simply about bankruptcy or the loss of property.  Ultimately the legislation would undermine the mission of the Catholic Church in Connecticut, threatening our parishes, our schools, and our Catholic Charities.

Once again, the bishops demonstrate that loss of revenue is more important to them than justice. Particularly sly is the way they try to enlist some parishioners by reminding them that their parish assets will be at risk even if those dusty old abuse cases involved other parishes.

Despicable stuff. I hope the people of Connecticut respond by telling those trembling bishops that lifting the statute of limitations would not cause bankruptcy. Their cover-ups, coddling and facilitation of pedophiles would be the cause of the bankruptcy. I hope the Catholics of Connecticut respond by telling those bishops that a Gone-With-The -Windy reversal of fortune might be good for them and that their expensive services are expendable and that their sacraments ought to be freely given and shared, and that all the rest of the institutional baggage that has encumbered Catholicism ought to be left to other bureaucracies led by healthier men and women.

When bishops Lori, Cote and Mansell get to heaven, I wonder how their invoking of the statute of limitations will enhance their efforts to limbo dance their way under the velvet rope at the pearly gates. (And isn't Man sell a lovely name for a bishop caught in these straits!)

Scahill, Lothstein and Bertone

While I get my taxes done, I recommend you read the following. There will be a test.

Read this reflection on the East Longmeadow MA pastor Father James Scahill who has called for the resignation of B16. I can't imagine that he'll not be forced to pay for his courage and integrity.

Here is a neat summary that may help those who are scratching their heads and wondering how the Catholic Church came to centralize power and authority in the person of the Pope rather than Jesus, and how that church moved from allowing bishops to be a garden of differences to demanding that all her bishops speak with one voice.

Here is some valuable truth spoken by psychologist Leslie Lothstein who has treated more than 300 priests-with-problems and knows something about real pedophilia.

Of course, you can contrast those articles with the words of the ignorant Cardinal Bertone who seems to be living on a planet of desperate denial.

Bertone picks the wrong fight.

Cardinal Bertone can't seriously expect to get away with saying that the pedophile priest crisis is a gay problem rather than a celibacy problem, but that is what he has said.

He will rue this day.

As you'd imagine, I am so far beyond addressing this latest bit of mystifying insanity that any dissection would dignify it. Also, I really must prepare and file my taxes.

Rest assured, if you see the quiet waters recede around this cardinal's ankles, it is only the sucking out of what will soon return as a tsunami. Girlfriends, hold my gold.

Bagnasco would be a strange bedfellow

Cardinal Bagnasco is no friend of the Gay. Now he wants heads to roll in the pedophile priest scandal, but if his head is the only one left enshouldered, we won't be any better off.

This is interesting Vatican politics. Bagnasco is an insider/outsider. The current pope made him a cardinal, but he came up through the Italian ranks and is not really a papal palace courtier. I suspect he'd like to clean house from bottom to top which would be self-serving.

He'd deny that he is lumping B16 in with the guilty, but he certainly is doing just that. A Cardinal bus driver en route from Genoa to throw the bishop of Rome under his tires?

Bottom line here: never before have there been so many signs of fracturing in the power structure of the Roman Catholic Church. It's turning into a game of every-Cardinal-for-himself. The 67 year old Bagnasco is probably sensing his own mortality and has figured out that the longer B16 lingers, the small are his own chances for succession.

There is at least one good bishop in America

Thirteen year ago, Matthew Clark, the bishop of Rochester, New York, delivered a sermon at a Mass for gay and lesbian people. When I read his beautiful words, I am astonished at how far the Catholic Church has regressed and I wonder if he got some backlash because of his efforts to establish equality for the gay and lesbian Catholic community. I wonder if he continued to quietly work on behalf of that equality. He is still the bishop of Rochester. I wonder if his beliefs cost him promotions to higher office. Before he was a bishop, he was briefly my personal spiritual director at the North American College in Rome. I never talked openly with him about sexuality. Maybe I should have. Here is part of that sermon.

To my brothers and sisters, gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, you have told me over years of conversations with you and you have relayed to me through friends with whom I have spoken, that far more often than not, our faith community seems forbidding; that in it you feel unwelcome; that your own struggles, issues, questions, joys, sorrows, talents, needs, gifts, are not respected as they should be. I hope I can say with confidence that this gathering this afternoon symbolizes a widespread sentiment among the people of our diocese, that we'd like to do a better job on that. And we would like to convey to you in a much more rewarding and genuine way, the respect that we have for your integrity, your goodness and your gifts. And at the same time, I hope that we could say to you with equal honesty that we are the weaker to the degree that we do not enjoy the wonderful gifts God gives you for the sake of the community.

So may I ask you please to forgive us for all the ways witting and unwitting that we have failed to honor and respect you. And I may ask that after extending that invitation, I hope in the name of our whole community, that you would be willing to step forward with us to share our journeys, enjoying the good things that we have and sharing the good things that God gives you, so that together having made this mutual commitment, we might show more clearly, rightly, and lovingly, the face of Christ to all of our sisters and brothers who yearn for meaning and for value in life. I hope that you will accept that invitation as coming from our whole community, and in a very honest and sincere way. Please do join us for our worship, our struggles, our service and allow us to make right the things that perhaps we've made wrong in the past. I would be very grateful to you if you would consider that invitation.

And lastly I would like to say to you that not only does this event mean a great deal to me because of the season in which it occurs, the season of Lent, it also means a great deal to me in light of our unfolding Synod experience in which all of us have committed ourselves to--as our first priority--to grow in the knowledge and love of Christ and of our faith. And it seems to me, and I speak only for myself in this regard, but if you can identify with it in some way please do so, with it. The very fact that we have convened this gathering and invited people to it has raised, in me at least, a very strong awareness that all of us have a great deal to learn about gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. I, my mail, my conversations are filled with what I can judge to be unfortunate presumptions about gay and lesbian people, a lot of stereotyping in a very negative way and a lot of lack of information that all of us need to have if we are to understand one another in ways that I really believe that God wants us to know one another's hearts.

I think, for example, of how we all need to be as much in touch as we can possibly be with biblical scholarship as it applies to this question. Because I'm afraid the bible is used in ways that are not life-giving, but destructive as it's quoted about gay and lesbian people. I think we need to learn from the human sciences the research of which has yielded a lot of new information that I believe we have not as yet integrated into our knowledge and value systems and which we do not appreciate as elements which can alter honestly held but incorrect assumptions about other persons in our community.

And lastly, and I think in a certain way, above all, we really need to know the faith and life experience of gay and lesbian sisters and brothers. Do we know their stories? Do we know the challenges they face? Do we know the richness of their spirit? Do we know the ways in which their faith has been tested? Do we know how some of our conduct and patterns can make their journeys more painful than they need to be? I raise these questions, not in any sense in the spirit of accusation or blame, but simply to convey, as best I can, what our sisters and brothers who are gay or lesbian have said to me and what has been said to me by their mothers and dads, grandmas and grandpas, and other people who love them, who are concerned that their offspring, whom they cherish, are not held in equal regard simply because they are gay and lesbian persons.

Equal regard. He spoke those words on March 1, 1997. He gave permission for his sermon to be appear on the internet. He was ahead of his time. Unfortunately, he still is.

"Consider the good" said Ratzinger

The fallout from these terrible disclosures and revelations of the mindset of the hierarchy is simple and unavoidable.

Your priest, bishop, cardinal or pope is no longer considered holy. He is not even on par with a shaman or witch doctor who both might make outrageous claims but have as their goal the healing of others. Priests are now considered ordained boogeymen who might present serious danger to your children. This is certainly unfair to the many good priests who continue to provide service within the framework of shame but they could be speaking up. They could be calling for new leadership and change. They could be calling for the ordination of women and married men and an end to mandatory celibacy. Instead, they remain silent and so must share in the guilt.

The Roman Catholic Church has been preoccupied with maintaining its "image" through secrecy and disregard for its victims (sorry to be so blunt). Going forward, families will not entrust their children to these men. We are raising a generation of Catholic children who will sense our distrust and our shielding of them from the unhealthy interference of clergy.

Do you think those kids will grow up with an allegiance to Catholicism in their hearts and with a willingness to financially support the infrastructure and programming of Rome? No. And that is why we needn't worry about the outcome of our "Catholics4Equality" efforts. The next two generations will resolve this on their own. Recent surveys and polling of the youngest Catholics make this quite clear.

The Art of Blogging - A GALLA Panel

We had a great time, and the attendees were delightful.
Here are the Miami Herald's Steve Rothaus, author Steven Petrow, Joe Jervis, and to my left, the Stonewall Library's Chad Thilborger. I don't really need to build in the links to these bloggerati, do I?

A Stupid Bishop in Tenerife

This bishop is just plain stupid. Yes, there are those very rare times when an altar boy comes on to a priest. I myself had that experience but that has nothing - absolutely nothing - to do with the pedophile priest problem. And this is not the time to be discussing that, and it is stupid and shameful for him to mention that at this time and in the context of the current situation.

While we are on this altogether inappropriate subject, I always assumed that kids who came on to priests were themselves already victims of abuse and were using the dialect they had learned. That made it particularly frightening to be the object of that behavior. In other cases, I just chalked it up to the kind of non-sexual childhood crush and hero worship that many of us go through as kids. A healthy adult knows how to react to it and will show the kid how healthy adults behave.
This bishop is emblematic of the sickness that inhabits the Roman Catholic church. This is disgusting and it makes me terrifically angry but I am glad it is coming to light and everyone will see what these bishops are made of. They are digging their own grave.

Sorry to be so angry about this, but it just gets worse and worse and they are dragging down the church that some of us once loved.

PS: I've been to Tenerife. Gorgeous.

Money and Sex - How to Gild the Vatican

Finally, a report that discloses clearly what we always knew to be true.

When I was in Rome, the Mercedes bus carrying the Legionaries of Christ would sometimes pause at the light while I'd cross the street on the way to class. They  were, to a man, incredibly handsome in an identical way. Dark hair meticulously parted. Square jawed. Tall. There was such fear in their eyes as they looked at me and then quickly looked away. They kept to themselves. Rarely did they interact with us at the Gregorian University. We were in jeans and they were in identical black suits and Roman collars. Some of them escaped. This is a sad chapter in Catholicism. This is not an era of saints.

An Easter Parade of Shame

The Art of Blogging - A GALLA Panel

On Friday, I'm moderating a panel of bloggers at the annual three day Fort Lauderdale Gay and Lesbian Literary Festival. For more info, go to the Stonewall Library and Archives.

Songs in the Key of F2M

I totally enjoyed my South Florida Gay News interview with handsome F2M transsexual Mark Angelo Cummings.

Bob Schieffer's Commentary

Reader Stephen D thought we should see this.

Pope Difficult the Last - A Golden Calf Led To Slaughter

Just when you think they would have gotten control of their message, a pope whose only appropriate garb is sack cloth, appears in spun gold. Hard to avoid the comparisons. Do we dance before this golden idol? Or, is this a pascal sacrificial lamb that Cardinal Sodano is proclaiming? If I am metaphorically confused, what are the average American Catholics feeling when they read this?

Dressed in gold robes and shielded from a cool drizzle by a canopy, Benedict looked weary as he listened to Sodano's speech at the start of Mass in the cobblestone square bedecked with daffodils, tulips and azaleas.

''With this spirit today we rally close around you, successor to (St.) Peter, bishop of Rome, the unfailing rock of the holy church,'' Sodano said. ''Holy Father, on your side are the people of God, who do not allow themselves to be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment, by the trials which sometimes buffet the community of believers.''

The thought has begun to cross my mind that Cardinal Sodano and all the others who most ardently sing the praises of B16 know full well what they are doing: making a dirge from the sidelines of his cart ride to the gallows. This could be the most genteel throwing of anyone under a bus that has ever been performed. Perhaps the hierarchy has decided that Pope Difficult the Last needs to go, and that the only way to do it is to magnify the absurdity of the situation. As tone deaf as these men can be, surely they know the meaning of the deaf ear.

Does this pope, like Miss Diana Ross, still believe he can pack an arena and sell out a world tour? Granted, he's got Sodano and another 170 cardinals singing back-up.

According to the report there were only tens of thousands in attendance. In my day, whenever we did one of those outdoor papal masses - we called them papal picnics - the faithful numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

Catholics for Equality Celebrate Easter in DC

Catholics For Equality incorporated yesterday as a 501c3 and a 501c4. Don't check for the website now because it is not yet live.

A few minutes ago, at the HRC headquarters while internet political strategist Phil Attey and Catholics for Marriage Equality in Maine's Anne Underwood laugh, Progress Now's Aniello Alioto models a papal outfit he will wear at a party later today and appropriately demonstrates his ability to put his foot into his infallible mouth.

An Outrageous But Impotent Attempt To Paint The Criminal As Victim.

Being asked to preach to the pope on Good Friday is a very high honor. Many years ago, on another Good Friday, my Italian friend Renato (now Archbishop Renato) said "Let's go up into the balcony over the Pauline Chapel and listen to the preacher. It's someone from Poland. He's supposed to be really good. And handsome." In those days, Renato and I had clearance to wander just about anywhere in the Vatican except the private papal apartments. We quietly stepped up to the balustrade in a dark alcove high above the gigantic Michaelangelo pictures and watched Pope Paul VI kneeling to receive the homily of the man who would become JohnPaul II. He preached in Latin. It didn't matter if the words were difficult to follow. He was riveting.

Today, Good Friday, a monk named Father Cantalamessa preached to Benedict XVI. He is the pope's "house preacher." He likened accusations against the pope in the sex abuse scandal to violence suffered by the Jews.

Are you surprised that the reaction has not been favorable?

Stephan Kramer, general-secretary of Germany's Central Council of Jews, said Cantalamessa's remarks were "a so-far-unheard-of insolence."

"It is repulsive, obscene and most of all offensive toward all abuse victims as well as to all the victims of the Holocaust," Kramer said. "So far I haven't seen St. Peter burning, nor were there outbursts of violence against Catholic priests. I'm without words. The Vatican is now trying to turn the perpetrators into victims."

Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, U.S. director of interreligious relations for the American Jewish Committee, called the comments "an unfortunate use of language."

"The collective violence against the Jews resulted in the death of 6 million, while the collective violence spoken of here has not led to murder and destruction, but perhaps character assault," Greenebaum said.

These grumbling priests, bishops and cardinals just don't understand. Repentance, contrition, penance, accountability and willing self-presentation to judgement for crimes and sins is the only response that makes sense. Anything else is disgusting.

So much tarnish on everything in the Vatican.

Scarlet Prince vs Grey Lady

Just when you think there'd be a Holy Week pause in the battle between The Vatican and The New York Times, we get this!

You know things are escalating when they send in Darth Levada, who has B16's old job.

I've read the full text of the letter from this Prince. It is at various times amusing, bitter, misleading, spun, scapegoatish, childish and ultimately very sad.

Keep in mind that this is a letter from a prince. The Roman Catholic Church has about 175 princes. They bear the title ''Cardinal". They have coats of arms with more tassles than do the coats of arms of Catholic bishops. Seriously. They wear many yards of scarlet watered silk. Just wanted to be sure you know who wrote that letter.

When this prince starts a letter by saying

In our melting pot of peoples, languages and backgrounds, Americans are not noted as examples of “high” culture. 

the condescension is palpable and makes it very difficult to hear anything that follows eventhough he himself is an American. (God, where in this twisted tortured church is there a leader with good instincts and a good heart and a good mind? Surely there are one or two out of 175 who speak as would Jesus have spoken in this circumstance.)

He goes on to repeatedly state that criminal authorities had been notified about the abuse cases, implying that we shouldn't be angry at just the bishops. Thin skirts behind which to hide, I think.

His disdain for Archbishop Weakland is obvious. In at least two instances in the letter he refers to him simply as "Weakland" not supplying his title, something that is never done in  this sort of writing. This might be a stretch, but it seems to me that the Prince is tossing him under the bus and there are many who will understand this to be another example of the insidious hierarchical effort to fuse homosexuals with sexual predators.

His lengthy efforts to paint B16 as a man who should not be criticized in these matters is feeble. He's right when he also says about Americans

But we can take pride as a rule in our passion for fairness.

It is exactly that American passion for fairness that brought down another prince, Cardinal Bernard Law. Why does Cardinal Levada think that Americans will not apply that same passion for justice to the pope?

And the way he spins the Vatican non-response of leniency (silence signifying consent?) to the pedophile Father Murphy is a daring and intricate set of steps that should earn him a spot on Dancing With The Stars.

His conclusion returns to the condescension of his opening statement.

As a full-time member of the Roman Curia, the governing structure that carries out the Holy See’s tasks, I do not have time to deal with the Times’s subsequent almost daily articles by Rachel Donadio and others, much less with Maureen Dowd’s silly parroting of Goodstein’s “disturbing report.” But about a man with and for whom I have the privilege of working, as his “successor” Prefect, a pope whose encyclicals on love and hope and economic virtue have both surprised us and made us think, whose weekly catecheses and Holy Week homilies inspire us, and yes, whose pro-active work to help the Church deal effectively with the sexual abuse of minors continues to enable us today, I ask the Times to reconsider its attack mode about Pope Benedict XVI and give the world a more balanced view of a leader it can and should count on.

No time for this, Your Eminence? Oh honey you better clear your calendar.

On Queer New York: The Traynoir Towers

In which, my husband, the dirty-minded cleverkin, makes me laugh.

The Petty Gossip of Dominant Opinion?

The Pope is 82 years old. Funny thing about octogenarians. They get pretty set in their ways. The ones who were always gracious and loving and wise and magnanimous reap what they have sown in the care they receive from friends and family. The ones who have been heartless and judgmental and careless with those entrusted to them still receive the maintenance and respect that good people always extend to anyone who is elderly, but a persistently hateful elder doesn't get the luxury of a pass in matters of sin, crime, justice and reparation.

The disgruntled German Shepherd doesn't care for what is being said about him, and he used his Palm Sunday sermon to say that faith in God helps lead one “towards the courage of not allowing oneself to be intimidated by the petty gossip of dominant opinion.”

Oh, Mary, how the congealed liebfraumilch of human kindness doth stagnate in your icy Bavarian veins!

The Archbishop of New York. Thoughtful. Daring. A man of promise.

He doesn't just have a blog, but he allows comments (moderated, of course.)

When I left my comment, I was sure it would never be published, but it was.

This may seem like such a small thing to many of you, but it isn't. It's really very significant. Tim Dolan is not afraid to sit down with the likes of us. He is not dismissive of our kind. He will listen. This is very encouraging, and if you are inclined to leave a kind comment on his blog you will do much to reinforce his gesture. Set aside the rants for the moment. He's leaving the door open just a bit. Giving space to those who are totally opposed to B16. Again, you may not understand just how significant a gesture this is. For the moment, please just take my word for it.

PS: I suspect he does not connect me with the name Tony Adams although I did have to provide the address of this blog at sign-in.

Responding to Andrew Sullivan

(Update: Andrew Sullivan has published this on his blog.)


Dear Andrew Sullivan,

While I wholeheartedly agree with your conclusion that B16 should retire and that the charade of priestly celibacy ought also to be retired, I was startled by some twists in your route to those good ends. 

You say that some men entered the priesthood to find a cure for their gay sexuality. I suspect that somewhere there may be such a priest, but overwhelmingly, we who were ordained gay were actually not in search of a cure. We had a rather high estimation of ourselves as sexual creatures. We were joining a fraternity of accomplished and respected gay men. Gay sex was certainly not off limits to us as long as we bought the duplicity and the premise that we did it secretly. As gay culture became acceptable, the need for this fraternity withered and the priesthood stopped attracting good gay candidates. 

Also, I tried hard to understand and to feel your assertion that pedophile priests see their victims as less than human. I don't think I agree with that. I think that in most cases, pedophile priests saw their victims as convenient humans. These men were largely not part of the fraternity of gay priests whose meetings would happen at gay rectories, resorts, bars and baths. As the accusations came to light, many of us who are or were gay priests were totally surprised by the names of the accused. I think that many of them felt trapped by celibacy whereas those of us who simply shrugged it off from the time of our ordinations and led active sex lives and formed healthy relationships with adults were not their associates. They conducted their pedophile sex in secret. I think the media mistakenly paint the image of a priesthood in which all priests were aware of what was happening. I, hardly a blushing flower, was among those shocked at the extent of the situation.

The fledgling group called "Catholics for Equality" hopes to derail an unfair connection between pedophilia and gay clergy. I hope their efforts are successful, but I will say that my experience of the hierarchy makes me firmly believe that a gay bishop or cardinal - especially one who has had his career boosted by not having the kind of sex he might personally desire - might be inclined to go easy on a pedophile priest because he feels guilty about his own desires, mistakenly grouping together all forbidden fruit. 

I think what many Catholics don't know is that priests are simply not well trained for celibacy. Even the ones who are not sexually active have substituted the non-celibate preoccupations of gluttony and entertainment and porn and whiskey to take the place of sex. It's a sad way of life all around. 

I think B16 will retire "for health reasons" but I am afraid that we do not at this moment have a cardinal ready for election who will abolish the charade of priestly celibacy. Five years from now, there may be one courageous (or practical?) enough to do it, and he may be an American.

This is how it ends.

Not with a bang, but with a whimper. A series of whimpers. The ending comes with an almost daily new unraveling. Using the broad and unflattering daylight to unravel lace.
Of course he know. Anyone who knows how the bureaucracy of the church works knows that he knew.

What is most fascinating is the evidence of mutiny high in the ranks. In the old days, these pieces of incriminating information remained hidden or were tossed onto the flames of a rectory fireplace. Ranks were closed, in the old days. It becomes obvious that the hierarchy has begun to see the German Shepherd as inconvenient. As a liability. They won't murder him, but they won't cover for him. If this keeps up, he'll never live out his natural life as Pope. He will retire. For reasons of health, of course.

The problem is that a noble successor is not yet ready to assume the chair of Peter. I have a few men (and one woman) I believe would make great popes, but they are not quite ready yet. It would be better for Benedict to stay in place for another five years while some of the dead wood around him rots into mulch that will nourish the seedlings.

I just hope that when I am 75....

Doing this series of profiles for SouthFloridaGayNews has allowed me to meet some admirable men of accomplishment. Chuck Nicholls is not just that, he's also hot.

In the Park with a Bugger

Not Central Park but Hugh Taylor Birch Park in Fort Lauderdale. The delightful Renaissance manly bug afficionado in the video is Doug Taron of Chicago who writes the popular blog Gossamer Tapestry. He is on his way to Miami where he will deliver a lecture about a virus that is threatening butterflies.

There will be no fat bishops in Ireland

Go here for the full text of the Pope's letter to Ireland.

B16 has proposed the establishment of churches or chapels devoted solely to "Eucharistic Adoration" as the remedy for the Irish Catholic sex abuse scandal.

He has also asked that the bishops and clergy devote prayer and fasting from today through Easter of 2011 as reparation for the sins of the priests and religious abusers.

So, in America, we call this the TV show "The Biggest Loser". If I were an Irish Catholic, I'd be clamoring for the bishops to step on the scale in public today so that a year from this Easter, the faithful will be able to determine just how sorry they really were about this situation.

And I know whom I'd be assigning to scrub the floors of those chapels of Eucharistic Adoration.

Seriously, if no mitered heads roll, this letter may not be enough.

Today on Bilerico: "We Can Forgive, But Can We Forget?"

While I was writing this, I was remembering the story about that fascinating queen cardinal from the first half of the twentieth century, Rafael Merry del Val. He wanted to become pope. He had an Italian rival. He did everything he could to kill the career of his rival but the guy kept getting promoted. When the pope died and the cardinals voted in a new pope, the winner was not Cardinal Merry del Val but his rival! There is a ritual immediately following the election of the new pope before the cardinals exit the Sistine Chapel. Each cardinal kneels before the new pope and kisses his open palms. When Merry del Val knelt before his rival, the new pope whispered "We can forgive but we cannot forget."

Fr. McNeill is writing for the Holy Spirit

For a level headed, calm, spiritually vibrant and theologically sound take on the current Catholic nonsense, I recommend reading my friend John McNeill.

You can't argue with Eva Wankerl

Let me reframe for you the latest chapter of the German Catholic papal accountability scandal.

The convicted German pedophile priest has been named. Fearing increased anger over the sheltering and shuttling of pedophile priests, the German bishops suspended the priest admitting that he had continued to work with children because they had given him assignments that involved working with children. (Priests do not make their own assignments. They receive them from the bishops to whom they promise obedience.)

The supervising bishop of the pedophile priest has resigned, taking a bullet for the pope who, despite this maneuver, remains entirely not off the hook.

The fourfold net effect of all this is really bizarre.

First, it is clear to everyone that the German bishops had not been bothered by the continued ministry of the pedophile priest. Their suspending him is entirely a PR move, and a lame one at that.

Second, we find ourselves in the weird position of empathizing and almost siding with the pedophile priest who appears somehow either to have learned to control or perhaps outgrown his pedophile urges. Some of his German parishioners have praised his work upon learning about his distant past.

Third, the cruel absurdity of Catholic justice is not lost on the faithful. Consider the words of Eva Wankerl, one of the parishioners of the pedophile priest.

If you get divorced and remarry you can’t take communion, but someone convicted of molesting children can say Mass for the rest of his life. 

Fourth, the obvious villain in this sordid story is not the pedophile priest, nor the supervising prelate who resigned, nor the scrambling German bishops covering B16's ass, but the pope himself who is allowing this to unfold with only an expression of sadness about what that pedophile priest did. He obviously and tacitly seems to approve of the heroic but clumsy efforts to shield him while he is safely far away in his palace, humming that Bette Midler classic "From A Distance" and choking on only the last line "God is watching us, from a distance."

Vatican Speaks!

This headline, Vatican Speaks as Abuse Details Emerge, reminded me of another headline from many years ago: "Vanna Speaks!", trumpeting the first televised scripted statements of Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune.

Vanna's signature message "Bye-Bye" should now be addressed to B16.

More seriously, this article tells us that the Vatican is claiming that bad people in Germany are saying mean things about B16. Not exactly the strongest defense of the century, but I guess that is all they got.

The Chickens Have Come Home To Roost

(For those of you unfamiliar with gay slang, "chicken" means "young" and a chickenhawk is an older gay man who chases very young men.)


I suppose it had to happen. I should have been able to predict this but I did not allow myself the luxury of suspecting that our biggest enemy, B16, the German Shepherd, would be personally guilty and in need of "retirement".

First there was the exit of Cardinal Law. Recently we met those guilty Irish bishops. There was that prostitution ring operated within the walls of the Vatican. There were those violated German choirboys perhaps associated with a priest who is B16's brother, and now the Pope's own Vicar General when he, B16, was archbishop of Munich has expressed his guilt over having kept a known pedophile in active ministry while B16 was archbishop of Munich. The Vicar General says that B16 was not directly involved in that decision.

"Vicar" is an interesting word. It denotes "stand-in" or "substitute". The Pope claims to be the Vicar of Christ. That is why he claims infallibility in matters of faith and morals. He says perfectly and only what Jesus would say on those matters. Gerhard Gruber was B16's vicar. B16 is the vicar of Jesus.

This is much easier than tracing the chain of command at General Motors, and in the American mind will demand the same type of accountability and reparation.

If I were a reporter in Rome right now, I'd be ringing the doorbell at Santa Maria Maggiore where I'd ask Cardinal Law if he thought that B16 ought to retire. What do you think he'd say, this ambitious prince of the Church and brilliant politician who never laid a hand on a kid but had his career scuttled by priests who did. I think the Pope should kneel before Bernard Law and let the disgraced cardinal decide whether or not the Pope should take responsibility for what happened during his watch.

I am quite sure the Catholics of this world have already reached that decision. And we certainly know what the chickens would say.

And for the record, I do not believe the Vicar for one second when he says that B16 didn't know anything about the maintenance of that pedophile priest.

(photo by David Lachapelle)

Vatican Exorcist Father Amorth: "Here One Sees The Rot"

I wonder what the German Shepherd is going to do about this 85 year old blabbermouth. It's really hard to put a nice spin on things when Roman Catholicism's official exorcist discloses that in the Vatican there are "cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon".


You can read the latest about the sweet old Father Amorth here, but I highly recommend this hilarious 2001 FreeRepublic interview in which he is asked how one might recognize someone possessed by the devil

By their aversion to the sacrament and all things sacred. If blessed they become furious. If confronted with the crucifix, they are subdued. We can sort out the phoney ones. We look into their eyes. As part of the exorcism, at specific times during the prayers, holding two fingers on the patient's eyes we raise the eyelids. Almost always, in cases of evil presence, the eyes look completely white. Even with the help of both hands, we can barely discern whether the pupils are towards the top or the bottom of the eye. If the pupils are looking up, the demons in possession are scorpions. If looking down, they are serpents.


I suppose this is an important distinction because one wants to have the appropriate venom antidote on hand.

Things like this tend to erode the believability of the Vatican. (Ha. Snort.)

Catholic Charities Manages A "Seamless Transition"

While they threatened to pull critical services in DC if gay marriage became real, they were planning the exit strategy needed to save face after having painted themselves into a corner: how to balance the supposed love for the needy with the desire for political power.

Catholic Charities' own news announcement proclaims the ease with which they stopped serving these children:

Catholic Charities worked closely with D.C.’s Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) to seamlessly transition the program to the NCCF. This transition includes seven staff, 43 children and their biological families, as well as 35 foster families. 

The kids, the staff and the families are all intact, as are the Archbishop's overridingly important coffers and homophobic reputation. Win-win!

The only upside to this situation is that there is now enough egg on the face of the Archbishop of Washington DC to feed the hungry in that town for the next year or two.

This week, in SFGN

Dermot Meagher, judge, artist, writer and neighbor. Not the easiest interview to write, but when I bumped into him earlier today, he had three copies of the paper with him and said he loved what I wrote. I'm very glad he's pleased.

Incorrectly Splitting Hairs

In his letter to the NYTimes, the Archbishop of New York cites Harvard's Dr. Green:


An otherwise perceptive column was somewhat scarred by two comments: recent work by experts like Dr. Edward Green of the Harvard School of Public Health, and experience in countries like Uganda, lead many to conclude that dependence upon only condoms to control H.I.V.-AIDS is dangerous policy, making Mr. Kristof’s comments about the Vatican (“whose hostility to condoms contributes to the AIDS epidemic”) unjust.

The Archbishop's conclusion is not really a valid one. Read Dr Green's letter to The Lancet, titled "Was the Pope Wrong" (provided below). I don't think anyone has been advocating for "condoms alone" as the complete strategy for ending the spread of HIV. It is not the condom that is inefficient, but rather the inconsistent use of it. That same aspect of human nature that makes abstinence fail as a way to stop HIV also makes condoms fail: the fact that people sometimes do dumb things when driven by sexual desire. Abstinence is a daunting challenge. Always using a condom is a daunting challenge. Note that Dr. Green talks about "partner reduction" as a more successful strategy. Understandable, and if all the world's leaders proclaimed 2010 as a year in which nobody will have sex in order to slow the spread of HIV, partnering and HIV would be reduced, right? Because everybody would follow that prescription, right?

Note that Dr. Green is not saying that condoms should be withheld from Africans.

The Archbishop of New York has perhaps not thought about the fact that if he or his predecessors had distributed condoms to the many priests who have died of AIDS over the last three decades or if the bishops had made preventive confidential counseling available to those priests along with condoms, the current shortage of priests would be alleviated considerably.  The number of priests who have died from AIDS has never been correctly reported for two reasons: the families of those priests almost always were ashamed of the fact and preferred to list an opportunistic disease such as pneumonia or cancer as the cause of death. The bishops did not want the faithful to know that priests are gay and sexually active. If the bishops were more courageous, Christlike and compassionate, they would have reached out the families of priests victimized by AIDS and to the gay clergy rather than become complicit in denial. We may also never know the number of men who have died because they contracted the virus from a Catholic priest.

I think any sensible bishop should attend to his own house before he starts spouting opinions about HIV in Africa, and that includes the German Shepherd who is the Bishop of Rome where he presides over a male prostitution ring operating within the walls of his own palace. I wonder how many choristers and seminarians involved in that business are HIV positive.

Was the Pope wrong?

Edward C Green a, Norman Hearst b

The Lancet published an Editorial1 condemning comments Pope Benedict gave on a trip to Africa, calling them “outrageous and wildly inaccurate.” The Pope said he thought money alone could not solve the problem; moreover “If there is no human dimension, if Africans do not help by responsible behaviour, the problem cannot be overcome by the distribution of prophylactics: on the contrary, they increase it.” Notice the construction: ifno responsible sexual behaviour (or primary prevention) then condom distribution will not overcome risky sexual behaviour, which is surely the case in Africa's generalised HIV epidemics.

Ecological and epidemiological evidence from generalised epidemics points to partner reduction as the primary behavioural factor explaining declines in HIV prevalence, which we now see in several African countries. Increased condom availability or use has not shown a similar pattern of association with prevalence decline across multiple generalised epidemics.2, 3

Could condom promotion exacerbate epidemics? The phenomenon of risk compensation—engaging in higher-risk behaviours because risk reduction technology conveys a greater sense of safety than warranted—could account for higher infection rates,4 and has been suggested by at least one randomised, controlled study, which found that “gains in condom use seem to have been offset by increases in the number of sex partners.”5

The root of the problem is that people do not use condoms consistently, no matter how they are promoted. A little bit of condom use might be like a little bit of antibiotic use—not ultimately helpful.

We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.

References

1 The Lancet. Redemption for the Pope?. Lancet 2009; 373: 1054. Full Text | PDF(82KB) | CrossRef | PubMed

2 Potts M, Halperin DT, Kirby D, et al. Public health: reassessing HIV prevention. Science 2008; 320: 749-750.CrossRef | PubMed

3 Green EC, Hearst N, Mah T, Herling-Ruark A. A framework of sexual partnerships: risks and implications for HIV prevention in Africa. Stud Fam Plann 2009; 40: 63-70. CrossRef | PubMed

4 Cassell MM, Halperin DT, Shelton JD, Stanton D. Risk compensation: the Achilles' heel of innovations in HIV prevention?. BMJ 2006; 332: 605-607. PubMed

5 Kajubi P, Kamya M, Kamya S, Chen S, McFarland W, Hearst N. Increasing condom use without reducing HIV risk: results of a controlled community trial in Uganda. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2005; 40: 77-82. CrossRef | PubMed

a Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, 9 Bow Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

b University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

Having It Your Way

The Archbishop of New York, Tim Dolan, wants to embrace some parts of this article while trashing others. Sounds like a "Cafeteria Catholic", doesn't he?

Vatican Gay Prostitution Ring

It makes me want to cry when I think of how much I could have earned during my four years there if I hadn't been so goddam precious.

I've been called many things in my day, but

this really made me laugh. This is one of those lines I wish I had written myself. It's from one of the comments on this article:

I googled "Father Tony Adams, wiki" and the name which appeared first was Victoria Beckham. So, either you aren't as famous as you'd like to believe or the internet is having trouble distinguishing over-the-hill spice girls.

Matthew 23:24 Straining Out The Gnat But Swallowing The Camel

I have been reminded that today's gospel selection, assigned to Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent, is from Matthew 23.

It reads:
Mt 23:1-12 (You ought to click on that link and read the rest of it to hear Jesus at his angry best, pitching a hissy fit!)

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying,
“The scribes and the Pharisees
have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,
but do not follow their example.
For they preach but they do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry
and lay them on people’s shoulders,
but they will not lift a finger to move them.
All their works are performed to be seen.
They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues,
greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’
As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called ‘Master’;
you have but one master, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”


And before that gospel is read, the first text of the day is from the old Testament book of the prophet Isaiah:


Is 1:10, 16-20

In part:
Wash yourselves clean!
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,
Come now, let us set things right,
says the LORD:
Though your sins be like scarlet,
they may become white as snow;
Though they be crimson red,
they may become white as wool.

I think perhaps the Cardinals have misread that text. It says "redress" not "red dress".

This week, in SFGN

I review the Steichen show at the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, and deliver a profile of innkeeper Roger Handevidt.

The New Darth Vader?

In one of the more recent comments on this post, I am given more credit than I deserve:

Now you, Tony Adams, used by these dark forces, collaborate in the overthrow of Western morals

How they think

There are now 56 comments on this article, 7 of which are mine. Almost all the rest are from very conservative and homophobic Roman Catholics.

This set of comments includes almost every major assertion used to deny queer Catholics their rights:

it's a disorder, like alcoholism
it's a choice
it's a mortal sin
gay is OK but gay sex is sinful
tradition teaches us that its wrong
the bishops have the magisterial authority
it's a cross to bear
the bible tells us it's wrong
some things really are black or white

This thread should be read by anyone attempting to understand the homophobia embraced by the rank and file of American Catholicism.

Cardinal Antonelli to the ladies: Stay home.

Cardinal Antonelli thinks women should stay home baking cookies for their kids. He also thinks that gay marriage and adoption by gay couples could cause "complications". Well he got that part right!

A Warm Evening in Fort Lauderdale

A convivial gathering on the outdoor pavilion of the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale at yesterday evening's Members' Reception for the debut of the exhibit Edward Steichen: In High Fashion the Condé Nast Years, 1923-1937. Left to right, R. Layton Massengill, Rod Stafford Hagwood, Gary Lodge, Terry Whited, Ivonne de la Vega and Robert Wilson.

Mr. Massengill is President of Massengill Ltd. Mr. Hagwood is the fashion columnist of The Sun-Sentinel. Ivonne de la Vega designed the gown auctioned to benefit the museum. Mr. Wilson is an international management consultant. Mr. Massengill and Mr. Whited have been partners for 33 years. Mr. Hagwood and Mr. Lodge have been partners for 7 years.

Mr. Whited sported a real leopard vintage cloche, a mink vest and several pieces of stunning Elsa Perretti jewelry. My review of the Steichen show will appear in the South Florida Gay News. Here is the gown created by Ivonne de la Vega to be auctioned to benefit the museum. I told her I loved it but was worried that the lower bows around the flowers might be ungapatch. Ivonne assured me that they were detachable!

A Seed Planted In Winter Has Sprouted

Are those storm clouds?

New gig

I'm a columnist at the South Florida Gay News. This week, the editor asked me to write about Brian McNaught. Coincidentally, I had been introduced to him just two weeks earlier.

Grouse

The New York Times is my home page.

As much as I like it, I was upset with it today.

There was no mention of the fact that four people got arrested in the course of a protest at the city marriage bureau. Not exactly a secret. All over the blogs, facebook, twitter, etc. It's now almost 10 hours after the event.

This is the difference between the new and old media. The old need more sleep and take it during the day.

Don't tell me to put this news in perspective. I just went through all the stuff featured in the New York Times City Room and found not much of superior value. It's not like it was a big news day wherein the paper had to make choices based on importance of news. They got close to nothin' today. Just some developments on previously reported stories.

You know the phrase "Don't kill the messenger"? These days, the message delivered by an arthritic messenger is that the messenger is close to death and wants to rest. OK. That's my rant.

Dan Choi to hit the streets in NYC

A "Queer New York" exclusive.

A Triple Charles Morning

Yesterday morning was a delightfully exhausting one composed of overlapping conversations with three different Charleses.

There was Chuck Colbert, a reporter, dishing about the planned palace coup.

There was Charles Busch, talking about his new play The Divine Sister.

And, there was a favorite correspondent who has a variety of red herring noms, including the above. We compared notes about the men of DC.

I don't know how I ever managed to fit work into the day. Really.

Catholics for Equality - The Mutiny Begins

I was in DC this weekend as one of the "founding fathers" of Catholics for Equality.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. This could work.