Diogenes has provided a devastating critique of the idea that there are thousands of celibate, gay priests serving the Church, as claimed by Jesuit Father James Martin in an address to the LA Religious Education Congress.
First, he notes that celibate is “a weasel-word in the gay lexicon,” which can simply mean unmarried, but doesn’t necessarily mean chaste. He also questions how anyone can know that there are hundreds or thousands of these celibate gay priests. Presumably, he doesn’t know the private lives of thousands of priests, gay or straight. He can cite no evidence of his claim.
Yes, there’s no doubt there are gay priests. As Diogenes says, more than 400 US priests have died of AIDS and they didn’t get it from drinking fountains. Almost 80 percent of sex abuse is homosexual in nature. There are a lot of gay priests. But celibate?
