Perhaps not surprisingly, I've been attacked in the last few days about my comments over the resignation of Msgr. Burrill. (Then again, I'd be attacked if I said "God loves you.") Obviously, priests not living celibately, or using "hook up" apps, is problematic in many ways...
As an aside, members of religious orders vow chastity and priests promise celibacy at their ordination. (Priests in religious orders--like me--live both the vow and the promise.) Religious and priests not living according to their vows and promises is a serious moral problem...
But so are the immoral tactics used by Pillar to "out" Msgr. Burrill, as well as their conflating homosexuality with pedophilia. (Many secular outlets were disturbed by their tactics as well.) So both are problematic: the priest's activities and the so-called "investigation..."
I'm used to the attacks on social media by now, and they don't bother me, but they also reveal something essential about the church in the United States....
The volume and viciousness of the attacks ("You're next f****t." "We're coming for you next, Jimmy." "When are you going to be outed, sodomite?") reveal the level of homophobia in the church today.
Because almost all the attacks came from accounts that identify as Catholic...
Because almost all the attacks came from accounts that identify as Catholic...
That same hatred was obvious in the Pillar article: the "outing" of Msgr. Burrill, the contempt for gay people in general, the conflation of homosexuality with pedophilia, and so on. At the heart of this is a deep homophobia...
Articles like that, and tactics like that, from a supposedly Catholic website, give many Catholics (and others) permission to hate. Or to hate even more.
And none of that is coming from God.
And none of that is coming from God.
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