Word: gayness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...another recently published anthology, Gay Priests (Harper & Row; $17.95), University of Kentucky researcher James G. Wolf reports the results of a survey conducted among a loose network of homosexual clergy who sent the questionnaires to one another. The 101 respondents, obviously not a representative sample, typically estimated the extent of clerical homosexuality at 40% to 60%. Though those numbers are of little scientific value, the participating priests offered interesting revelations on their own views. Only one of them said he had abstained entirely from sex once he became a priest; 37% reported their sexual activity to be frequent since ordination...
...issue and look at people's experiences," he said. "I don't see any contradiction between having an intimate relationship and a total commitment to Christ." This prominent priest said his superiors have been quietly aware of his long-running, but not live-in, relationship with a fellow gay. They expect him to be judicious, he says, not to change...
...long as they promise to remain celibate and support church teaching on the topic. But in practice, the barrier between homosexual orientation and homosexual activity is difficult to maintain. No doubt aware of that, the Vatican issued a sharp decree in October 1986 that is known among enraged gay Catholics as the "Halloween letter." The text warned that homosexual inclination tends "toward an intrinsic moral evil" and "must be seen as an objective disorder...
With growing support from liberal theologians, the gay activists insist that Christianity has unjustly repressed a perfectly moral alternative life-style. For Catholics, the dispute is a classic test of loyalty to the Pope and the magisterium, or teaching authority, of the church. For Protestants, it is an example of the deep-seated conflict between the traditional and liberal approaches to the Bible...
RELIGION: Big church battles over gay clergy...