Panel speakers: 'open up the conversation' on gay priests

By Paula Doyle

Breaking through the pervasive silence about the existence of gay priests in the church will lead to a healthier community of faith, said a panel of Catholic leaders at the recent 2005 Religious Education Congress.

Speaking at a workshop on "Homosexuality, Celibacy and the Priesthood: Opening Up the Conversation," Dr. Tom Beaudoin, an assistant professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University, told a packed workshop audience that he believes almost everyone who has raised objections against gay priests has "very likely" learned something about God's love from a priest who has a homosexual orientation.

"For generations, gay men have served in the Catholic priesthood," said Beaudoin. "They have lived and are living holy lives, human lives, celibate lives; it's time to try to open up the conversation about that." Denying that the panelists were pushing any political agenda, Beaudoin said the workshop presented a "spiritual task" for participants to try to "be present to what is and receive it prayerfully."

He said talking in a "more adult way" about the blessings and challenges of gay priests similar to the way blessings and challenges of straight priests are discussed will allow Catholics to become "more human" and "more holy with each other…so that at long last our church in this regard can finally begin to deal with reality."

Silent presence

"Today there are hundreds, if not thousands, of celibate gay priests ministering to Catholics in parishes, schools, hospitals, high schools, colleges, retreat houses, soup kitchens, nursing homes and chanceries," said Jesuit Father James Martin, associate editor and TV columnist for America magazine. In spite of this fact, according to Father Martin, the U.S. church has great difficulty discussing the issue of gay priests at all. He cited eight reasons for this situation:

---Fear and hatred of gays and lesbians.

---Assumption that being a gay priest means that one is, by definition, sexually active and incapable of chastity.

---Assumption that being a gay priest means one is a pedophile or ephebophile.

---Fear that discussing the existence of gay priests will drive away straight seminarians, leading to a gay dominance among clergy.

---Fear that if a gay priest is held up as a positive role model, it might undermine the teachings of the Catholic Church.

---Fear that any discussion of gay priests would scandalize the faithful.

---Fear that discussion of gay priests would invite negative media attention.

---Fear that knowledge of the number of gay men in the priesthood would make the Vatican use this as an opportunity to discipline the American church or take punitive action against any who broach the topic.

"Some of these reasons could be set aside if only there were more public models of gay priests," said Father Martin. "In the absence of any healthy gay priests for Catholics to reflect on publicly, and with the only examples being notorious pedophiles, the stereotype of the gay priest as child abuser only deepens."

As for why gay priests are reluctant to speak openly about their lives, Father Martin offers the following reasons: Gay priests are often forbidden from speaking about their experiences by their religious superiors or bishops; they may experience pressure from superiors, colleagues or parishioners to be silent about their sexual orientation; and/or the gay priest may be fearful about reprisals or identifying himself with a group that is now frequently blamed for the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

"As I see it, there are very many gay men who are good priests in the church today," declared Father Martin, who estimated the population of gay priests among the clergy as 25 percent. "The vast majority are healthy, hard-working, faithful, loving celibate members of the clergy. That is simply the truth. In order to grow as a people, we need simply to admit that truth."

Sexuality formation

Workshop panelist Dr. Greer Gordon, a professor at the University of Massachusetts and religious education consultant, said sexuality formation is essential to help priests, whether gay or heterosexual, remain faithful in the midst of the church community. "We have made both men and women religious asexual. Asexuality is not how God created us. We are sexual beings, and it's part of what we bring into any way we deal with other people, no matter what our orientation may be," said Gordon.

According to Gordon, catechists need to rise above fear to understand homosexuality. "We have to be willing to assist (some of) our clergy, who are themselves homosexual, in learning what it means to live a life that is free, a life that is open, but a life that is celibate," she noted,

She said catechists can also help people understand issues related to sexual abuse. "We have to assist individuals in coming into clarity about the pedophilia issue," stated Gordon. "Psychologically we know it's a fact that the majority of pedophiles are not homosexual; they are in fact, heterosexual…. The majority of pedophiles are not Roman Catholic priests."

Gordon urged catechists to use their instincts and be vigilant in protecting children from pedophiles, using as much resource information as possible. "We need to separate the issue (of pedophilia) from homosexuality," she said.

"Generally speaking, as catechists (and) pastoral leaders, it's important for us to try and deal with our own feelings of bigotry and bias around homosexuality…. There are homosexual people in our midst and some of these homosexual people do now, and have in the past, served this God in this church," said Gordon.

Workshop participant Patricia Mathews, 55, said the church is "opening up channels of compassion" by talking about homosexuality. As a relative of a homosexual family member, Mathews said she saw how the gay teenager experienced misunderstanding in school and at home. "Having sessions like this provides a venue for people to talk about their injuries," Mathews reflected.

Link to the article, in The Tidings, March 17, 2005

Catholic Church ‘evil,’ priest says

WORCESTER (MA)Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFFkshaw@telegram.com

WORCESTER— The Rev. James J. Scahill, a parish priest in East Longmeadow, yesterday said the Roman Catholic Church is “not the church of Jesus Christ” and has become “insidiously evil.”
He put the blame on the hierarchy of the church, which he said is “interested in power, its own power,” and said nothing will change until Catholic laypeople withhold their offerings.
“At least the Mafia is out front,” he said. “The church is insidious.”
His remarks came as American bishops are gathering in Washington, D.C., for their fall meeting. Election of one of them to head the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops tops the agenda. Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., has finished his term.
Catholics need to begin a grass-roots campaign to bring about reform, starting with their own parish priests, many of whom have remained silent during the clergy sexual abuse scandal that has gripped the church since 2002, he said. Rev. Scahill suggested that laity become more aggressive in demanding their priests become active.
Rev. Scahill, pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in the Diocese of Springfield, was in Worcester to accept the Priest of Integrity Award from Voice of the Faithful, which held its New England conference at the DCU Center. More than 500 Catholics from the New England states, including a handful from the Diocese of Worcester, attended the daylong event, which ended with a Mass. VOTF is a national organization of Catholics who remain in the church but seek justice for victims of clergy abuse, honor what it calls priests of integrity, and work to bring about reforms in the church.
Although VOTF members stay in the church, the Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, O.P., the priest who first alerted American bishops to the growing sexual abuse crisis in the church in the mid-1980s, said 40 percent of the people in Protestant churches are former Catholics.
“And the bishops don’t give a damn,” he said.
Rev. Doyle was asked by some Catholics why the Boston Archdiocese was choosing to close churches. He said it is being done for economic reasons but he also suspects some retribution is involved since the clergy abuse scandal arose out of Boston and led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard F. Law. With younger people leaving the church, members of the church hierarchy believed they needed to sell the property to restock their coffers while they could.
Rev. Scahill accepted the award from Rev. Doyle, who was awarded the first Priest of Integrity Award in 2002. Rev. Doyle said priests do not generally speak out because they are little more than indentured servants to the bishops.
Rev. Doyle, who lost his job with the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C., after he first spoke out about clergy sexual abuse, said a priest can be deprived of his salary, pension, medical and dental insurance, reputation and even his car if he displeases the bishop. Rev. Doyle was also fired from his military chaplain job last year.
Rev. Scahill was honored by VOTF for his work in persuading his parishioners to withhold money from the Diocese of Springfield until they cut off financial support to the Rev. Richard Lavigne, whom Rev. Scahill called a pedophile with multiple victims and who was the prime suspect in a murder investigation.
The priest said Rev. Lavigne was collecting $1,100 a month from the Springfield diocese, plus a medical dental insurance plan “equal to my own.”
“The church is spending more money on the violators than on the violated,” he said.
Rev. Doyle said American bishops have spent “millions and millions” of dollars on lawyers to wear down victims of sexual abuse who are suing the church, and on public relations firms to help restore their image. Rev. Doyle often serves as an expert witness in these cases and said he has seen firsthand how diocesan lawyers treat victims and their families.
“This cries out to heaven for vengeance,” he said.
When bishops are asked about the tactics of the lawyers, they reply that the lawyers are doing it and not the bishops. “You hire them, you fire them,” Rev. Doyle said.
One VOTF member asked if the Boston church property was being sold to funnel money to the Vatican. Rev. Doyle said no one will be able to figure out if the Vatican is running in the red or accurately determine what diocesan finances are because the information is not available to anyone.
Another member asked if reform in the canonical structure of the church will help. Rev. Doyle, who holds a doctorate in canon law, said this would never work because church law has no separation of powers.
Voice of the Faithful is expected by tomorrow to move to Washington, D.C., where the organization will open a temporary office at the Holiday Inn to monitor the bishops’ conference.

LI Catholics hold the key to reforming the church

LONG ISLAND (NY)

Newsday

BY DICK RYAN
Dick Ryan of West Islip is the author of "Holy Human: Stories of Extraordinary Catholics."

September 14, 2004

Bishop William Murphy has broken off all talks about a mutual agreement with the Long Island Voice of the Faithful until they begin to play nice, curb the dogs calling for his resignation and get back to filling up the collection basket.

So it comes down to the stark reality that the Catholic Church is still knee-deep in an abuse of authority and trust. And it may be up to the Voice of the Faithful, with the help of many priests and nuns, to step forward and restore some sense of healing, hope and trust to the church. And here are a few things they might consider.

The largest chapter of Voice of the Faithful in the country is on Long Island, so it could sponsor a national Congress of Catholic Laity at the Nassau Coliseum that would explore the concerns and solutions to the current crisis in the church from Catholics and Catholic organizations from all across America.

If the idea sounds like the beginning of an organized union in the best sense of that word, then so be it. Despite all the papal encyclicals about a just wage and the rights of the working person, unions frighten the bejabbers out of many in the church hierarchy, and they are anathema in most Catholic institutions where teachers, nurses and social workers receive skeleton wages and benefits with the pious reminder that they're working for God.

Click on this link to read the entire article:
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vprya143966765sep14,0,1272746.story?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines

The green cardinal

The Tablet Interview Cahal Daly

In his new book, The Minding of Planet Earth, Cahal Daly argues that caring for the Earth is integral to our Christian vocation. He talks to Sean McDonagh about sustaining the planet, global warming – and population control.

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi/tablet-00931

BOOK REVIEW: The Spirituality Revolution

BOOK REVIEW

The Spirituality Revolution
David Tacey
Review by David Hay
A couple of years ago I went by plane from Perth in Western Australia to the tiny airport near Ayers Rock (the aboriginal Uluru) in the burning heart of the Northern Territory. The flight path crosses 1,000 miles of one of the most glorious desert landscapes on earth...
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/book_review.cgi/past-00197
Click on the link above to read the entire review at The Tablet web site.

Cop of the year enters seminary

book excerpt ||
Cop of the year enters seminary
In an exclusive excerpt from his autobiography, The Gay Face of God, an ex-police officer and current openly gay archbishop recalls his seminary days—and his break with the Roman Catholic Church.
By Archbishop Bruce J. Simpson, Benedictine Order of St. John the Beloved (an Old Catholic order)

An Advocate.com exclusive, posted August 11, 2004

In this excerpt from his autobiography, The Gay Face of God, Bruce Simpson, Advocate contributor and archbishop of the Benedictine Order of St. John the Beloved in the Old Catholic Church, relates his transformation from police officer in Cheverly, Md., to seminary student.

Click here or on the title link above to read the article.

Open Letter to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

I just received this in an email from Dignity Canada Dignité
the Canadian counterpart of Dignity USA.
info@dignitycanada.org
http://dignitycanada.org

ARCC SPOTLIGHT BY Leonard Swidler Professor of Catholic Thought, Temple University Co-Founder (1980) and President of the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church

Open Letter to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

Dear Joseph,

I am writing this as a man to man letter regarding your latest document concerning women, Mulieris Dignitatem (Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women).

We have known each other since 1964 when I published an article of yours promoting ecumenical dialogue in the very first issue of the new scholarly journal my wife Arlene and I launched, the Journal of Ecumenical Studies. Further, we were fellow faculty members of the Catholic Theology Faculty of the University of Tübingen in the late 60s, along with our mutual friend and colleague, Hans Küng.

I have to say that you made the most fundamental mistake possible in writing this letter, namely, in you, a male, writing it, telling women what they should and should not be.. One of the first things I learned from Arlene decades ago was that, because the essence of being human is the freedom, and responsibility, of defining oneself, that essence includes women - and paramountly so, because for eons they have suffered the oppression of being defined by men.

You get off on the wrong foot in your very first words. You write: "The Church, expert in humanity,..." And of course, by "The Church," in this instance you mean Joseph Ratzinger. Joseph, if Arlene were not lost in the mists of Alzheimer's for a dozen years, she herself would have told you that you are at most an expert on only half of humanity. Since she and I spent decades sharing each others' writings and thoughts, I will have to say for her what I know she would have added: Given our long history of thousands of years of male domination over women, even that half-expertise is distorted, just as a Master's humanity is distorted because of slavery.

Joseph, you also write that you want your words to be "an impetus for dialogue with all men and women of good will." That is good. If you truly wanted a dialogue, why didn't you invite a group of the outstanding women we have in the Catholic Church to talk with you? In your Holy Office you have a whole staff of theological experts who provide you with the results of their research. As far as I can tell, none of them are women theologians - of which there is no dearth. Already back in 1977 - over a quarter of a century ago! - Arlene and I found a large number of expertly trained Catholic women theologians to contribute to our book Women Priests: Catholic Commentary on the Vatican Declaration. So, Joseph, no excuses about not having anyone to dialogue with before you made the mistake of writing this letter on your own!

Joseph, you made a second major mistake already in your third paragraph. You fault women for seeking power because they have been abused by power. That is a classic move of blaming the victim. Joseph, you are the power! You should not be shaking your finger at women, but should be asking them how you have abused them - and then write in response about how you are going to change and cease oppressing them.

But Joseph, in your section six you really shock me with your misreading of the second chapter of Genesis. It is almost as if you didn't read Hebrew! You write, "God placed in the garden which he was to cultivate, the man, who is still referred to with the generic expression Adam." You know perfectly well that in chapter one the text states that God "took some earth" (Hebrew: adamah), "breathed his spirit into the earth" (adamah) "and created ha adam" ("The Earthling"). In chapter two of Genesis it is not "the man" (I wonder, did you in German write der Mann [the male] or der Mensch [the human being]?), and surely it is not that guy Adam who is spoken of. It is ha adam, The Earthling (ungendered, as the rabbis recognized and discussed at length later) who is lonely, and hence Yahweh created all the animals and brought them to The Earthling. The Earthling (neither a she nor a he) names them one by one, but in the end finds them all a bit of a bore; ha adam is still lonely. Then comes the story, which you know almost all the scholars point out is one of many etiological stories (a story that explains the "origin," "etios" of something) in the Bible - in this case, the origin of male and female. Thereafter it is correct to speak of Adam and of Eve, but not before.

Joseph, here I am still only at the beginning of your letter, and there are many faux pas. But you don't really need to hear from me. You need to hear from women, all kinds of women, but if you are going to talk about theology, which is your job, you need to read and hear widely from the many excellent Catholic women theologians. Then you - with some women writers - might be in a position to write about the relationship between women and men.

"On the Collaboration of Men and Women"

The latest edition of John Allen's NCR web column contains a few links about the latest word from the Vatican on "feminism". It contains links to several commentaries on this document, as well as reference to a piece in the LA Times that Allen wrote on Cardinal Ratzinger.

The big news out of the Vatican last weekend was the release of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's long-awaited document on feminism, titled "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World."

My story appeared on the NCR Web site (NCRonline.org) July 31: Vatican document rejects combative feminism, seeks 'active collaboration' for men and women

For readers seeking to grapple with the deeper issues raised by the document, I commend two essays posted to the NCR web site. One, by Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister, is nuanced but critical (Since when did women become the problem?); the other, by Pia de Solenni, a moral theologian who works as the Director of Life and Women's Issues at the Family Research Council, is more positive (Now the conversation can begin).

I did a bit of broadcast on this story, and here's what general-interest observers seemed to want to know.

o Why now?
As I said on National Public Radio, any other organization on earth would be embarrassed to issue a response to a cultural phenomenon (in this case, "radical feminism") that by now is more than 40 years old. Yet this is the Vatican, where one thinks in centuries. The conviction, for better or worse, is that ideas have a long shelf life, and perhaps bad ideas most of all. The CDF and its theological advisors believe that the toxins let loose by feminism are still at work in the culture, such as growing acceptance of homosexuality. Hence it is a mistake to look for any recent event as a trigger for the document, such as the Massachusetts gay marriage law. It really is what it purports to be, i.e., a meditation on feminism that has been a long time in the works.

o What do they mean by "radical feminism?"
The drafters of the document see feminism in its most radical form, usually associated with North America, as Marxism under another guise. In other words, its aim, as Vatican critics see it, is to promote class struggle between men and women, on the assumption that the emancipation of women necessarily must be achieved at the expense of men. Further, this Marxist-feminism posits that in order for women to gain equality they must deny their differences from men, which leads to suppression of "the feminine genius" and confusion about gender. Whether this understanding corresponds to any actual version of feminism is a matter of debate.

o Were any women involved in drafting the document?
Yes. There is one woman who works full-time in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Belgian theologian Marie Hendrickx, who presented the pope's apostolic exhortation "On the Dignity of Women" to the press in 1988. Hendrickx gained a fleeting fame in January 2001 when she published an article in L'Osservatore Romano criticizing cruelty to animals, citing the modern food industry and bullfighting. Beyond Hendrickx, I'm told by Vatican officials that a number of female Catholic theologians and philosophers were consulted over the course of the roughly seven years of work on the text. Obviously, the choice of which women to consult reflected a sense of the desired conclusion.

o Does this mean Ratzinger is running the church?
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the German theologian who since 1981 has been the pope's doctrinal czar, was already the man many people regard as the Svengali behind the aging John Paul II, and the new document has fueled such speculation. Alas, reality is more prosaic. First, there has been no "coup," and in the big picture sense, John Paul II is still setting the tone. Second, as the pope ages, more and more of his capacity to make decisions at the level of detail is indeed slipping away, but it is not transferred to any single eminence grise. Instead it gets fractured across a number of senior aides, mostly in their areas of competence. Hence Ratzinger is more autonomous to make doctrinal decisions, but so is Cardinal Walter Kasper to make decisions on ecuminism, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo on foreign policy, and Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald on interreligious dialogue. We're in a moment in which Vatican offices are operating relatively independently, both of one another and of direct papal supervision. Thus Ratzinger is running the CDF, but the Vatican, to say nothing of the Catholic church, is another matter.

* * *

Speaking of Ratzinger, the Los Angeles Times asked me to write an op/ed piece on his impact, using the feminism document as a point of departure. The piece is in the Aug. 6 print issue and available here: The Blunt Hard-Liner at Pope John Paul's Side (You have to register to access the site, but registration is free).

Feminism, Vatican-style

by Tina Beattie, in the August 7 issue of The Tablet
Rome’s new document on men and women shows that feminists and the Church have more in common than perhaps either realises, but Catholic theology has yet to describe the sacramental nature of women.
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi/tablet-00923

This article was featured in a weekly newsletter that I receive from The Tablet. Click on the link above to read the entire article. Click here to subscribe to the newsletter.

Celibacy doesn’t lead to sex abuse

By THE REV. PATRICK S. BRENNAN Issue date: Fri, Aug 6, 2004
The Portland Tribune, Portland OR

---

The Roman Catholic Church has done a great deal of soul-searching since the clergy’s sexual abuse crisis hit the front pages of our newspapers in January 2002. To say that this has been a painful time is an understatement.
As a priest, I grieve with the many victims who have suffered because of clerical misconduct. As a priest, I also ask the victims for their forgiveness. The church mishandled the accusations brought to it. Leadership failed when it was most acutely needed.
Priestly celibacy and the church’s view of human sexuality are often cited as the root causes of the sexual abuse crisis. Such opinions are anecdotal at best. There are no data to substantiate any causal connection between celibacy and the sexual abuse of minors. Does marriage prevent the sexual abuse of children? Statistics would show otherwise.
Nonetheless, there is a common feeling that the church’s requirement of celibacy for its priests reflects an outmoded and negative view of human sexuality and even contributes to the sexual abuse of minors.
It may come as a surprise to many, but the church’s teaching on priestly celibacy has less to do with sexuality and more to do with theology. One forgets that Jesus was celibate. He chose celibacy, and he did so in contradiction to the cultural and religious expectations of his day.
Why would he do this? Perhaps it was to illustrate an important element of the kingdom. Love in God’s kingdom would not be exclusive. Rather, it would be inclusive, a love that says all men and women are my brothers and sisters.
The priest lives this same love in service to his people. To do so, he must be mature, sexually integrated and capable of self-sacrifice. While some may imagine seminary training as “isolating and gender-biased,” it is far from that. As a former seminary president, I can assure you that seminarians are fully engaged in the world around them.
And they are no strangers to human sexuality. Classes, seminars, counseling and personal experience make sure that they not only understand human sexuality, but that they appreciate it as well. It is truly a gift from God.
It is inevitable that questions of a married clergy and the ordination of women come up when the sexual abuse crisis is discussed. If one considers all of these issues as reflecting only sexism, patriarchy and control, erroneous conclusions will certainly be drawn. To paint with a broad stroke does not bring clarity. Rather, it covers up the real issues.
A priest lives his sexuality and his celibacy in a largely unsupportive society. He does so as a witness to friendship, commitment, sacrifice and love. Would there be more priests if priests could marry? Perhaps. But it is unlikely that a married clergy would solve the problem of sexual abuse.

The Rev. Patrick Brennan is vicar for clergy of the Roman Catholic Church’s Archdiocese of Portland. He also serves as parish moderator for Portland’s St. Rita Parish. He lives in Northeast Portland.

Church equates sexuality with sin

By MICHAEL MURPHY Issue date: Fri, Aug 6, 2004
The Portland Tribune, Portland OR

---

The Roman Catholic Church’s ongoing struggle with sexual abuse combined with the archbishop’s statements about same-sex marriages — that Catholics who support them should refrain from communion — underscore a significant blind spot in the vocational life of the priesthood: sexuality. When it comes to issues of sexuality, the Catholic Church has lost the moral high ground.
While the church claims it is doing everything it can to address the heinous history of sexual abuse by our clergy, I must respectfully disagree. We appear to be doing everything but dealing with the root cause. We do not appear to be honestly examining and changing the culture from which these men come from. The process of becoming a priest is both isolating and gender-biased, leaving those who follow that path ill-equipped to deal with issues of sexual development and identity.
Since the fifth century, when St. Augustine, classically educated in the Greek traditions of separating the mind from the body, won his personal battles with the married clergy of his day (most notably the married Bishop Julian of Eclanum), sexual intercourse and sexuality have been tied to his theories of original sin.
In other words, the church has historically treated our sexuality as sinful.
I realize that this is a broad stroke of the brush, and in the last five decades the church has done a much better job of embracing our sexuality. Nonetheless, the Catholic Church today remains steeped in institutionalized sexism that impedes the spiritual growth of not just women, gays and lesbians, but all its members.
I attended high school seminary, received a Jesuit undergraduate education, spent two years in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and participated in youth ministry for more than seven years. Long ago I decided to remain a Catholic despite the institution’s earthly flaws, the enormous good far exceeding the bad. However, raising two daughters in today’s church is often an act of cognitive dissonance. This is particularly true because the leadership of the church (i.e., priests and bishops) is denied to females.
Ironically, at this moment, committed same-sex couples are providing my children with a far greater model of love than the priesthood that I have always valued and continue to respect. Committed gays and lesbians have had to embrace their sexuality in a largely unsupportive society. Their love is tested by fire.
Ultimately, I believe that faith, hope and love will prevail. With the decline of available priests, it appears that the Holy Spirit is starving the church into submission. Eventually women and married priests will be fully accepted into the priesthood. They too will be imperfect, but it will be a good step toward more fully embracing our sexuality as a tremendous gift from God.
Maybe then the Catholic Church and the priesthood can stand on the moral high ground with renewed authority.

Michael Murphy is a social worker and special education teacher with the Gresham-Barlow School District. He attended Boston College and holds a master’s degree from Portland State University. He lives in Northeast Portland.