Priesthood

Often considered the most popular entertainer of the 20th century--his extravagant performances set still-unchallenged attendance records--Liberace (dubbed "Mr. Showman" in tribute to his flashy theatricality) sued a London columnist in 1956 for implying he was gay. He won.

In 1993, Cardinal Roger Mahony wrote to the Vatican with an urgent problem. One of his priests in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles had been accused of plying teenage boys with alcohol and molesting them, sometimes during prayer. In less than eight years, Father Kevin Barmasse had, as one church official put it in newly released files, "left a wake of devastation that is hard to comprehend. " Mahony yanked Barmasse out of his parish and wanted to make sure he couldn't return. But Barmasse appealed to the one body that could overrule Mahony: the Vatican.

I thought a recent article syndicated by the National Catholic News Service might be of interest in light of Jack Miles' piece on "Love Is Always," a book in which Michael Miles reflects on how he fell in love and left the priesthood to marry (The Book Review, July 6). Like many Catholics, I don't always agree with what my church's leaders say or do (God knows they have blundered enough in the past) but I think they or anyone else are entitled to a fair hearing and certainly should not be intentionally misrepresented.

James Kavanaugh, a former Catholic priest who came to fame in 1967 with his controversial bestseller calling for reform in the church and later wrote bestselling books of poetry and other works, has died. He was 81. Kavanaugh, who underwent surgery for an aortic aneurysm in July, died Dec. 29 in a hospice in Kalamazoo, Mich., said his wife, Cathy. Ordained in 1954, Kavanaugh served as a parish priest in Lansing and Flint, Mich., and earned a doctorate at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., before the publication of "A Modern Priest Looks at His Outdated Church" in 1967.

A solemn benediction beginning at 3:30 p.m. June 30 at St. Matthias Catholic Church, 3095 E. Florence Ave., will honor the 60th anniversary of Msgr. Patrick T. Shear's ordination to the priesthood. A reception and dinner will follow at the Elks Club, 3355 Gage Ave. Shear, 85, entered St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park in 1915 and was ordained June 21, 1925. During his pastorate at St. Matthias, he directed the building of a new elementary school and the opening of St.

Edmund John Maher--Uncle Ed for short--is steeped in history. He made it, taught it, is living it. He made it by being the first baby born in Brooklyn many New Years' mornings ago. He taught it in the Philadelphia school system for almost 30 years. He's living it by being the oldest seminarian "in living memory" to study for the priesthood in the 115-year history of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Lower Merion. How old is Uncle Ed? Let him give you an idea.

Almost 100 years ago, 11 men of Irish descent became the first class of priests ordained at St. Joseph's Seminary in this community just north of New York City. The Roman Catholic Church desperately needed them to minister to a new wave of European immigrants already flooding New York's harbor. A century later, not a lot seems to have changed. This May, St.

Father Guido Sarducci recruiting for the priesthood? An ad in a special Sept. 22 edition of Newsweek that is available only on college campuses features the former "Saturday Night Live" correspondent with this tongue-in-cheek copy: "Eat free in an Italian restaurant. Become a priest." Since Sarducci (a.k.a.

Re "Vatican Issues Guidelines on Gay Priests," Nov. 30 It's unfortunate that the Vatican feels the need to scapegoat gay priests for its failure to protect children from sexual predators. Sadly, this misguided policy will only exacerbate the cause of the problem. Gay priests are not the child molesters. A gay person is someone who accepts the goodness and wholeness of consenting, adult same-sex attraction -- regardless of whether one is celibate or not. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church continues to create an atmosphere in the priesthood of such enormous and unrivaled sexual oppression that those prone to predatory sexual abuse of minors will either intensify their efforts or emotionally implode.

Re the Church of England's ordination of women priests: "Bravissimae" to the 32 women who followed the call in their hearts to priestly ministry. Their fidelity in the face of opposition and bitterness is truly inspiring. And congratulations to the Church of England for having the courage to so painstakingly discern such a controversial and important issue. The Church of England's decision to ordain women into the priesthood came after decades of listening to the spirit found in Scripture, in tradition, and in the hearts of the faithful.

The morning sun has barely crept above the horizon when 13 beginning seminarians emerge from dormitory rooms and wander into the chapel of their religious compound. "God our Father . . . let not temptation ever quench the fire that your love has kindled within us," they recite from liturgy books.

For churches all over it's the season of ordinations as candidates for the priesthood complete their studies. In Southern California, at least 20 men are joining the clergy in solemn and joyful ceremonies in this week. The ordinations began Thursday night in Hollywood as Vahe Abovian and Mayis Shahbazyan were welcomed into the priesthood by Archbishop Hovnan Derderian of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America.

For Robert Holz, the question always lingered. He'd worked as an accountant for nearly two decades. He was basically happy. He was 40 years old. Still, the question was there. "Is God calling me? Or not?" he said. Partly because he felt unfulfilled, partly in hopes of resolving that nagging question, Holz quit his job and inquired about becoming a priest.

Re "Female Priest Defies the Catholic Church," Aug. 14 I was happy and amazed to see that women are finally being allowed by some bishops to publicly live out the priesthood they were admitted to at their baptism, but disheartened to see that so many of our church leaders still condemn that. I am so grateful that I attended Catholic high school and university in the 1970s, when they taught that priesthood was about love and service rather than pointless and painful elitism. I have always wondered, and still do, if we as women are to accept that we are somehow supposed to live as Jesus lived while being denied that simple right to serve because we lack male genitalia?

Re "The Vatican's real scandal," editorial, Dec. 4 Again the Vatican's approach to dealing with a definable problem is to send up a massive smokescreen of rhetoric and verbiage limiting its ranks to men without a "deep-seated" homosexual tendency who have demonstrated a three-year period of abstinence. There is a huge difference between being gay and being a pedophile. It would be unlikely for the Vatican to issue a doctrine requiring would-be priests to be free from a deep-seated pedophilic tendency.

Re "Vatican Issues Guidelines on Gay Priests," Nov. 30 It's unfortunate that the Vatican feels the need to scapegoat gay priests for its failure to protect children from sexual predators. Sadly, this misguided policy will only exacerbate the cause of the problem. Gay priests are not the child molesters. A gay person is someone who accepts the goodness and wholeness of consenting, adult same-sex attraction -- regardless of whether one is celibate or not. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church continues to create an atmosphere in the priesthood of such enormous and unrivaled sexual oppression that those prone to predatory sexual abuse of minors will either intensify their efforts or emotionally implode.

Re "Reports of Priests' Abuse Enrage Boston Catholics," Feb. 9: That there are deviants galore in the Boston Archdiocese is no surprise to me. Thirty years ago, I taught psychology to high school seniors in two predominantly Catholic communities in the Boston area. For 10 years, I was a magnet for troubled kids--usually boys--struggling with issues of sexuality. I was able to play a small part in helping the majority make the awkward transition from painful adolescence to acceptance and a healthy, productive adulthood.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County has 52 parishes to which 164 priests are assigned. Seminarians (those studying for the priesthood) are given the title priest once they are ordained. Priests are assigned to a parish by the diocese, usually for a three- or four-year stint. A priest rarely switches dioceses during his lifetime, but can move from parish to parish within the diocese. Newly Catholic Diocese Ordained Year Population Priests Seminarians Priests 1988 453,937 164 111 3 1987 448,937 149 110 2 1986 430,017 159 105 5 1985 417,590 155 115 3 1984 415,393 152 113 6 1983 413,393 138 105 6 1982 408,200 130 82 3 1981 365,004 127 73 3 1980 347,737 119 57 2 1979 338,023 117 57 4 1978 332,044 113 70 N/A 1977 333,576 120 73 N/A 1976 329,855 125 83 N/A N/A: Not available Note: Seminarians are students studying for the priesthood.

Re "Pope Benedict, why isn't celibacy enough?" Opinion, Nov. 25 What R. John Kinkel begins to document sounds like nothing less than a war by the Vatican hierarchy upon the Roman Catholic priesthood, both gay and straight. This sounds strange, but such a war is not without precedent. Upon taking power in the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin directed his purges against the good and decent people in the Communist Party, of which there were many, in order to convert the party into a dependable instrument of his will.

Re "Vatican Issues a Qualified Ban on Gays in Priesthood," Nov. 23 Because homosexuality in the Roman Catholic Church is such a nuanced topic, I was surprised that the article failed to illuminate several glaring inconsistencies in the Vatican's policy change. First, gay men in the priesthood have nothing to do with sexual abuse. Gay is not a synonym for abuser, rapist or child molester. Second, gay culture is more than porn, gay magazines and pride parades. To imply that gay culture is anything less than a rich and complex system that interacts with dominant culture and varies by person and place is at best incorrect, at worst a symptom of a phobia.