Is it true that a lot of Catholic priests are gay?

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I just posted the numbers that a lot of gay priests actually give - offline if you will. Within the clergy, this is not news.
 
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Who knows. All I know is that gays gravitated to the priesthood, especially in the 70’s to the mid 90’s. In what numbers we don’t know. In any event, they were still the vast minority. There were some, while afflicted with a same-sex attraction, who were chaste and were exemplary. Some went into the priesthood intending to act out the gay lifestyle. Hence “clergy night” in the New City gay bar scene. Some contributed to the clergy sex scandal.

All I know is that men with same sex attraction are now being screened out. While I lament the exceptions, overall this is a good thing.
 
From the article:

Between 15 percent and 50 percent of U.S. priests are gay, which is much greater than the 3.8 percent of people who identify as LGBTQ in the general population.
 
Far be it from me to defend Slate. I haven’t even read the OP article. (I don’t appear to be alone in that) Agree it is a wide range - the higher numbers commonly come from openly gay priests. I also suspect the last ten years or so may have seen a decline - by which I mean more straight less SSA priests joining the Church. In the US at least it is common knowledge that seminaries attracted gay men for a number of years - the 70s up the 90s I guess is about right. It is a same sex environment. Whether or not this matters and how uncharitable it is to speculate on etc etc I think is up to each individual Catholic to determine. The hierarchy doesn’t even agree on the answer to that.
 
I can only say that when I was a religious brother over half were most likely gay.
 
There are no more catholic gay priests than there are non-Catholic gay clergy, so this thread is just a fallacious waste of time. By the way…why is this of interest to you? Are you gay yourself?
 
Considering that several members of the clergy were busted in a homosexual orgy in the Vatican earlier this year and Pope Benedict recently wrote in his book about the gay lobby in the Vatican that he broke up (and Pope Francis has also gone on the record about), I think it is safe to say that there are a significant number of gay priests in the Church, probably proportionally more than the general population, and they wield a sinister influence within the highest echelons of the Church.
 
I would. Then I could shame him on Facebook. Because that’s what people do these days. Shaming, like mendacity, is now a virtue.
 
Cool. My reply was to DaddyGirl. Not sure if you saw that or not.
 
My bad. I thought it was a reply to my post. That’s what happens when you visit CAF after you’ve been awake for probably 15 hours. :hugs:
 
I think a priest who does not expect this kind of speculation as to his sexuality (regardless of what it is) is extremely naive (and this after finishing seminary). My sense is most of them would rather deal with the question outright - at least straight ones. They often make their sexuality quite clear just to avoid the speculation and discomfort - I imagine many of us would do the same, right? I also think there is even to this day a fair amount of ‘gay lobby’ pressure on straight priests to keep a low profile on this issue of gay priests in the Church, though many of the straight priests are also probably sympathetic to the cause, my guess is some are not so much. This is all gossipy - until you factor in Church teaching on homosexuality and whether this issue should be addressed for the sake of the Church and the clergy. Then it stops being so gossipy. Charging someone who tries to talk about this with being gossipy or uncharitable is a good way to shut everything down and look really pious doing it.
 
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FollowChrist34 said:
They often make their sexuality quite clear just to avoid the speculation and discomfort - I imagine many of us would do the same, right?
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Gee, that just makes us with SSA feel so dandy. If the Church teaches that SSA is an unchosen experience that isn’t blameworthy, then why go to lengths to show that you don’t experience it? This is where secularists who talk about homophobia have a point.
 
Yes, I think the article is relatively balanced.
It accords with my own experience of Priesthood (Religious Orders) in the Australian Church.

I would say that the percentage of gay priests in the seminaries (whether acknowledged, suppressed or unconscious) to be around 25% of advanced seminarians.

It is helpful to be aware that different news sources mean different things by “gay”.
Catholics tend to understand “gay” as simply referring to a homosexual orientation. others understand the word to also mean practising.

My experience of the majority of gay priests I know is that they respect their vows as much as a heterosexual priest.

I also observe that seminarians often have a kind of arrested sexual development and they are not actually aware of their latent homosexuality (though others are) until after vows/ordination. That can make for a vocational crisis in their early 30s.

Is there a reason why you are concerned about this issue?
 
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If they’re keeping their vows of Celibacy then why does it matter?
 
BlackFriar said:
I also observe that seminarians often have a kind of arrested sexual development
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…:roll_eyes:

Do medical students have this? University seniors? Technical school students? Army recruits? Law school students? In fact any other group learning a trade or vocation other than those preparing to be priests?
 
I presume you meant that comment to go to the OP as I personally don’t care about priests’ orientation, as long as they are not pedophiles and stay celibate.
 
BlackFriar said:
I would say that the percentage of gay priests in the seminaries (whether acknowledged, suppressed or unconscious) to be around 25% of advanced seminarians.
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Is that a current day (201X) assessment, or as of some earlier date?

How does one assess the “unconscious” proportion?
 
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Why do you ask me?
I but candidly report the observations, experience and confidences of my 8 years in training and subsequent close years with 100s of priests since.
 
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