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Just how common is homosexuality among the Catholic clergy? A September Washington Post article cited the figures of a Baltimore therapist, A.W. Richard Sipe, who, after 25 years of interviewing 1,000 priests, concluded that 20% of the nation's Catholic clergy are gay, half of those sexually active. Sipe also estimates that 4% of priests are sexually attracted to adolescents and an additional 2% to children under 13. Responding last month, David Brinkmoeller, director of the U.S. bishops' secretariat on priestly life, questioned the validity of the figures.
In a new anthology, Homosexuality in the Priesthood and the Religious Life (Crossroad; $14.95), Salvatorian priest Robert Nugent, who has worked among gay Catholics for twelve years, says estimates on the numbers of homosexual clergy range from "the most conservative 10% to a more reasonable 20%" or higher. He notes that a national survey by vocation directors in men's religious orders showed that, from 1981 to 1985, 5% of candidates accepted for the priesthood identified themselves to the church as being homosexual in orientation.
In 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.
Influenced by liberalization in both theology and society, such clergymen reject or redefine the official concept of celibacy. Many of them interpret it as a ban upon marriage instead of sex, or as an ideal instead of a law to be obeyed. One of Wolf's homosexual priests said of the celibacy rule, "Since it is forced, it has no moral binding power as long as scandal is avoided."
Another clergyman, who is a regional director of priestly education in one of the larger men's orders, explained to TIME the justification for his private homosexual life during recent years. "We'll never know what is right or wrong until we open up the 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.
Catholic teaching holds that all homosexual acts are sinful, though a homosexual orientation is not. There are U.S. Catholic bishops willing to ordain priests with homosexual proclivities as 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."