Collegeville – A priest at St. John\u2019s University said he was resigning his leadership position because of the Vatican\u2019s latest statement that homosexuals should be barred from entering the Roman Catholic priesthood.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I can no longer honestly represent, explain and defend the church\u2019s teaching on homosexuality, I feel I must resign,\u201d the Rev. Bob Pierson said in an e-mail December 14 to administrators and students at St. John\u2019s and the nearby College of St. Benedict.<\/p>\n
The Vatican announced last month [ View<\/a> ] that it was toughening its stand against gay candidates for the priesthood, advising that men with \u201cdeep-seated\u201d gay tendencies or who \u201csupport so-called gay culture\u201d shouldn\u2019t be admitted to seminaries or ordained. Others with \u201ctransitory\u201d homosexual inclinations can be accepted if they have \u201cclearly overcome\u201d them for three years.<\/p>\n Several gay priests are now questioning whether they can continue serving the church. The Rev. Leonard Walker quit his parish assignment in Mesa, AZ., in protest. The Rev. Thomas J. O\u2019Brien, a Jesuit retreat director from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., disclosed his sexual orientation publicly – a rare step among clergy – saying the Vatican document promotes \u201cbigotry.\u201d<\/p>\n Pierson, the chaplain and director of campus ministry, said in the e-mail that that he is gay and celibate. He said he did not accept several elements in the Vatican document, including the assertion that homosexuals are \u201cobjectively disordered.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI am not an infallible person, but I cannot remain silent about my disagreement in conscience with this document, or the church\u2019s teaching on homosexuality,\u201d said the priest.<\/p>\n Pierson said he would resign effective January 15. He will remain a member of the monastic community at St. John\u2019s Abbey, which is on the campus but technically separate from the university. University spokesman Michael Hemmesch said that the school regretted Pierson\u2019s decision but that \u201cwe must respect his personal conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n Quest News See Also: Jul 28, 2010 – St. John\u2019s Abbey\u2019s Stance on Homosexuality<\/a> Collegeville – A priest at St. John\u2019s University said he was resigning his leadership position because of the Vatican\u2019s latest statement that homosexuals should be barred from entering the Roman Catholic priesthood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[209,207,119,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bob-pierson","category-homosexuality","category-michael-hemmesch","category-rome","wp-image-borders"],"views":1379,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1779"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2251,"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1779\/revisions\/2251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nVolume 12 No. 24 December 22, 2005
\nhttp:\/\/www.quest-online.com\/NewFiles\/QuestXII24.html<\/a><\/p>\n
\nSee Also: Aug 1, 2010 – Cloistered Passions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"