ARTICLES

Bishop Tries To Walk Narrow Road

BETWEEN CELIBATE AND ACTIVE HOMOSEXUALS

By Judith Martel

At her AIDS talk at the September 23 diocesan catechetical conference (in which she promoted condoms), ex-nun Karen Ann Dey was hopeful about the change in San Diego's office for social ministries.

One of the fruits of this change is the Gay and Lesbian Outreach started by social ministries director Deacon Jim Keeley, with his assistant Deacon Al McDaniel (known as "Deacon Mac"). The outreach's first meeting, held January 9 at the San Diego Mission, was attended by approximately 17 people, 12 or 13 of whom identified themselves as members of Dignity, a homosexual group that seeks to change Church teachings on homosexuality. The second meeting, January 30, was attended by about 25 people, all but a handful Dignity members.

The January 30 meeting featured a videotape from the archdiocese of Los Angeles, promoting its Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Catholics. The video, "Journey to Understanding," presents testimony from gay Catholics demanding rights to express sexuality and to be married by the Church, alongside expressions of acceptance and understanding by Cardinal Roger Mahony and auxiliary bishops and priests from Los Angeles, ostensibly defending the Church's teaching. Larry Kramer, the ex-Catholic founder of the militant gay group ACT-UP (noted for desecration of the Eucharist at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York) praised his Catholic upbringing (which gave him "a sense of justice") but rejected the Church's teaching about sexuality.

After the video, attendees moved chairs into a circle and discussed Church teaching on homosexuality, participating in Church life, and plans for the group. The two deacons listened politely to participants' views. The Dignity members voiced anger toward the Church, insistence that gay relationships be placed in the same moral category as straight marriages, and hopes for the group to be a witness to straight Catholics to cure "homophobia." Several people expressed distaste for aspects of gay culture -- immorality promoted in local gay publications -- and said they would like to be part of a group with better moral grounding.

Non-Dignity members at the meeting included a man who left the Church after he was rejected by a Charismatic group when they learned he was gay. This man said he had stumbled across a copy of News Notes (which he mistook for a diocesan publication) and noted that Deacon Keeley had been "bashed" in the paper. Deacon Keeley responded that News Notes "isn't Catholic, or even Christian, as far as I'm concerned." One of three female attendees brought out a binder containing a Uni High parents' newsletter (her daughter attends Uni, she said). According to the woman, the newsletter said the diocese has instructed Catholics "not to listen to anything News Notes says." Two other men, unassociated with Dignity, said they preferred a spiritual support group, rather than a gay activist or social group.

During the discussion, Deacon Mac made passing reference to "all those phone calls" after notices for the group appeared in the Southern Cross and parish bulletins. Discussing this with a participant after the meeting, Deacon Mac stated that he had been receiving phone calls from local Catholics, "nine to one against the group." A participant asked Deacon Mac why the diocese needs another homosexual support group, since there is a Dignity chapter, as well as Amici Jesu, a group which defends Church teaching and supports homosexual people trying to live chaste lives. He responded that the current meetings are being held to ascertain needs of the Catholic homosexual community. Asked whether the Dignity activists who signed up at the meeting for the "core group" would impose their agenda on the project, Deacon Mac stated they would not, since they understand that the diocesan group must uphold Church teaching.

A representative of Amici Jesu said in a post-meeting interview he believes Deacon Keeley wants to open up to gay Catholics and bring them back into the Church, less concerned with "what they do in their bedrooms" than making them feel welcome in parish life. This representative is concerned that the diocesan group, once established, will be sent to parishes and Catholic schools, with the backing of the diocese, to "raise the consciousness" of parishioners and school children.

He pointed out that one man at the January 30 meeting said an active group with diocesan support would make it easier for young Catholics to "come out." The Amici Jesu representative wondered, "What about the kids who want counseling, someone to help them, not someone to lead them the wrong way?"

The February '95 issue of Dignity Dimensions, newsletter for the San Diego Dignity chapter, ran articles on the new diocesan support group. Dignity chapter president Joe Spinella felt the first meeting had been less open than he would have liked. "Although the meeting was advertised as beginning a gay and lesbian support group, the actual feeling and effect of the meeting was different," he wrote. "Those who attended the meeting were expressing their feelings and asking to be heard; the deacons were emphasizing the official teaching of the Church and saying that it would not change."

Dignity treasurer Linda Rieder wrote, "The first meeting of the diocesan gay and lesbian group was on January 9, but it was last May 22nd that some of us first met Deacon Jim Keeley, who had been named by the bishop to begin a gay and lesbian ministry in this diocese." She says that in a subsequent meeting with the deacons, "I explained what my main interest is: to help with the education of straight people in the diocese."

A local Catholic who contacted Deacon Keeley on February 13 was told that the diocese wishes to emulate Los Angeles's Ministry with Gay and Lesbian Catholics, which involves ten parish support groups. He stated, "In the coming week or two, we will be meeting with various members of the group," to make plans for implementing the project. He noted that Father Peter Liuzzi, head of L.A.'s Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Catholics, will be coming to San Diego in the fall to address priests, deacons, and nuns about San Diego parish-based groups. An October, 1994 Los Angeles Times article quoted Luizzi, "[Sexually active gays] solved the issue of their sexual actions in their own minds and remain in the Church." Statements by Dignity members in the same L.A. Times indicated that Luizzi has said Masses for the banned group.

Asked whether the Dignity activists in the diocesan support group would push the group in the wrong direction, Deacon Keeley stated that although there are some points of disagreement, "we can still talk and dialogue." He noted that he has heard from many homosexually oriented Catholics who oppose Dignity and "who want something more spiritual and prayerful." Keeley stated that Dignity activists would not end up running the parish-based groups, since priests, deacons, and nuns would direct these groups.

The next support group meeting is set for March 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the San Diego Mission California Room. To obtain a videotape critical of the L.A. Archdiocese ministry to gays produced by Human Life International, call the Thomas Aquinas Center at (818) 789-4440.