For centuries homosexuals have been vilified and persecuted by the Catholic Church, but throughout all of its history the Church has had a very inconvenient secret. Many of its clergy and religious men and women, even those in the highest echelons of the Church, were and are homosexual. Little was known of the lives these religious people live until the publication of the groundbreaking, Gay Catholic Priests; A Study of Cognitive and Affective Dissonance, in 1981.
I am the author of that study and I am a gay priest. But the media firestorm that erupted after its publication and the backlash within my religious community because of its publication eventually destroyed my public priesthood.I want to share the story of my 13-year battle with the Church to save my ministry, because it exemplifies the spiritual isolation, emotional distress and ecclesiastical reprisals every gay priest fears most.
I hope this new site will become a clearinghouse for news and information about gay clergy worldwide. I hope to have a social media component added soon. This will be a safe and secure place where individuals will be able to create profiles, share their stories and form ALLIANCES, find SUPPORT, and involve themselves in ACTIVISM.
Richard Wagner, M.Div., Ph.D., ACS