Another corrupt Jesuit supported by corrupt superiors

Priest admonishes Jesuit who announced his homosexuality: "the Mass is not your personal stage"


Front Royal, Va, Nov 9, 2007 / 12:06 pm (CNA).- Father Thomas J. Euteneur, president of Human Life International (HLI) has written an open letter to a Jesuit priest chastising the cleric for using a homily at a student Mass to declare that he was homosexual.

Father Thomas Brennan, SJ, at a Sunday evening Mass at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia tied his announcement to the Diversity Week being celebrated by the Jesuit university. He said his homosexuality was one of the "worst-kept secrets" on campus, though he neglected to explain in his homily Catholic teaching about homosexuality.

Fr. Euteneur explained the reasons for his letter to Fr. Brennan, saying that the Jesuit priest's public declaration justified a public response.

Rebuking the inappropriate way that Fr. Brennan made his announcement, the HLI president said "Holy Mass is not a forum for your self-expression. You chose the sacred liturgy and the pulpit reserved for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the launching pad for your personal testament to homosexuality, when by your own admission this was hardly a secret to anyone. One wonders if you would have inflicted details of your personal life on a friend while officiating at his wedding or any other sacred occasion. The effect would be the same: the derailing of the focus of attention from the host to you. You’ve read the same documents I’ve read about the liturgy, and all of them say the Mass is not your personal stage."

Fr. Euteneur explained the nature of the sacrament of Holy Orders, saying that a priest becomes "another Christ" and witnesses with his very body the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. In his letter he also questioned Father Brennan about the priestly sacramental witness of his sexuality. Fr. Euteneur suggested the Jesuit priest had disordered motives for embracing the celibate state:

"A heterosexual celibate renounces his natural desire for wife and children in order to serve the Bride of Christ in a direct spousal relationship. A homosexual celibate renounces an unholy desire for members of the same sex: that is a renunciation of a disorder, not the embrace of a Bride."

Fr. Brennan was also rebuked for his neglect of his congregation's needs. "When even a celibate priest chooses to go public about his homosexual identity as an expression of “diversity” or “pride,” the faithful are rightfully confused and scandalized. Not only do you owe them an apology, you owe them a better example of priesthood," Fr. Euteneur said.

In closing Euteneur urged Fr. Brennan both to be a priest who teaches clearly and unambiguously about Catholic teaching on homosexual acts, and to become a strong and loving father for his congregation.

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Fr. Euteneur is very charitable. I think that Justice is due. Either Fr Brennan lied in order to be ordained, in which case he received the Sacrament of Holy Orders at best illicitly and at worst invalidly. Or he told the truth to his Jesuit superiors and they covered for him lying to the Bishop who ordained him. In that case the effect is the same but implicates other guilty parties. Church teaching is clear: a homosexual should not be ordained. In this case there is no ambiguity. Some criticize Church teaching asking questions about the definition of "homosexual". In this case the subject himself makes a self assessment. Brennan cannot defend himself nor can his superiors defend their decision saying that he has some psychological confusion and it is not clear that he is homosexual. Rather he clearly states that he is.

The question now is what to do with a priest illicitly or invalidly ordained. It would seem clear that the first step should be to suspend his priestly faculties. Secondly, Brennan and his Jesuit superiors should be punished for their mis-representation of a candidate for ordination. Someone must be held responsible for a sacrilegious ordination.

Does the Archbishop of Philadelphia have the courage to confront the perps and apply the proper canonical remedy? The faithful of his Archdiocese need to be protected from a self admitted lier and sexual deviant. Even if Brennan is chaste in his sexual life he and his superiors have clear moral problems with the 6th and 8th commandments. What would be the content of his moral preaching and teaching? False preaching and teaching is at least as bad as sexual abuse. Saint Thomas Aquinas says it is even worse. Will the Archbishop of Philadelphia be a good shepherd or will he follow the example of the former Archbishop of Boston?