CHURCH CLOSURES LINKED TO DESTABILIZATION

The real reason behind fewer priests and more church closures

The Archdiocese of Baltimore recently announced plans to close 31 parishes effective December 1, 2024. The main reason parishes are closing in dioceses throughout the country is the shortage of priests whose media age in the U.S. is around 70. Because almost all bishops and vocation directors in the U.S. are closeted homosexuals, one reason for the priest shortage they will never discuss is “destabilization.”

In his highly acclaimed 2000 book, The Changing Face of the Priesthood, the late Father Donald Cozzens identifies “destabilization” as a factor that has led countless heterosexuals to leave the seminary and the priesthood.  He wrote, “My experience as a counselor and spiritual director to priests and seminarians sug­gests that straight men in a predominantly or significantly gay envi­ronment commonly experience chronic destabilization, a common symptom of which is self-doubt…. Even with healthy, close relationships with women and other straight men, the feeling that he is somehow out of sync, that he just doesn’t seem to fit in with the others, may suggest to the seminarian that he is not called to the priesthood.”  

Just as straight men would feel very uneasy spending time in a gay bar, so too do straight seminarians and priests feel uncomfortable and experience a sense of destabilization in a profession - at least in the U.S. and Europe - that is populated mainly by closeted homosexuals. 

In a Facebook comment in response to remarks Bishop Joseph Strickland made about clerical sexual predation and homosexual misconduct at the November 2018 USCCB meeting, the commentator, Sheila Marie, wrote, “There are plenty of priests who are good and faithful men. I have no idea if they are gay or not. Makes no difference.” What Sheila Marie and most lay Catholics do not understand is that there are multiple differences between gay and straight priests, as well as the percentage of them who are actually “faithful.”

While studies show that at any given moment in time, no more than half of all priests are living celibate lives, there are far more unfaithful homosexual priests than heterosexual priests in the U.S. because: 1) Homosexual priests greatly outnumber heterosexual priests; and 2) Homosexual men have far more sex partners than heterosexuals.  

A 2012 psychological study of “actively ministering or retired priests” in the U.S. revealed that only 26.9% of the priests identified themselves as heterosexuals; 67.3% self-identified as gay/homosexual; and 5.8% reported that they were bisexual. Based on input twelve years later from straight and gay priests throughout the U.S., the number of straight American-born priests today is estimated to be between 5% and 15%.  

Differences in partnering rates between heterosexuals and homosexuals help explain why 84% of the 51 priests accused of sexual abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese were same-sex-attracted men who preyed mainly on teenage boys.  While heterosexuals in the U.S. average seven sex partners in their lifetime, that number is much higher for homosexual males like priests.  According to a 2011 study by psychologist Alan P. Bell and sociologist Martin S. Weinberg, 83% of homosexual men surveyed estimated they had sex with 50 or more partners in their lifetime; 43% estimated they had sex with 500 or more partners; 28% with 1,000 or more partners. 79% of homosexual men said that over half of their sex partners were strangers. 

Despite higher rates of sexual promiscuity among homosexual priests, heterosexually oriented priests, along with most Catholic lay people, are often unaware of the clerical homosexual predation and misconduct that is going on around them.  Neither of the two heterosexually oriented young priests who lived in the rectory with Monsignor Francis B. McCaa, later identified by the Pennsylvania Grand Jury as a “sexual monster,” were aware of how many boys in the Ebensburg parish McCaa molested. If one wishes to know who the closeted homosexual priests are in a diocese, one should not ask a straight priest or parishioner; one really needs to ask another closeted homosexual priest. 

One bishop, concerned about closing parishes owing to the priest shortage in his diocese, appointed a charismatic heterosexually oriented priest to serve as the vocation director knowing that the pool of heterosexual candidates for the priesthood greatly outnumbers the pool of homosexual candidates.  When the vocation director was able to recruit two devout and gifted heterosexually oriented young men to study for the diocese, he failed to consider how they might experience destabilization once they were enrolled in the seminary.  As Father Cozzens pointed out, “Self-contained communities like seminaries with substantial gay populations present significant difficulties for straight seminarians. Their psychic confusion, understandably, has significant im­plications for both their spiritual vitality and emotional balance.” Unfortunately, both heterosexual candidates left the seminary within a year.  

Decades ago, a heterosexually oriented bishop was in the habit of saying at ordination Masses, "Welcome to the world’s greatest fraternity.” Unlike a newly ordained homosexual priest who may be invested by the homosexual priest who encouraged him to pursue a vocation to the priesthood, a newly ordained heterosexual priest today often does not have a sizable fraternity of fellow heterosexuals to support him in his ministry.  The destabilization that many straight seminarians experience in seminaries is likewise felt by many heterosexual priests in dioceses and religious orders today.

If Catholics want to retain their straight U.S.-born clergy, they need to provide support that these priests will not receive from the majority of fellow priests who are homosexuals; from their bishop who in almost all cases is a closeted homosexual; or from any number of foreign priests who often socialize with other priests from their own countries.  If a layperson were to complain that his or her priest left to get married, one might ask, “What did you give Father N. for Christmas, his birthday, or the anniversary of his ordination this past year?” One might also ask, “If you are married and your spouse does not remember you on special occasions throughout the year, might that failure to express love move you to look for love elsewhere?”  

While homosexual priests experience the love and support of other homosexual priests, even if they are not sexually involved with one another, a heterosexual priest whose parents are deceased and who does not have any close siblings can be prone to bouts of loneliness and be tempted to engage in escapes (e.g., alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, etc.) unless he enjoys the love and support of at least a few very close and loving families. Unless Catholics in Baltimore, Altoona-Johnstown, and other dioceses throughout the U.S. want to be served only by closeted homosexual priests who in many cases validate the sex-partnering statistics for homosexual men, they need to do a better job in supporting their few remaining dedicated heterosexual priests.

In addition to supporting the decreasing numbers of heterosexual priests still engaged in ministry, Catholics also need to redirect their contributions to support canceled priests like Washington Father Michael Briese, Chicago Father Paul Kalchik, La Crosse Father James Altman, and canceled seminarians like Anthony Gorgia who were unjustly removed from ministry or coerced into leaving the seminary either for addressing clerical sex abuse and cover-ups, or failing to endorse the LGBTQ agendas of their homosexual bishops.  Tax-deductible contributions can be sent to the Coalition for Canceled Priests or to the Save Our Seminarians Fund.

Gene Thomas Gomulka is a sexual abuse victims’ advocate, investigative reporter, and screenwriter. A former Navy (O6) Captain/Chaplain, seminary instructor, and diocesan respect life director, Gomulka was ordained a priest for the Altoona-Johnstown diocese and later made a Prelate of Honor (Monsignor) by St. John Paul II. Follow Gene on YouTube or email him at msgr.investigations@gmail.com.