Former Irish President tells Church: Some Catholic priests are gay, get over it
Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese has waded into a row within the country’s national Catholic seminary after a ‘gay scandal’
The Catholic politician, who was a strong supporter of equal marriage in last year’s referendum, spoke out amid an ongoing Grindr sex scandal in the Church.
Catholic church authorities recently ordered a conduct review at the Irish national seminary, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, after allegations of a thriving ‘gay culture’ among trainee priests.
Under the plans, priests will be monitored during meal times to make sure they don’t use Grindr.
Speaking to the Irish Times, Dr McAleese didn’t mince her words when asked about the scandal.
She said: “We have the phenomenon of men in the priesthood who are both heterosexual and homosexual but the church hasn’t been able to come to terms with the fact that there are going to be homosexuals in the priesthood, homosexuals who are fine priests.
“They haven’t been able to come to terms with that because the teaching of my church, the Catholic Church, tells them that homosexuality is, of its nature, intrinsically disordered – those are the words of Pope Benedict and that homosexual acts are, in his words, evil.
“I am just worried that the Maynooth controversy seems to be concentrating on the wrong things.
“A seminary should be a place where people feel welcomed, not somewhere where they feel policed – after all, there are young people who haven’t yet taken a vow of celibacy.”
Or in other words: Some Catholic Priests Are Gay, Get Over It!
