Comments on: Catholic Priest Rebuked For Participating In Cousins Gay Wedding

By: AJ

AJ — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 06:08:01 +0000

Thank God for priests like Fr. DiVito, who follow CHRIST. I am scandalized that Fr. DiVito was publicly rebuked while the pedophile priests were SHIELDED and PROTECTED and in some cases DEFENDED By the church!

By: Herald

Herald — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 00:41:39 +0000

From my perspective as a former pastor I view Fr. DeVito’s actions as a very commendable act of courage and conscience. The pressures exerted both by members of the parish and superiors are immense. The official rebuke he received is the least of what may be coming his way.

His story reminded me of comments made by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini in the interview he gave before he died. “The Church must admit its mistakes and begin a radical change,” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48876172/ns/world_news-europe

By: Tony Adams

Tony Adams — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 23:12:39 +0000

Dear Mr. O’Connor,
Fr. DeVito was caught in a difficult situation. He wanted to be part of his cousin’s wedding but knew it could get him into trouble. I spoke to both the groom and to Fr. DeVito whom I have known since we were both in high school seminary together. They agreed to talk off the record and I will honor that, but I will say that Fr. DeVito probably is counting on us to spread the word about what transpired here. DeVito has balls but he also has a brain. He chooses to work from within the Church. I chose the opposite route having left the active ministry decades ago. If the Catholic Church does not die first, it will change to give LGBT members and women equal status. When that happens, I hope you will give Michael and the legion of priests just like him a word of thanks for the part he played in that growth.

By: Glyndon Morris

Glyndon Morris — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 23:12:34 +0000

I think this priest not only has balls, but brass ones. He did stand up to the Church. He did this when he agreed to participate in his cousin’s wedding. There is absolutely no chance the priest did not know the risk. He knew, and he followed God’s calling despite the clear edicts of his Church. I might also suggest that this rebuke is not the most severe punishment that the archbishop could have imposed.

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 22:06:25 +0000

That Bible passage does not contain the words “effeminate” or “homosexual” in the original language. They are both speculative translations. The word translated “effeminate” means “homosexual” in modern Greek, but that doesn’t mean anything. The modern word “lasagna” goes back to a Greek word of that period that meant “chamber pot.”

It’s irresponsible to assume that a word keeps the same meaning over a span of centuries. Translators know that, so they have no excuse for translating things into the Bible.

The word “homosexual” does not occur in the RSV, but pops up again in the NRSV. No one was a homosexual before about 1867, for the simple reason that the word hadn’t been invented yet. So there is no historical precedent for the use of the word “homosexual” in a Bible translation.

In an accurate translation of the Bible, the word “homosexual” should never occur.

By: Andrew Sorbo

Andrew Sorbo — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 20:11:20 +0000

Fr. DeVito is a man who is caught between doing what is in his heart and doing what he loves, what he has a calling to do, and is so good at: being a priest, a minister to his flock, a disciple of Christ. His is the same dilemma so many Roman Catholic priests and ministers in other Christian denominations have, and that is how to reconcile their calling to be witnesses to Christ’s teachings and commands on the one hand, and to be respectful of the demands made by their hierarchical “superiors” in their churches. So, as many people of conscience do, they push the limits…and that leads to being rebuked by their “superiors” who have the power to discipline but not the moral or spiritual integrity to lead by example.
As a gay man who was a teacher in the Catholic schools for many years before moving on to teach in the public schools, I had to dissemble and hide in the closet in order to do the work I felt a calling to do. As a principal at St. Rose School in New Haven, where I likewise remained in the closet, I worked under Fr. DeVito and came to know him as a priest who also had a calling and displayed it for all to see in his wonderfully pastoral interactions with his parishioners. Consider the love of a man for the church of his birth, the church makes more Christ-like by his life’s work, and the people he serves so well on the one hand and the fear of losing all of that before you say he has no guts.

By: RICHARD C OCONNOR

RICHARD C OCONNOR — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 19:04:49 +0000

i do wish fr.De vito had stood up and had some balls about this matter. no one was hurt except the CHURCH, as it is still in the 19th century