Altoona-Johnstown: Maybe. Maybe not.

By Diogenes ( articles ) | May 16, 2003

Dom, I'm extremely skeptical about the authenticity of the letter you mention, and have to wonder whether it is what it purports to be (a manifesto of a clandestine group of homosexual priests), or whether it's the work of other folks who wish to jump-start the Adios to Adamec Campaign by stirring up outrage among the unaligned.

To my ear, the wording doesn't reflect the language of real priests: "Cease and desist sending seminarians to the present rigid seminaries used by our diocese and begin to use more pastoral seminaries for formation." It's off-key; perhaps this is the way a layman might imagine a priest talks.

In October of last year, the Lexington (KY) Herald Standard reported threatening letters sent to priests by a group calling itself the Gay Priests Association. No one had heard of the group, apparently, and for a secret cabal it too is named a little too clumsily for comfort. Again, there's a cracked-bat feel to the thing.

I have no doubts that there is no shortage of clergy in Altoona-Johnstown endowed in the way the letter suggests. But if past indications are any guide, they have had considerably more effective means of getting through to their bishop, alas, than an anonymous letter cc'd to the local media. Let's go slow on this one.