Gay man will not become president of city’s Society of St. Vincent de Paul

August 16, 2010

Following consultation with Archbishop Robert Carlson, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of St. Louis will not permit a man who has lived in a homosexual relationship for two decades to run for the society’s president. The society serves the poor in eastern Missouri.

“I was told that I could not run for president because my living relationship goes against Catholic moral teaching,” said Jeffrey Goldone, vice president of the society’s board of directors.

“The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has a regulation that members running for president live a life according to Church teaching,” said Archbishop Carlson. “I clarified what Church teaching is in the matter of homosexuality.”

“We serve all people without discrimination,” added Zip Rzeppa, the society’s executive director. “And please note we are not discriminating against Jeff Goldone, a man who has done much good. He disqualified himself for the position of president by choosing to live a lifestyle of illicit sexual union, which falls outside the teachings of the Catholic Church, and outside the qualifications of the Society's international Rule.”

 

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Further information:

• Gay member of Catholic nonprofit told he cannot be president because he's gay (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• Society of St. Vincent de Paul of St. Louis