Priest won't remove name from letter on gays [No Longer Silent]

From the East Valley Tribune [AZ] | May 20, 2004 | Lawn Griffiths

Retired reverend says policy based on old science

A retired priest has informed Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted that he will not withdraw his name from the "No Longer Silent Phoenix Declaration," a letter signed by Arizona clergy calling for full inclusion of gays and lesbians in religious and community life.

The decision puts the Rev. Andre Boulanger of Phoenix at odds with church teachings and subject to discipline.

In April, Olmsted , leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, ordered nine diocesan priests to remove their names from the letter developed by No Longer Silent/Clergy for Justice in January 2003 and signed by 120 pastors.

To date, seven of the priests, five from the East Valley, have withdrawn their names in obedience to the bishop. A Peoria priest is the only other diocesan signer on the letter.

In a letter dated May 16, Boulanger acknowledged two letters from Olmsted who asked that he withdraw his signature and support of the declaration.

"I have given the matter much thought and soulsearching in these past weeks," he said, and "in the end, I found it necessary, as a matter of conscience, not to withdraw my name."

Boulanger said that centuries of church documents that "refer to homosexuality as an intrinsic disorder, a pathological constitution, a perversion of nature, etc.," and "objectively sinful" are based on human science for 1,500 years ago and earlier. "The best science that we have to this date tells us that homosexuality is not a disorder or pathology, but that it is a variation of the human sexual expression," he said.

"The object of our faith is in the person of Jesus as he is known to us in the Gospels," Boulanger wrote. "Yet, as far as we can tell, Jesus never once mentioned homosexuality as an evil. If this matter is of such importance, does it not stand to reason that he would have said something?"

Olmsted and other bishops were at a retreat Wednesday and there was no immediate response to the letter.

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