Archbishop of Sydney

Statement regarding 'Spectrum' article on 'gay' priests

On the slanders and exaggerations of Mr Michael Kelly regarding 'gay' priests.

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
20 August 2001

There is nothing new in Michael Kelly's slanders and exaggerations ("Spectrum" magazine, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 August 2001).
But the smears are so gross and gratuitous that they cannot go unanswered.
The piece is self-contradictory, acknowledges the impossibility of obtaining an accurate picture, but smugly claims that 48.5 percent (or is it 58 percent?) of priests are gay and that half of them are sexually active.
The Catholic people will know that these figures and Kelly's claims are false. The danger is that outsiders might conclude that these wild claims, from flawed U.S.A. evidence, are true here in Sydney, or elsewhere in Australia. They are not.
The crux of Kelly's unctuous vilification is that "the Catholic Church is the last great institution in the West that still campaigns against homosexuality." This is a typical Kelly half-truth, distortion. All main line Christian denominations, except for some liberals, oppose homosexual activity. The Catholic Church continues to help homosexuals in many ways.
I have every confidence in the moral integrity of the overwhelming majority of Sydney clergy, and the failings of a few, in public or in secret, cannot undo this.
The Catholic Church believes and teaches that sexual activity should be confined to married couples, a man and a woman, and opposes all extra-marital sexual activity. It supports and helps every type of persons, sinner or saint.
In this family context, the Catholic Church will continue to oppose legitimizing any extra-marital sexual activity, including homosexual activity. It will also continue to oppose homosexual propaganda especially among young people. There will be no changes in this.