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by Jim Holman.
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They Didn't Think It Was Any Big Deal

Homosexuality and St. John's Seminary

By Robert Kumpel

Goodbye, Good Men, Michael Rose's explosive new book on the corruption of American seminaries, has opened the eyes of many Catholics by exposing the atmosphere at American seminaries -- an atmosphere that has created a false vocations crisis and led many unworthy candidates to ordination. Unfortunately, the book tends to focus on midwestern and eastern seminaries, with little mention of seminaries in the western states. What is the character these western seminaries and, in particular, that of the Los Angeles archdiocesan seminary, St. John's in Camarillo?

Priesthood candidates from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties almost always end up at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo. Previous Mission stories have focused on the anti-traditional and heterodox environment St. John's staff enforces and their use of modern psychology to screen out orthodox candidates. (See "It Was Us Against Them," March 2001; and "Forced Spiritual Crisis," June 2001.) Many local Catholics, though, wonder if St. John's seminary is, also, just another "Pink Palace" -- a name many seminarians have given to St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore to describe its homosexual atmosphere.

Father Joe Baca of Fresno was a seminarian at St. John's three separate times between 1982 and 1997. He was asked to leave each time for psychological reasons (he was too "rigid," said seminary officials, because of his adherence to the magisterium), even though other non-seminary psychologists gave him a clean bill of mental health. Originally studying for his home diocese of Orange County, Baca was finally accepted as a candidate for the Fresno diocese, under Bishop John Steinbock, who sent him to Sacred Heart Seminary in Hales Corners, Wisconsin, to finish his studies. According to Baca, homosexuality was not discouraged at St. John's -- in fact, it was openly tolerated.

"It was quite a shock, especially with my background," said Father Baca. "Before St. John's, I was with the Norbertine fathers at St. Michael's seminary high school in Orange County, and they ran a tight ship. We weren't even allowed to go to each other's rooms or have 'particular' friendships. The reason for the rules and regulations wasn't because people are evil, but because people are human. These are the tried and true regulations that have worked in monasteries and seminaries for centuries."

At St. John's, Father Baca found a much more casual atmosphere, including dormitory rooms that were shared by two seminarians. "One of my friend's roommates was taking showers with one of the other guys and they were sleeping together," said Baca. "They were both sophomores at the time and they [the seminary faculty] didn't think it was any big deal. I myself witnessed two students kissing and making out in the dorm where I was. It was so disturbing for one of my friends and me that we went to one of the priests on the faculty, a spiritual director. He told us not to let it bother us, that it was just a 'growing experience' and a 'learning experience'." Baca was reluctant to divulge the priest's identity, as he has remained on friendly terms with him, in spite of their disagreements.

In its May 20, 2002 article, "Gays and the Seminary," Newsweek magazine depicted St. John's as a place where most seminarians are sexually inactive homosexuals -- a depiction, Baca asserts, is inaccurate. "[Homosexuality] wasn't as widespread as the Newsweek article makes it seem," he said. "According to their story, 50 to 75 percent of the students there are raging homosexuals. I think it was probably less than that, but there was an attitude on the part of the faculty that it just wasn't a big concern."

Tolerance is the key word in understanding St. John's culture. While Baca insists that he never heard any faculty member explicitly endorse homosexuality, it was tolerated without question and without any reminders of the rule of celibacy or the Church's proscription of homosexuality. "The most disturbing thing was not that students were taking showers together or sleeping together," said Baca, "but it was the attitude of some faculty members that it was no big deal. Their concern was, 'Why does this bother you so much?' They believed that if you had a healthy sexual integration, then this should not bother you."

Tolerance was not just encouraged at St. John's, but imposed as a requirement; and it came with a price. "During the time that I was there, there were three students that I know of who died from AIDS," said Baca. "Mind you, at the time of their deaths, they were no longer students -- they had to leave once they got sick. It was obvious that the connection was there, even in the early 80s. The last time I entered St. John's, part of the application process was HIV screening. When I entered the first time in 82, they only required that you pass a physical from your family doctor. So things changed quite a bit. As far as I know, the policy is still in place."

Tolerance of sexual activity at St. John's went across the board. "There were two groups in the seminary college who were habitually sexually active," said Baca. "One was a group that would go to Hollywood and Santa Monica on the weekends. They would leave Friday night, hit the clubs, go cruising and return on Sunday night. The other group was the straight guys. They would drive north to Ventura and go the Elephant Bar -- a well known 'meat market' back then -- and cruise for chicks, shack up at one of the local motels for the weekend, and come back Sunday evening. The only reason the students at the college knew this is because we were two-to-a-room. A roommate would be gone all weekend. We were officially allowed one weekend home per month. Otherwise, students were supposed to be there, unless they were doing something they shouldn't or didn't ask for permission."

Father Baca also says that the homosexuals were divided into two groups: The larger group was discreet about their activity, while the smaller group was flamboyant and boasted openly about their sexual escapades.

The imposed tolerance was hardly edifying to orthodox seminarians, said Baca. "You would go to the chapel Monday morning for Mass, without seeing your roommate all weekend, and everybody would go up to communion," he said.

What still bothers Father Baca the most is the re-definition of celibacy -- a definition which now means living a double life. "The completely unspoken word that they were afraid to use was 'chastity.' 'Chastity' or 'purity' was never mentioned. Everything was 'celibacy.' Even in the college, the understanding of celibacy among the students was that you couldn't get married. They had these Tuesday conferences that were supposed to be spiritual conferences for students. I chose one -- simply because it was so ridiculously outlandish -- called 'The Sexual Celibate.' It was based on a book of the same title by Donald Goergen. This conference was taught by two priests, Father Roy Persich and another priest, whose name I can't remember. Halfway through the year, Father Persich came in one morning and told us that the other priest had left the community. We found out afterward that he had run off with a woman. There was another priest who taught Church history and he ran off with one of the secretaries. He had been counseling her through her divorce, and they got closer and closer until they decided to make a run for it.

"Anyway, Goergen's whole premise," continued Father Baca, "was that you never stopped being a sexual person and you need to be aware of your sexuality, your sexual desires, and your sexual identity. You're not a 'eunuch' even though you're called to live a life of celibacy. It was an attitude that emphasized celibacy without saying what you could or could not do or what was prudent or imprudent. It was simply about being fully integrated and self-realized to develop your sexual component. At face value, it sounds O.K. I'm male and I'm going to stay male after Holy Orders; but what does it mean to be celibate? The vocabulary that was used had so many double meanings that you could read a chapter and it could mean almost anything you wanted it to. Pornography, masturbation, homosexuality, one-night stands -- none of these things were mentioned, mind you, but the attitude was, 'just as long as you stay fundamentally celibate.' To them, 'fundamentally celibate' means more than just not marrying. It means not getting caught."

Father Smith (not his real name) attended St. John's seminary before becoming a priest for the archdiocese. Fearful of retribution from Cardinal Mahony for breaking the code of silence, Father Smith asked that the years of his attendance be omitted from this story. Father Smith witnessed a good deal of homosexual activity at St. John's, but said that it tended to come in waves. "It was very prevalent when I first got there, just as they show in Goodbye, Good Men," he said. "Things improved a lot by the time I graduated. There were times that there were a lot of homosexuals and a strong homosexual atmosphere there, then it would be cleaned up. At times, it was the pressure of the students that did it; at others, it was a change in administrators. When I started, maybe 20 percent of the students were homosexual and it soon got really out of hand, maybe up to 40 percent of the students. Surprisingly, the faculty helped when we told them about it."

After the faculty responded (including an administrative change), most of the homosexual students left on their own. "The new person who took over was much better," said Smith. "There would still be homosexual students acting out, but as soon as he was told, they were gone. In theology, there were a few, although they were less blatant. All the way up to ordination, there was some open homosexual activity."

Father Smith also experienced resistance from the faculty the first time he approached them to complain of the activity. "They asked us if we were homophobes and why we were bringing this up. In other words, we had a problem. We soon learned who to go to and who not to bother with. Some priests were interested, while others just wanted to 'kill the messengers.'"

Like Father Baca. Father Smith believes the Newsweek story was inaccurate. "I know students at the seminary," he said, "and they all tell me that the number of homosexual students is pretty low. They just don't see a homosexual culture there. I agreed with a lot of the article, but I also think much of it was not fair. Even at the height of homosexual activity there, it was never out in the open, except for a few, very flamboyant students. If you had asked most of the homosexual students if they were gay, they would have denied it."

The biggest problem Father Smith indicated with St. John's and homosexuality was the inconsistency of discipline. "They had a huge scandal there once with homosexuality," he said. "Now it seems to go back and forth, but they take great pains to make sure there are no more public scandals when the homosexuals are dealt with."

Father Jones (not his real name), a St. John's graduate, does not think that the bishops are likely to take serious action to remedy the homosexual atmosphere of the seminaries or remove homosexual priests who prey on young boys. "It's ridiculous," said Jones, "probably not the majority, but many of the bishops are involved.

"The attitude of the bishops is that this is a situation where the majority of them are not concerned with the priests or the crisis or the victims," continued Jones. "The meeting in June will not be about any kind of reform, moral or spiritual. It will be about financial stability. It's very, very frustrating. Too many of our bishops are not motivated by the love of their flock, but by avarice. The definition of avarice is 'an idolatrous love of money.' It is even more offensive and heinous that it is money the bishops love rather than the souls entrusted to their care. They are going to have to go through the motions because they are under the bright light of the media's cameras. But they are not going to look at their seminaries. They're not going to look at their theology books and the immorality that is being taught -- and that is the problem."

Father Jones takes the rapid fall of Archbishop Rembert Weakland as a sign that God is at work in spite of the bishops. "There is a reform taking place because the Holy Spirit has run out of patience," said Jones. "This is a purification and cleansing and they (the bishops) are falling by their own hands, literally and figuratively. It is by their own hands that these things have been wrought and now there is no place to hide. The moral malaise of rationalizations of sins against chastity, that whole attitude of spiritual indifference, that 'it's no big deal'; that cavalier attitude toward virtue -- many priests have rejected the notions of sin and grace. There are many bishops and priests that do not believe in the devil. They don't believe in the immortality of the soul, so when it comes to moral norms, they have nothing. It's whatever you want to do. You think up your own moral norm. There are no absolutes. Everything is relative, and when everything is relative, the sky's the limit."

Father Smith also does not think that change will come to the seminaries. "Absolutely nothing is going to change after the bishops' meeting in Dallas. Anyone who believes differently is living in a fantasy," he said.

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