Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Rebel: Church is a social club for gay priests
GAY rebel Bishop Pat Buckley said yesterday the Catholic Church has been “homosexualised” and needs to better reflect modern society.
He said the levels of gay men joining the priesthood is unhealthy and straight men are being bullied in seminaries.
Bishop Buckley, from Larne in Co Antrim,, told the Mirror: “The Catholic church has become homosexualised – and I say this as a gay man. It is now a social club for homosexuals who hide behind a cloak of respectability.
“I have every respect for decent gay man, and openly gay people, and I support the gay community, I marry them and counsel them.
“And of course I believe gay men and women should be allowed to be active members of the Church and employed as priests, allowing them to be open about their sexuality and allowing them to marry.
EQUALITY
“I know straight men who enter the seminaries are bullied and abused and many of them leave, destroyed by the actions taken against them, some subtle, other actions not so subtle.
“The Catholic Church is destroying itself from the inside. There are sexual abusers in Ireland in positions of power within the Church and they need to be ousted, offered to the authorities and prevented from ministering to the public.
“Pope Francis needs to act if there is any chance to stop the rot and he must expose sex abusers in the midst of the Church, in every parish and diocese in which they exist.”