ARTICLES

Menlo Park Vice

Is the Church too tolerant?

By Eric Reslock

The academic dean at St. Patrick's seminary in Menlo Park was relieved of his duties by the Archdiocese of San Francisco following his arrest on March 2nd in an alleged internet solicitation of a 13-year-old boy. The youngster was portrayed by an undercover policeman over the internet. Father Carl A. Schipper was arrested at his Santa Rosa home and later posted $50,000 bail and was released. The 57 year-old priest fell under police suspicion in September while an investigation into the reported molestation of another 13-year-old boy yielded Schipper's America Online screen name, which was written on the boy's hand. Schipper is not a suspect in that case. San Jose police are examining the computers' memory caches at Schipper's home and his office at St. Patrick's seminary. Police are also looking into America Online archives to see if there were other juveniles involved. When asked if the solicitations were occurring from St. Patrick's seminary itself, Sergeant Hewitt of the San Jose Police department told this writer there was ample reason to obtain a search warrant for Schipper's offices at St. Patrick's. A spokesman for the archdiocese of San Francisco said that Schipper had living quarters at the seminary in Menlo Park and is believed to have spent most of his time there. According to Sergeant Hewitt, the staff at St. Patrick's was very surprised and they cooperated fully with the search.

Police struck up an online relationship with Schipper that lasted several months. Police said the online conversations were sexual in nature and meetings were discussed. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported that investigators later discovered that other officers in the department were working on a sting to catch Schipper. He was placed on administrative leave from St. Patrick's immediately after his arrest and is scheduled for arraignment on March 16.

As Bay Area sex scandals pile up, many Catholic faithful ponder if the Church's way of dealing with sexual morals among priests is effective. Given the number of arrests and scandals, is the Archdiocese of San Francisco too tolerant of homosexuality among its ranks and in its seminaries? A diocesan priest in San Francisco, who graduated from St. Patrick's in the mid-sixties, told me that he doesn't think this is true. "The problem is that seminarians that have come in since the 70s are bringing with them all the problems that are in society today," he said. "My fellow seminarians all came from good, stable families. It's just not the same today." According to him, recent problems are a reflection of a morale problem. "In San Francisco back then, there was a wonderful camaraderie which has been gone since the council [of Vatican II]," he said. "While things are getting better in that regard, it's understandable that some priests feel very isolated."

Father Richard Perozich graduated from St. John's seminary in Camarillo in 1992 and has counseled priests with same-sex attraction since 1996 in San Diego. Father Perozich said, "When I was at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, our rector told us in the yearly rector's talk that homosexual feelings were not an impediment to ordination, but advised wisely that if one identified as "gay", he would not be ordained to the priesthood." Father Perozich said that seminarians were well taught on sexual morals at St. John's seminary. "Throughout my seminary training from 1988-92 we were educated in the value of chastity and encouraged to live chastely as priests, guided by our faculty and lecturers such as Dr. Joseph Nicolosi of NARTH [National Association forf Research and Therapy of Homosexuals]." After his ordination, however, Perozich found the Church to be "deafeningly silent" on homosexuality. "Spiritual assistance for growth in chastity for persons with same-sex attraction such as that given through Courage has been rejected in more than 40 dioceses in favor of support groups for practicing or promoting homosexualists on how to live a "gay" or "lesbian" spirituality in a sexual relationship, with no assistance to grow in sexual identity as one's given gender with all the attributes and duties appropriate to that gender." "Rather," he said, "support is given for a newly created class of people called "gays" and "lesbians" to live out homogenital activity against the Church's teaching." Father Perozich said that it is important to be compassionate. "To be truly compassionate, however, is to suffer with a person. To be compassionate with a person with homosexual attraction, particularly children, we need to realize that this tendency to sin is serious. It can lead our children away from God and the Church, because often those who are having homosexual relations become angry when they are told by us that this activity is wrong." The basic teaching of the Church is that while same sex attraction is not a sin, homosexual activity is. According to Father Perozich, this is rarely discussed.

At St. Patrick's seminary, where Father Schipper was academic dean, aspiring priests take several courses on moral theology dealing with sexual matters. In one course called Homosexuality and the Church, the class covers material dealing with "individual concerns such as personal discovery, violence, parents and homosexuality, and HIV/AIDS". In the description, at least, the influence of the Church is ambiguous. In another class, The Meaning of Human Sexuality, one of the topics for discussion is "intrinsic evil acts in sex." The Church's stamp is clearly evident. But, in the first course, is personal discovery [of a same sex attraction], according to St. Patrick's seminary, akin to understanding homosexuality as being the product of a biologically determined destiny? St. Patrick's president and rector, Father Gerald Coleman, is on sabbatical until July and could not be reached to make this clear. Father Coleman is also chair of the department of moral theology and has addressed the topic of homosexuality in books and numerous interviews. In a 1995 opinion piece for Sacramento Diocese's Catholic Herald, Father Coleman asks if there is some way to identify pedophilic adults before they abuse children. Among the six warning signs, Father Coleman cites, "Confusion about sexual orientation. By the time adults reach their mid-twenties, they should have an awareness and acceptance of their sexual orientation. The adult who does not sustain this is headed for trouble." Father Coleman continued, "It is important here to avoid the "wish" syndrome, i.e., 'I wish I were heterosexual.' It is crucial to be aware of and convinced of one's actual sexual orientation, normally identified as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual." But a priest with Courage says that the use of this kind of secular terminology can often be taken in the wrong way. "What was once considered a spiritual disorder is now called an "orientation". This can give the impression that it [same sex attraction] is created, good, unchangeable, an alternative way of being -- and equal to the created sexual attraction to the opposite sex."

In a television interview, also in 1995, KOVR, Channel 13's John Lander asked Father Coleman whether homosexuality should be a bar to entering the seminary. John Lander: "Father Gerald Coleman is 23 years a priest, and now St. Patrick's rector. He admits homosexuals can, under strict conditions, today become priests." Coleman responded, "It's not just them vowing that they're not going to act out homosexually, it's also our own assessment of whether or not we think that's possible."

Does the answer to helping men with same-sex attraction lie in the subtle ambiguities of statements such as these? When asked whether the problem is simply a lackadaisical attitude about sexual morals, the San Francisco priest replied, "I think the problem is much bigger and more complex than that." "There is something diabolical about these times," he said. "It's like the ocean, it's bigger than you or me."

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