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In a recent essay, “Brought to Life by Christ,” primarily about his struggles with homosexuality as a Dominican priest, James Alison wrote:
All this time I was still wrestling with being gay. Not that this was a problem for the English Dominicans. They had been dealing with the issue with relative openness since the 1920s, had acquired a certain notoriety in the mid-1970s, and their members, whether themselves straight or gay, continued throughout the 35 years of backlash that began with John Paul II to be as grown-up and sensible as was possible in the church of the period. Indeed, my friend Timothy Radcliffe, as master of the Dominican order and subsequently as a writer and lecturer, was a rare beacon of light in dark times, just as he continues to be in Francis’s far less fraught pontificate.
Timothy Radcliffe is an English Dominican with a long history of making gay-affirmative statements; in 2013, discussing same-sex relationships, he said:
“Certainly it can be generous, vulnerable, tender, mutual and non-violent. So in many ways, I would think that it can be expressive of Christ’s self-gift.”
In a post dated August 8, 2018, on the website of the dissident Association of Catholic Priests, (originally published in “The Tablet” on 1 Aug. 18) Alison described, what he called the “clerical closet” in the Roman Catholic Church; he stated:
…a few years ago, I found myself leading a retreat for Italian gay priests in Rome. Of the nearly 50 participants some were single, some partnered…Among them there were seven or eight mid-level Vatican officials.
Ordained with the Dominicans in 1978, James Alison now describes himself “as a Catholic priest and theologian who is also gay.” In a 2012 interview, he said: “My current canonical status is anomalous. I am a validly ordained priest in good standing, with no penalties or disciplinary matters hanging over me. Although it is many years since I have been associated with the Dominicans, I have not been laicized.” Alison has been openly critical in both his published works, as well as in interviews and lectures, concerning the Church’s teachings on homosexuality. For the most part, his contention is that “gay” men and women are created gay by God, thus the homosexual inclination is not “intrinsically disordered,” and that the Catholic Church’s teachings on the issue will eventually change.
Continued below.
Homosexuality Tolerated in the English Dominicans Since the 1920s
All this time I was still wrestling with being gay. Not that this was a problem for the English Dominicans. They had been dealing with the issue with relative openness since the 1920s, had acquired a certain notoriety in the mid-1970s, and their members, whether themselves straight or gay, continued throughout the 35 years of backlash that began with John Paul II to be as grown-up and sensible as was possible in the church of the period. Indeed, my friend Timothy Radcliffe, as master of the Dominican order and subsequently as a writer and lecturer, was a rare beacon of light in dark times, just as he continues to be in Francis’s far less fraught pontificate.
Timothy Radcliffe is an English Dominican with a long history of making gay-affirmative statements; in 2013, discussing same-sex relationships, he said:
“Certainly it can be generous, vulnerable, tender, mutual and non-violent. So in many ways, I would think that it can be expressive of Christ’s self-gift.”
In a post dated August 8, 2018, on the website of the dissident Association of Catholic Priests, (originally published in “The Tablet” on 1 Aug. 18) Alison described, what he called the “clerical closet” in the Roman Catholic Church; he stated:
…a few years ago, I found myself leading a retreat for Italian gay priests in Rome. Of the nearly 50 participants some were single, some partnered…Among them there were seven or eight mid-level Vatican officials.
Ordained with the Dominicans in 1978, James Alison now describes himself “as a Catholic priest and theologian who is also gay.” In a 2012 interview, he said: “My current canonical status is anomalous. I am a validly ordained priest in good standing, with no penalties or disciplinary matters hanging over me. Although it is many years since I have been associated with the Dominicans, I have not been laicized.” Alison has been openly critical in both his published works, as well as in interviews and lectures, concerning the Church’s teachings on homosexuality. For the most part, his contention is that “gay” men and women are created gay by God, thus the homosexual inclination is not “intrinsically disordered,” and that the Catholic Church’s teachings on the issue will eventually change.
Continued below.
Homosexuality Tolerated in the English Dominicans Since the 1920s
