Dec 26, 2005

queerasstoltz

Mr. Eric Stoltz, the openly 'gay' man who was ordained to the diaconate by Cardinal Roger Mahony in 2004, has been strangely quiet during the debates leading up to and following the Vatican's recent instruction on homosexuals and the priesthood. For an avowed homosexual who has boldly and broadly announced his disaffection with Church teaching, Stoltz' silence is queer indeed. I suspect that his boss told him to lie low for a while. Too much noise from L.A.'s most famous deacon might jeopardize the ordination plans of another openly homosexual Angelino who is currently in formation for the permanent diaconate. So I guess mum's the word, at least for now.

Fortunately, Eric Stoltz has strewn the world wide web with plenty of words which reveal as much about his archbishop as they do about himself. I
n August 2004, for example, the recently ordained 'gay' deacon wrote a letter to the editor of America magazine in which he stated:
In my class of 12 new deacons there were two physicians, a public-relations executive, a garment industry executive turned gardener, a vice president of a mechanical engineering company, an aerospace company executive, a parish business manager and a retired deputy sheriff, among others. They ranged in age from the minimum canonical age to the maximum. Single and married, Latino, Anglo, African American and Korean, gay and straightwe new deacons for Los Angeles are the new face of the clergy. Each year, more parishes like St. Brendan get their first deacon. I can tell you that the welcome and enthusiasm among these parishioners is overwhelming.

There is no vocations shortage in the Catholic Church. We have lay and diaconal vocations sprouting up everywhere, even more than my archdiocese can handle. Our Diaconate Formation Office is faced with tough choices on whom they can accept, given their limited resources. So where are the priestly vocations? God only knows. Let us not bemoan the loss of the status quo, but look gratefully to the future God is setting before us.
The letter is signed, "Deacon Eric Stoltz," but it's vintage Mahony through and through.

See my previous post on L.A.'s openly 'gay' deacon, Preaching the naked truth in L.A.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

With the appointment of Bishop George Niederauer to San Francisco, what hope is there when Archbishop Mahony 'retires'?

12:11 PM  
Blogger CS said...

I like how he says that there are plenty of lay ministers and deacons, but does not mention PRIESTS. Perhaps LA is ordaining few priests, but tons of married deacons and creating gobs of new so-called 'lay ministers.' Doesn't sound like an ideal situation to me, more like a dying diocese.

12:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

1:37 PM  
Blogger Patrick Kinsale said...

I went to high school with this guy in OC. It was a great and very trad school (St. Michael's Priory, now AN Abbey). He was even a seminarian there at one point. I'm sure the good priests there are lamenting all this.

2:53 PM  

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