Vincent Pizzuto of the
University of San Francisco was still using the term “we” to describe
same-sex attracted Catholics. While the “we” indicates Pizzuto considered himself a Catholic at
that time, it is questionable how deeply that identification was felt:
four months later, in July of 2006, Pizzuto was ordained a priest in the
Celtic Christian Church, a church not in communion with the Rome. At
the time the “Alienated Catholics” presentation was given, the pastor of
St. Agnes parish was Father Cameron Ayers, SJ. Ayers, like Pizzuto,
has since left the Church, and is now an assisting priest at San
Francisco’s Holy Innocents Episcopal Church. At the time of his ordination, Father Pizzuto was serving as an
assistant professor in the department of theology and religious studies
at the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco, a nominally Catholic
university. Sometime between February 2011 and October 2012 (according
to the department webpage), despite his public alienation from the
Catholic Church,
Pizzuto has been promoted and he now serves as the chair of the theology department. Pizzuto’s faculty webpage at USF links directly to the webpage of the New Skellig Community Church, where he is the presider. New Skellig is a member community of the Celtic Christian Church, the body into which Pizzuto was ordained.
The Church
Statements listed on the Celtic Christian Church’s webpage are only
three: Homosexuality and Same-Sex Relationship; Supporting Document on
the Question of Homosexuality and Same-Sex Relationships; and Church
Statement Concerning Abortion. From the Homosexuality and Same-Sex
Relationships page: “If a homosexual couple wishes to make a public
commitment to each other, the Church blesses such a desire and
celebrates it by means of a marriage ceremony presided over by one of
its clergypersons.” Pizzuto himself writes on the New Skellig Community Weddings page:
“Because the Celtic Christian Church is a canonically independent
catholic church whose governing principles prioritize the ‘Law of Love’
above rules and regulations, we are especially sensitive to couples who
have been alienated from their church of origin, or who find that their
marriage is unjustly prohibited in some Christian institutions. This is
often the case, for example, among couples who are: Previously
divorced; Same-gendered; Inter-religious… In all cases, Father Vincent
works personally with each couple to guide them in creating a dignified
ceremony that genuinely expresses the couple’s relationship, commitment
and spirituality.”
Link (here) to Cal-Cath
4 comments:
Surely it is time to conduct an examination/visitation of the Jesuit order institutions of higher education in the United States, and perhaps throughout the world. If as some have claimed Jesuits would rather be Jesuit than Catholic then perhaps it is time to deprive some of these universities of their Catholic name - some such as Georgeton and USF have clearly lost their Catholic identity. If American Catholic women's religious order can be examined with regard to their faithfulness to their chrism, articles of incorporation, then maybe it is time to deal with the Jesuits heterodoxy. The suppressions of the 18th century had some beneficial results.
"The suppressions of the 18th century had some beneficial results."
The Catholic Taliban is at it again.
Rising above the ad hominem could you address the the substance of the comment you apparently take exception to?
It's unjust to lump all institutions together. The events at Gonzaga with the KoC, for example, would not happen at Spring Hill College. Often, due to the methods of institutional control employed by university boards, Jesuits have very little say at what goes on at the universities. It's better, I think, to direct efforts for reform at the people who are visibly against the church, such as the subject of this article, rather than posit some sort of Jesuit conspiracy to undermine Catholic education.
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