US Priests' Group: "Masturbation is Form of Prayer"
On 24 August, LepantoIn.org published audio recordings of the meetings. Michael Hichborn, president of the Lepanto Institute, summarises the recordings: 'We heard priests admitting to being homosexual and masturbating. In one case, a priest said that he thanks God for the gift of being able to pleasure himself sexually."
Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico – the AUSCP’s Episcopal Counsellor – and Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky – a member of the AUSCP – were both in attendance.
Note: Rev David Buersmeyer, a long-time supporter of the AUSCP, was promoted to ombudsman for the Archdiocese of Detroit in August by Archbishop Edward Weisenburger, an opponent of the Roman Rite.
Excerpts from the audio:
One priest said: "When I masturbate, I pray and say, 'Thank you, God.' I think this is a moment for prayer too. I don’t think they would see it as something negative. For many years, I have thought that we should thank God for the beauty of our sexuality and our (unintelligible). But all these years I have been thinking that it is not just that. If I don’t masturbate, I won't have a high level of attitude. I think it can also be an expression of a high level of prayer and a way of saying to God, ‘Thank you for this beautiful expression that we have in our sexuality […]’. So it's not just about masturbating. It's part of the process. You know? Perhaps when someone gets married, they don't need that because they have a wife or other ways. But in our case, I think it's a way of saying, 'Thank you, God, for this.' I don't see it negatively though."
Rev Ron Rolheiser, a professor of theology and philosophy at the Oblate School of Theology, disagreed that such behavious is "good". However, he suggested that sich acts are merely imperfections, obstacles to the "ideal" of human sexuality: "Anthropologists say masturbation is not the ideal. You know, that’s not what sex should be at all."
Another priest admitted that he is a homosexual: "Ignoring sexual desire can sometimes lead to negative behaviour. We've been talking about that. As a gay man who did not grow up knowing he was gay, but as a black-and-white-Catholic, if the church said it, I did it. I believed it. I tried not to masturbate. Even though I didn’t quite understand what it was. I thought it was leading me to suicide. I think that might be what’s leading some of the males in our society to mass shootings and other expressions of violence. It’s another way of getting release. So perhaps it's a helpful outlet."
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