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A Journal of Catholic News and Views

18 Dec 2002

Press Release
Contact: Stephen G. Brady
Phone: (217) 632-5920
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
4 PM EDT, December 17, 2002

"I'm 47 years old. I'm divorced. I'm a recovering alcoholic. I'm gay!" Homosexual activist seeks ordination to the priesthood as Roman Catholic Faithful announces "Operation Second Chance"

The president of an international Catholic watchdog group today called upon the St. Louis Catholic hierarchy to block a self-proclaimed homosexual activist from seeking ordination to the priesthood.

Citing a 1961 Vatican directive which declared that "advancement to religious vows and ordination should be barred to those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty" as well as a more recent declaration from Rome which states that admitting homosexual men to the priesthood is "absolutely inadvisable," "very risky" and further added that men with homosexual tendencies are "not fit" to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders, Stephen G. Brady of the Roman Catholic Faithful called upon Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis to expel Patrick Baikauskas from the Dominican Order of Preachers at St. Dominic priory on the campus of St. Louis University. Baikauskas, 50, was recently showcased in a 5-page Illinois Times spread, which highlighted his history of homosexual activism, his divorce, his homosexual relationship with a "partner" who subsequently died of AIDS, his battle with alcoholism, and his eventual admission to the Dominican priory.

Brady also insisted that Francis Cardinal George of Chicago and Bishop George J. Lucas of Springfield must also express public opposition to the Baikauskas ordination. Baikauskas is a native of Springfield, Illinois and was a prominent voice in the homosexual wing of the Republican party. He was initially accepted into the Dominicans by the Chicago branch of the order.

"Mr. Baikauskas is openly homosexual. There is no argument on earth that should convince any prelate that he should be ordained. After all the cases of priestly homosexual abuse of teenage boys that have been brought forward, RCF is astonished that Archbishop Rigali would allow Baikauskas to even consider this as a viable option in his life." RCF is commencing a plan of action aimed at halting the Baikauskas ordination, including letter-writing campaigns to the Vatican and to the Dominican superiors in Rome, picketing the Dominicans, sidewalk demonstrations, and "all other steps not expressly forbidden by law."

RCF is also calling on its worldwide membership to contact Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the Papal Nuncio in the United States, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Holy Father, himself, to demand that Rome issue a definitive papal statement that homosexuals can under no circumstances be ordained. "We've heard enough ambiguous and unenforceable statements on this issue," said Brady. "It's now time to fish or cut bait."

Brady also announced a new campaign directed at American bishops and heads of religious orders, requesting that they publicly affirm that they will no longer ordain homosexuals to the diaconate or priesthood. In implementing "Operation Second Chance," RCF will personally address each prelate with this request. "As to each bishop who fails to publicly make this affirmation in 30 days," Brady explained, "RCF will commence an investigation of the moral fitness of all proposed candidates for the priesthood scheduled by that bishop to take place in 2003 and beyond." The Roman Catholic Faithful is a not-for-profit lay organization, with many religious members, dedicated to promoting orthodox Catholic teaching and fighting heterodoxy and corruption within the Catholic hierarchy.

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