Kingston Whig Standard

12 November 2009

Posted By BRYN WEESE, SUN MEDIA

Canada's first openly gay Catholic priest wants another milestone under his robe.

Father Karl Clemens is getting married Saturday to his partner Nick, who didn't want his last name used.

He says he'll be the first man of the Catholic cloth to enter into a same-sex marriage in Canada, and maybe even in North America.

"I'm not doing it to start a revolution, but if people want to exercise their right, and so forth, that's terrific," Clemens told Sun Media yesterday. "I feel very strongly about it.

"I'm leading the way -- or pioneering, as it were -- in something that I think is very important," Clemens said. "It's a human right."

Clemens, who is approaching 70 and who is retired from the Kingston diocese after serving there for 33 years, moved to Toronto more than a decade ago to work in, and advocate for, the city's gay village on Church St.

About his same-sex marriage, he's prepared for a backlash from the Church and some of its followers, as he was when he came out of the closet in 2005.

"There will be Catholics who feel, because of their lack of understanding, that this is a very wrong thing and therefore will not be pleased," Clemens said.

"But those are consequences we have to be willing to deal with because we feel strongly about the issue at hand, which is the right to be able to enter into same-sex marriages."

Clemens and his partner will be married Saturday afternoon in the couple's home.

Article ID# 2171926

 Karl: I've known you since you were a deacon in Smiths Falls.

Congratulations. Not my boat to sail, but admire your courage.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #1 By jimlad,

Lifesitenews.com

Monday November 13, 2006

By John-Henry Westen

TORONTO, November 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Some of the voters in today's Toronto municipal elections were informed about one of the candidates for Catholic School Board Trustee from the pulpits of their churches on Sunday.   

Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, the Archbishop of Toronto sent a letter to all parishes in the zone where renegade priest Karl Clemens is running for election to the Toronto Catholic school board.   The letter which was read at Sunday Masses at all parishes in Toronto's Ward 9 over the weekend reminded Catholics that "in order to run for an elective office, a priest must have the permission from the local Bishop."

Rev. Clemens caused a stir last year as the first Catholic priest to identify himself as "gay" on television.  Clemens made his announcement saying, "I'm a Roman Catholic priest and I'm gay". (see coverage: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05102402.html ) 

The letter from the Cardinal noted that Clemens was a priest who has had his right to say Mass in public removed.  "Karl Clemens, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kingston residing in Toronto, whose right to function as a priest in public has been taken away, has presented himself as a candidate for the Toronto Catholic District School Board," said the letter signed by Cardinal Ambrozic. 

Q&A / Kingston priest comes out of the closet

Tanya Gulliver / Toronto / Thursday, November 10, 2005

Last month, with the Vatican gearing up a policy that would screen gay men out of the priesthood, retired Roman Catholic priest Karl Clemens went public about being gay on Vision TV's series 360, making him the first Canadian priest to do so. Clemens, 63, grew up in Kingston and spent his entire working career there. He now lives in Toronto's gay village. Here's an edited version of a conversation he had with Xtra writer Tanya Gulliver.

Tanya Gulliver: When did you first decide to become a priest? What motivated/drew you?

Karl Clemens: I had thought about it throughout my high school years. Then I taught school for a few years and it was more and more in my mind. I entered seminary in 1968; I was in my mid-20s. I was very much involved in church life as a child. I was always a people person, always concerned about the needs of people.

Gulliver: When did you first realize you were gay?

Clemens: Certainly in late elementary school, maybe early high school.

Gulliver: What kinds of conflicts did this present?

Clemens: I just felt that I had to be a good boy and not be sexually active. Being very much into my faith I looked upon it very seriously and that was the way it went.

Gulliver: Do you feel you are an activist?

Clemens: I would guess so. I have been an activist of sorts in that [queer people and people dealing with HIV/AIDS] have been my main ministry for the past six years. Helping the HIV/AIDS community is why I decided to locate in TO when I retired early from the priesthood. There is a very much needed ministry with people in the gay community who are feeling rejection, isolation, self-image problems -- that became part of the whole package.

Gulliver: Where do you do your ministry now?

Clemens: In the coffee shops, in the bars -- wherever I am present and they want to see me and talk to me.

Gulliver: Has there been any fallout from your decision to come out on Vision TV?

Clemens:The fallout is very good and positive. There were, according to Vision, an extraordinary number of e-mails. A number of those e-mails were [from] priests and were congratulatory, thanking me for opening the door and admiring me for being brave. There were some from lay people. All but four were also positive.

Gulliver: What kind of response have you received from the archbishop or your superiors?

Clemens: I've had nothing. Vision TV tried to make contact and they said they had no comments. The archbishop of Kingston -- that's my diocese -- he asked Vision for a copy of the tape which they sent. But I've received nothing in response.

Gulliver: Are you surprised at the lack of a response?

Clemens: I don't know... Maybe they're just taking time. I don't know. Because you see, really I am in the diocese in TO where the Cardinal [Ambrozic] is the archbishop. I'm sure you're quite aware of him. [Ambrozic was a major opponent of the same-sex marriage bill.] They're both maybe putting their heads together about that. I'm here as a retired priest... [but] once a priest, always a priest.

Gulliver: You said on the Vision show that your superiors have sometimes insinuated that you weren't being celibate. What form did the insinuations take and how did you respond?

Clemens: Someone had... reported that I was leading an openly gay life here and that I wasn't... being celibate. That's a lie. Openly gay life can be interpreted in many ways. Am I going about seeking out gay relationships or I am gay? But I am a priest and living as a priest and I am living a celibate life. If I was any more celibate I don't think I'd be alive.

Gulliver: Some people don't understand that you can be sexually celibate and still identify emotionally in terms of orientation as gay.

Clemens: The whole mentality that people have toward what a gay person is they have this idea that gay people are like a sexual addiction. They're so wound up in it that they don't see that heterosexual people are sexual beings, too. If you're a heterosexual or you're gay or you're bi, if you're going to be celibate you're going to be celibate.

Gulliver: There have been a lot of negative portrayals of gay Catholic priests. In particular, and I saw this in a story about your coming out, there seems to be an implication that being a gay priest equates with being a paedophile. How do you respond?

Clemens: That's very near and dear to me. I had cases that I pastorally dealt with of paedophiles and child molesters and in every instance that I dealt with them, with the exception of one, they were heterosexual men. Paedophilia and homosexuality is such a misconception. It's just not true. The two don't go together. It doesn't mean a gay person can't be a paedophile but paedophiles are heterosexuals also.

Gulliver: How prevalent do you think gay priests are?

Clemens: They asked me on Vision, "Would you say 50 percent of priests are gay?" I would agree that it could be that high. I don't have a statistic; I'm not Sherlock Holmes. But common sense says that it's as common for gay people to become priests as for heterosexual people. That's the best way to put it. We don't have an accurate figure. I'm very safe in saying from my experience as a priest and as vocation director that it's common.

Gulliver: Homosexuality and the Bible has always been controversial with specific verses being used.

Clemens: To me the bottom line is that if you're going to be Christian, then it's love of God and love of neighbour and that's unconditional. You can't start picking and choosing things, whether it is to deal with sexuality or capital punishment. That certain groups do that I find very sad and think they become very unchristian. It's very dangerous when you start taking a particular passage and using that as a mainstay.

Gulliver: Are there passages in addition to love of God and love of neighbour that help you?

Clemens: That's the foundation and you go out from there. Maybe a person is really messing life up. But we must remember that we're all God's children. That's one of the reasons for my calling to be involved with the gay and AIDS community in the way that I am. God doesn't make junk.

Gulliver: Where do you see yourself in five years?

Clemens: I see myself as continuing the ministry as a priest where I am needed. For me for the next five years my ministry probably will be where it is. I don't expect to get a voice from on high. There are a lot of people out there who are waiting to be ministered to. I call mine a ministry of presence and will continue to be present and to be there and to let them know God loves them and I love them. As Tim Francis put it, "We're all called to be evangelists wherever we are -- and once in a while a few words are necessary."