Seminary rector writes frank book about "crisis of soul" among priests

Fr. Donald Cozzens, rector of the seminary and former vicar of priests in the Cleveland diocese, has written a book about the crisis in the clerical priesthood because he says the hierarchy will not face the hard questions. In "The Changing Face of the Priesthood: A Reflection on the Priest's Crisis of Soul" (Liturgical Press), Cozzens looks at the facts since 1970: the dwindling number of seminarians (down 80 percent), and of priests (down 40 percent), the pedophilia scandals, and survey data showing most Catholic parents now opposed to priesthood or religious life for their children. With a doctorate in psychology, Cozzens, 60, gives a psychosexual analysis of today's priests and how they cope with a kind of "presbyteral Oedipal complex," with church as mother, supportive but also controlling.

The most controversial chapter deals with sexual orientation. With 20,000 priests having resigned since the 1960s, most of them heterosexual, Cozzens says a large proportion of today's active priests - maybe more that 50 percent - are homosexual in orientation. He says that "the need gay priests have for friendship with other gay men has created a gay subculture in most of the larger U.S. dioceses." He does not argue against ordaining gay men, but says seminary formation ignores the whole issue, with disastrous effects. "The priesthood's crisis of soul, and by extension, the church's crisis of soul, is in part a crisis of orientation. Sooner or later the issue will be faced more forthrightly. The longer the delay, the greater the harm to the priesthood and to the church."