Education does not trump ignorance
Hate e-mail condemning Thomas J. Brennan, S.J., Assistant Professor of English and an open homosexual, was sent to him as well as to select Saint Joseph's University faculty and administrators.
Sent by a doctor of Family Practice in San Ramon, Ca., the hate e-mail was a response to Fr. Brennan's homily on Sunday, Nov. 3, in which he described his homosexuality as one of "the worst kept secrets" on campus.
In the e-mails, which had subject lines that read "There is nothing 'gay' about S.A.D. (Same-sex Attraction Disorder)" and "Moral relativism trumps Catholicism???" the doctor said "homosexual behavior is a curable choice" and the "danger of homosexual choice" is clear to him though his "first-hand" experiences with the "victims of sodomy rape by priests and other homosexuals."
"I think he is a very troubled person - a mean person," said Fr. Brennan.
Fr. Brennan, who said he paid little attention to the e-mails, did not intend for his homily to be an "official coming out," he said, since he has long been out of the closet on Saint Joseph's campus. Rather, he intended it as a way of integrating his personal experience into this year's Unity Week.
"I saw that there was a connection," he said. "What I see as a real struggle for gay people on this campus is visibility."
In an e-mail to faculty and administrators, Brice Wachterhauser, University Provost, encouraged those receiving the e-mails not to respond to them, reminded them that the Office of University Communications is prepared to respond to "e-mails and letters opposing Unity Week each year," and promised that subsequent hate e-mail messages would be stopped.
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Sent by a doctor of Family Practice in San Ramon, Ca., the hate e-mail was a response to Fr. Brennan's homily on Sunday, Nov. 3, in which he described his homosexuality as one of "the worst kept secrets" on campus.
In the e-mails, which had subject lines that read "There is nothing 'gay' about S.A.D. (Same-sex Attraction Disorder)" and "Moral relativism trumps Catholicism???" the doctor said "homosexual behavior is a curable choice" and the "danger of homosexual choice" is clear to him though his "first-hand" experiences with the "victims of sodomy rape by priests and other homosexuals."
"I think he is a very troubled person - a mean person," said Fr. Brennan.
Fr. Brennan, who said he paid little attention to the e-mails, did not intend for his homily to be an "official coming out," he said, since he has long been out of the closet on Saint Joseph's campus. Rather, he intended it as a way of integrating his personal experience into this year's Unity Week.
"I saw that there was a connection," he said. "What I see as a real struggle for gay people on this campus is visibility."
In an e-mail to faculty and administrators, Brice Wachterhauser, University Provost, encouraged those receiving the e-mails not to respond to them, reminded them that the Office of University Communications is prepared to respond to "e-mails and letters opposing Unity Week each year," and promised that subsequent hate e-mail messages would be stopped.
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