"The 'trial,' if you do not realize it by now, is a sham. But since I have been silenced, and since all the proceedings are secret, both horrendous injustices, no one knows this. And, of course, that information does not come from me. However, whenever, if ever, this trial (sham) is completed, everything will become public. This is the Church's final opportunity to do the right thing -- the moral thing -- about its homosexual problem before the explosion of some very extensive and damning information.

"As I have often said, if there is nothing wrong with gay seminarians, gay priests and gay bishops, then let us finally meet them all. Why do they insist on remaining anonymous if there is nothing wrong with their 'priestly' lives?

"As for me, my sexual orientation is very public. I am the heterosexual priest, the one who stood in the chapel at Mt. St. Mary's Seminary and 'promised, vowed and sweared' to remain celibate (unmarried), chaste and modest for the sake of God's Kingdom. On that day, I, a heterosexual, gave up not only sex with women, but all the intimacies and joys of a life lived together with a woman and the family we could create together.

"In fact, I will never forget that day. We were called out of the middle of a seminary class unexpectedly, brought into the chapel, handed a declaration on a piece of paper which we recited together, and then, still reeling from the suddenness of it all, immediately brought back to a class where the teacher debated with us whether it was proper to ever vow or swear anything to God. According to him, it was against Scripture to make such a declaration. He happened to be the vice rector.

"I am the heterosexual priest who stood before the people of the Diocese of Arlington on Holy Thursday -- the day we celebrate the institution of the priesthood, the First Communion of the first priests and bishops, and the first unbloody Mass in which Christ willingly gave His life for the Truth.

"And, with the full integrity and honesty of my words and life, I renewed my commitment to priestly service and the demands and sacrifices of priestly life, which includes celibacy and thus chastity, modesty, prudence and, of course, the avoidance of the near occasion of sin. Even if I fail, even if I sin, the validity of my promise and the means to achieving it will always be valid.

"But I do not understand what the homosexual priests were promising, because they can't give up what they can't have and don't want in the first place - marriage to a woman. I don't know why the people in the pew were clapping for them, because it certainly wasn't their prudence or modesty, and they certainly do not avoid the near occasions of sin. In fact, they immerse themselves and are forced to live in many serious and secret occasions of sin throughout their priestly lives by living and constantly associating with those to whom they are sexually and emotionally attracted.

"Would anyone be concerned if, now four years after being inexplicably removed from the priesthood, I were to show up living with the Sisters of Poor Clare in Arlington? Would anyone be concerned if I took all my vacations with women, had parties only with women, played sports only with women, went to movies only with women, had breakfast, lunch and dinner only with women, and all at the advice and recommendation of my superiors and the dictates of canon law -- even if these women were all under that 'memorable' vow of celibacy?

"Why, then, is no one screaming in horror at the living situations of 'our' homosexual priests who do all of the above with other men, and even more patently and blatantly, the homosexual religious priests whose very charism is to live in communities? They certainly seem to be very ready to protest their 'right' to live in such occasions of sin. Why is there no equivalent protest from the faithful Catholics to this moral outrage perpetuated in the name of so-called non-discrimination?

"Yes, my head is spinning in disbelief at the acceptance of the total illogic of it all, and in the horrendous acceptance and silence of Catholics to the obvious double and duplicitous moral standards required of heterosexual versus homosexual priests. And yes, my heart is sickened by the hypocrisy, the immorality and the outrage of the ordination of homosexual men as priests and bishops.

"Now, where are all those good priests and bishops we hear so much about? Are they willing to come forward? Are any of them willing to answer the question: Is it moral -- good, prudent, wise -- to ordain homosexual men to the Catholic priesthood? And are they willing to declare the truth about the homosexual priests they have encountered, or those they know about, many of whom hold offices of power in the Church? "The answer is a clear, emphatic, unqualified no. It is, and always has been, a moral outrage."

Father Haley might be a bit heartened to know that another prominent priest has spoken out on the Vatican's reported ban of seminarians who have the homosexual inclination.

Father John Trigilio, Jr., PhD, ThD, president of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy and co-author of Catholicism For Dummies, provided me with the following (slightly edited) statement, which is an expansion and variation of an op-ed he recently wrote for the New York Daily News.

"The upcoming Vatican document on barring men from the seminary who have a homosexual orientation is a prudent and reasonable continuation of the 1961 'Instruction on the Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and Sacred Orders,' which stipulated that 'ordination should be barred to those who are afflicted with tendencies to homosexuality.' This is based on the understanding that the homosexual orientation is 'objectively disordered' as stated in the Catechism #2358.

"One of the problems, however, will be the determination of who possesses a homosexual orientation. Obviously, those who engage in homosexual activity on a regular basis demonstrate their orientation by what they do. A chaste and non-sexually active person, on the other hand, either admits his orientation or keeps it secret. We are therefore left to an honor system regarding those who have the homosexual orientation but who do not engage in the homosexual activity.

"The more immanent and significant threat, though, is with those who are in fact sexually active, whether it is homosexual or heterosexual. Sexual misconduct of seminarians and clergy with other men or women, even when not minors or children, is a problem which merits immediate attention and response. Identifying the orientation when there is no activity is a difficult project but when the misbehavior involves sexual intercourse by seminarians or by clergy, then the objective actions speak for themselves. Fornication and adultery are grave matter and extremely scandalous when done by those who represent the Church.

"The biggest crisis we face is a three headed monster, i.e., bad theology, bad liturgy and bad morality. Dissident theologians who teach intellectual dishonesty and disobedience to the official Magisterium are only encouraged and sustained by horrendous liturgical abuses which in the extreme lead to complete irreverence for the sacred, especially the Real Presence and the Sacrifice of the Mass. These combined will inevitably nurture and spawn rampant immorality. Why?

"Look at the dissent from Humanae Vitae in 1968. Once the Papal Magisterium was openly attacked, the next shoe dropped, i.e., liturgical abuses. Pedestrian celebrations which lack any reverence or any hint of the sacred let alone a sacrifice were proliferated by the cadre who usurped the 'spirit of Vatican II.' Hiding tabernacles, reducing the Mass to a mere 'meal', using invalid matter and form, etc., showed that like Humanae Vitae, the GIRM was open for disobedience. These two spearheads created a third monstrosity, the disregard and then the denial or repudiation of the moral law.

"If theologians and liturgists could misbehave, then why not married couples with regard to contraception? If the laity could that way, then why not the clergy? Sexual misbehavior in seminaries usually coincides with heterodox teaching in the classroom and liturgical abuse in the chapel. What is learned there is then brought to the parish. Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex agendi (in other words, how one prays is related to what one believes and both influence how one behaves).

"Not every seminary went bad and even some which did have made significant improvements over the past 25 years, but there are still a few which remain cesspools of heresy, irreverence and sexual immorality. The ironic thing is that those are the places that instigated witch hunts not for perverts or heretics but to indentify and remove orthodox and pious men who would be loyal to Rome. These dangerous Catholics were labeled 'conservative,' 'traditional' and, of course, the infamous term 'rigid.'

"The upcoming Vatican investigation of seminaries is needed. Not a 'visitation' as done in the past where orthodox bishops were deceived, mislead and fooled into believing all is well. A papal legate with authority to close a seminary or to issue binding corrections or even to consolidate and restructure regional and national seminaries is what we need now more than ever. Faculty members who dissent from the Magisterium need to be removed.

"Orthodoxy, especially as elucidated in the Catechism, should be the norm and mandate of what is taught and adherence to the universal rubrics of the Mass and sacraments needs to be practiced and promoted to the future priests. Lastly, immorality, like alcohol abuse, sexual relations (of either orientation), and other addictive and destructive behavior cannot be tolerated in seminaries or by seminarians.

"When sound doctrine is accompanied by reverent worship then virtuous living makes sense and is easier to practice. When dissident teaching is combined with liturgical abuse and irreverence, then sinful activity is not far behind. What guys learn in formation they will proliferate in the parish. The seminary investigation team needs to ascertain if orthodoxy is taught, if the sacred liturgy is celebrated properly and if everyone is acting morally. With the devil launching a three front war, we have no choice but to address all three attacks."

(Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic journalist and commentator. He is a columnist for and/or contributor to MichNews.com, RenewAmerica.us, Opeds.com, ConservativeVoice.com, Catholic.org, Opeds.com and Speroforum.com. He is also an occasional contributor to "The Wanderer" Catholic newspaper. He can be reached at mattcabbott@hotmail.com.)