First openly gay Roman Catholic priest in the United States
Fr. Arpin, the first openly gay Roman Catholic priest in the United States, was born in Chicopee, Mass. He worked as a parish priest in Springfield, Mass., before he transferred to San Francisco in 1986 to work as a counselor to people in grief.
Despite the church's teachings on homosexuality, Father Arpin, who estimated that 40 percent of American priests and 60 percent of those in urban areas are homosexual, experienced little interference from the church. The reason, he suggested, was his disease.
His announcement came just seven months after the Vatican had denounced homosexual orientation as "an objective disorder" and homosexual practice as "an intrinsic evil." It also made Father Arpin something of a hero to the gay community in San Francisco and to other gay priests.
"The Roman Church continues to be homophobic," he said, "rooting out and attempting to silence gay priests. I survive only because I have public sympathy because I have AIDS." Still, he said, he found hope in the fact that the church allowed him to continue as a priest. "I have nothing to be ashamed of," he said. "I don't think I am an imposter standing before God. I have a clear conscience."
The Rev. Robert Arpin, died at his home in San Francisco. His mother, Jeanette Arpin, said the cause was AIDS, the disease whose diagnosis in May 1987 prompted Father Arpin to make a public declaration two months later that he was a gay priest with AIDS. "AIDS is a sickness, a disease," he told a San Francisco television station, "not a moral judgment, not God's wrath."
Source: NY TIMES
Fr. Arpin, the first openly gay Roman Catholic priest in the United States, was born in Chicopee, Mass. He worked as a parish priest in Springfield, Mass., before he transferred to San Francisco in 1986 to work as a counselor to people in grief.
Despite the church's teachings on homosexuality, Father Arpin, who estimated that 40 percent of American priests and 60 percent of those in urban areas are homosexual, experienced little interference from the church. The reason, he suggested, was his disease.
His announcement came just seven months after the Vatican had denounced homosexual orientation as "an objective disorder" and homosexual practice as "an intrinsic evil." It also made Father Arpin something of a hero to the gay community in San Francisco and to other gay priests.
"The Roman Church continues to be homophobic," he said, "rooting out and attempting to silence gay priests. I survive only because I have public sympathy because I have AIDS." Still, he said, he found hope in the fact that the church allowed him to continue as a priest. "I have nothing to be ashamed of," he said. "I don't think I am an imposter standing before God. I have a clear conscience."
The Rev. Robert Arpin, died at his home in San Francisco. His mother, Jeanette Arpin, said the cause was AIDS, the disease whose diagnosis in May 1987 prompted Father Arpin to make a public declaration two months later that he was a gay priest with AIDS. "AIDS is a sickness, a disease," he told a San Francisco television station, "not a moral judgment, not God's wrath."
Source: NY TIMES
First openly gay Roman Catholic priest in the United States
Fr. Arpin, the first openly gay Roman Catholic priest in the United States, was born in Chicopee, Mass. He worked as a parish priest in Springfield, Mass., before he transferred to San Francisco in 1986 to work as a counselor to people in grief.
Despite the church's teachings on homosexuality, Father Arpin, who estimated that 40 percent of American priests and 60 percent of those in urban areas are homosexual, experienced little interference from the church. The reason, he suggested, was his disease.
His announcement came just seven months after the Vatican had denounced homosexual orientation as "an objective disorder" and homosexual practice as "an intrinsic evil." It also made Father Arpin something of a hero to the gay community in San Francisco and to other gay priests.
"The Roman Church continues to be homophobic," he said, "rooting out and attempting to silence gay priests. I survive only because I have public sympathy because I have AIDS." Still, he said, he found hope in the fact that the church allowed him to continue as a priest. "I have nothing to be ashamed of," he said. "I don't think I am an imposter standing before God. I have a clear conscience."
The Rev. Robert Arpin, died at his home in San Francisco. His mother, Jeanette Arpin, said the cause was AIDS, the disease whose diagnosis in May 1987 prompted Father Arpin to make a public declaration two months later that he was a gay priest with AIDS. "AIDS is a sickness, a disease," he told a San Francisco television station, "not a moral judgment, not God's wrath."
Source: NY TIMES
Fr. Arpin, the first openly gay Roman Catholic priest in the United States, was born in Chicopee, Mass. He worked as a parish priest in Springfield, Mass., before he transferred to San Francisco in 1986 to work as a counselor to people in grief.
Despite the church's teachings on homosexuality, Father Arpin, who estimated that 40 percent of American priests and 60 percent of those in urban areas are homosexual, experienced little interference from the church. The reason, he suggested, was his disease.
His announcement came just seven months after the Vatican had denounced homosexual orientation as "an objective disorder" and homosexual practice as "an intrinsic evil." It also made Father Arpin something of a hero to the gay community in San Francisco and to other gay priests.
"The Roman Church continues to be homophobic," he said, "rooting out and attempting to silence gay priests. I survive only because I have public sympathy because I have AIDS." Still, he said, he found hope in the fact that the church allowed him to continue as a priest. "I have nothing to be ashamed of," he said. "I don't think I am an imposter standing before God. I have a clear conscience."
The Rev. Robert Arpin, died at his home in San Francisco. His mother, Jeanette Arpin, said the cause was AIDS, the disease whose diagnosis in May 1987 prompted Father Arpin to make a public declaration two months later that he was a gay priest with AIDS. "AIDS is a sickness, a disease," he told a San Francisco television station, "not a moral judgment, not God's wrath."
Source: NY TIMES
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Father Bob Arpin
Aug. 10, 1946 - May 23, 1995
Ordained May 6, 1972
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