The Church's Secret Killer By Peter Woolrich Aids & HIV are rife among gay clergy members, and they the fault lies with the church and its creed of silence. The culture of secrecy within the church plays into the hands of the virus. Aids-related deaths among the Anglican clergy are significantly higher than among the rest of the general population, and, according to its grass roots members, church leaders are to blame. One leading gay clergy support group has even accused archbishop George Carey of having "blood on his hands". Up to 25 Church of England priests are thought to have died from Aids-related illnesses in the last 10 years, but the church has maintained an official silence, fearing a public relations disaster. The number of churchgoers is already dwindling and, as a body; the church is riven with disagreement about such issues as the ordination of women and homosexuality. After 20 years of the disease only being referred to in whispers - and never publicly - by senior clergy, bitterness and anger against their position of denial are at boiling point. Some are claiming that, when this new evidence becomes widely known, many will turn their backs on the church for good. There are allegations that attempts have been made to suppress information about the real cause of some of the deaths and that a climate of secrecy has been fostered. It is this connivance, say disaffected groups within the church, that causes gay clerics to engage in the kind of sex that is more likely to result in them contracting Aids. "Gay clergy who want to have sex are having to resort to cottaging and promiscuous behaviour because they have been forced underground," says the general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. Richard Kirker. 'Aids and related issues have been around for 20 years, but the church has never dealt with it or homosexuality; in an honest and open way: and some of the things that have happened as a result are very much to its shame. "Gay Christians are never going to be celibate, no matter how much the church wants them to be. It's a question of leadership, and George Carey has essentially put a three-line whip on the bishops not to deviate from the party line." Mr Kirker claims that 25-30 per cent of the Anglican clergy are gay and that some deaths are directly attributable to their leaders' attitude: "The church has Aids-blood and victims on its hands because of its lack of support for its members - and it has got to live with that." Figures for Aids-related deaths among Roman Catholic clergy in the UK are feared to be even higher than those in the C of E. because of its more draconian line on homosexuality. During the debate over Clause 28, Cardinal Winning of Glasgow compared homosexuals to Nazi bombers. In the US, up to 400 Catholic clerics have died of Aids-related illnesses since the mid-Eighties and hundreds more are infected with the HIV virus. Questionnaires were sent to 3,000 Catholic priests last year and 801 responded. Six out of 10 said that they knew of at least one priest who had died of an Aids-related illness, and a third said they knew of a priest living with Aids. All said that better sexual education was needed from their leaders. Dr Farely Cleghorn of the Institute of Human Virology in Baltimore claims to have treated 20 priests with Aids - and every one insisted on keeping their illness a secret. "The church and religious orders need to acknowledge that there is a problem," he says. "Priests have sex and they are susceptible to all sexually transmitted diseases, including Aids." Many of the American deaths are said to have been kept secret, or had the cause of death suppressed, a charge that some say can be levelled at the church in this country Eighteen months ago, church officials told colleagues that Michael Vasey, a prominent member of the General Synod and a Durham theological lecturer, had died from a heart attack. In fact, it emerged during a coroner's hearing that the 52-year-old was HIV-positive. Vasey had lost three stone in less than three months and had been suffering from "aching limbs" and "anxiety". He was eventually taken to Newcastle General Hospital with breathing difficulties. In 1995 Vasey whipped up a religious storm of controversy with the publication of his book Strangers and Friends, which argued that homosexual relationships were not incompatible with the teachings of the Bible. It is fair to say he wasn't a favourite son of his ecclesiastical bosses. The church has never officially recognised an Aids death in the priesthood, and Dr Carey has made it plain that he thinks the only proper context for sexual relations compatible with Christian faith is marriage. Quite what he thinks an estimated quarter of the 10,000 Anglican clergy who are gay are supposed to do is anyone's guess. In the London diocese alone, it has been claimed that 12 priests have died of Aids-related diseases, such as pneumonia, including Paul Rivers, vicar of St Augustine's, Kilburn. Malcolm Johnson, vicar of St Martins-in-the-Fields Church by Trafalgar Square as well as adviser to the Bishop of London on pastoral care and counselling, is the only openly gay member of the General Synod, and has no doubt that his career has been held back by his sexuality. "For gay clergy things are worse now than they've ever been," he told Punch. The maverick, whose openness has left him with few supporters, believes the church has been lucky to escape without more deaths. He personally knows of more than 15 colleagues who have died of Aids: "It's extraordinary, but a good third of those with whom I trained for the priesthood were gay and yet we never once discussed this. The Church of England remains hopelessly closed." Around the country, at least 13 other clergy are said to have died from Aids, including the rector of Dinnington, South Yorkshire, in 1996. Simon Bailey died 11 years after contracting HIV and, although he concealed his illness for many years, he told his family and parishioners when he developed full-blown Aids. Stephen Coles, a gay parish priest in Finsbury Park, north London, says: "On the one hand the clergy want to obey the church and remain celibate, but if strong sexual urges get the better of them, they'll have to go out and engage in casual and furtive sex that exposes them to infection." Some priests have been quite open about their illnesses. In 1996 David Randall, who had been a parish priest in Notting Hill and was founder of the Aids charity Cara - Care and Resources for People Affected by Aids/HIV - died of the disease. Priest Lindsay McKenna is the current director of Cara and has himself been the victim of the church's prejudiced attitude towards homosexuality. Openly gay: he felt he had to leave the ministry and his parish in the north of England after it emerged that he was living with his male partner of 10 years. "The church's attitude towards homosexuality is appalling," he says. "There is a culture of secrecy, which is not good for the church or gay people - not least because we are supposed to follow the truth. "It also plays into the hands of the virus, which flourishes in such a climate because it prevents people from talking about what they do sexually, which leads to ignorance. If there have been deaths, I think in many ways that the church can be found culpable." The Aids death disclosures come as the church is bracing itself for the publication of Michael Arditti's novel Easter, which paints a portrait of homosexual intrigue among London clergy. Ironically, one of the book's main characters is an HIV positive clergyman. Set in a fictional parish in north London, part of the Edmonton episcopate, the novel develops against the backdrop of Holy Week and the church's most elaborate services in preparation for Good Friday and Easter. A publicly homophobic archdeacon is portrayed as a self-loathing gay who has turned to sadomasochistic sex. In one scene, the archdeacon gets stuck after a rent boy ties him to the cross above the altar in his private chapel. Edmonton is widely regarded in church circles as having the highest proportion of actively gay clergy in the country -one deanery of 20 parishes is thought to be up to 50 per cent gay. It has a reputation for sadomasochistic sex, heavy drinking and the women's names by which some of the clergymen are known. It is no wonder that segments of the church are terrified that the book is based on real events and characters, a theory given credence by the fact that Ardetti, himself a gay Anglican churchgoer, talked to more than 20 clergy about their sexuality. Easter has received surprise backing from the Bishop of Edinburgh, the Rt. Rev Richard Holloway, who will outrage colleagues, not least, the Archbishop of Canterbury, with his outspoken views. He says: "This book uncovers the truth about the church and it does it with wit and style. It ought to be essential reading for anyone who cares about the way we live and believe today" There are some senior modernists within the Church of England who are ardently trying to drag it kicking and screaming into the 21st century; but are frustrated by the fact that, whatever the archbishops say publicly, as opposed to privately, is gospel. Church spokesman Steve Jenkins desperately tries to put a positive, more enlightened spin on his bosses' position, but can't escape hanging them by their own words. "The church's line on homosexuality is that it is short of being ideal, but there is no place for homophobia," he says. "Sexual orientation is no bar to ordination but, because of the clergy's special role in society, gays are requested to refrain from physical relations." With such intolerant attitudes the question has to be asked whether the Church of England has a role to play in modern society. At the moment, dwindling congregations are voting with their feet. ====================================================== PUNCH magazine - Issue 104 - April 19 - May 2, 2000 www.punch.co.uk
