Extending an Olive Branch : Father Liuzzi Hopes to Build Bridges Between the Church and the Gay Community

Five years ago, Father Peter J. Liuzzi was ready to settle into his first parish pastorship after two decades as a teacher and dean in Roman Catholic high schools and seminaries.

But Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, then Archbishop, had other ideas. Liuzzi, who was 52, had been working with people with AIDS and was a strong public speaker, so Mahony named him to direct the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s pastoral ministry to the gay community.

“It was a total shock. I was very hesitant,” says Liuzzi, a Carmelite priest since 1965. “Suddenly I was confronted with a ministry that is not only volatile and controversial, but which I had no idea how to do.”

After consideration, however, Liuzzi accepted, becoming the second priest to occupy the position started in 1986. He began counseling gay men, lesbians and their families. He also started speaking to groups about the Church’s policy on homosexuality, which he says is widely misunderstood and far different from the views of the political or religious right.

Liuzzi recently met a reporter in his office to discuss Church policy.

Question: Why did you accept this difficult job?

Answer: The prophetic strain in my order--the notion of leading people or responding to God in ways that are new and startling--is a real turn-on for me.

The prophetic person says if there’s something stirring here, maybe what’s required is not rejection or outright acceptance, but discernment. If there’s a movement, is the spirit of God part of it? I believe there’s something among gays and lesbians that’s of God and that we should be responding to it. That’s what it means to be prophetic.

Q: How did you get started in the ministry?

A: I told the Cardinal that I didn’t think I was going to find a lot of homosexuals in our churches. After that, I’d go any place gay people congregated. I’d drop into a gay bar and say I was a priest and give them my card, and I had to pick people off the floor.

I thought there would be hostility, but there never was. I always asked what they would want from a priest appointed to work full-time with the gay community. The answer was so simple: “You don’t have to change doctrine or allow us to marry, but accept us. I’m a Catholic and I love my church, but I felt that there was no place for me and I was pushed out.”

Q: What do you do to make gay men and lesbians feel accepted?

A: I don’t feel like someone who knows the mysteries of homosexuality. But I feel that if they tell me about their pain and isolation, they do not have to carry it alone. They just need you to carry it for a half-hour and know you’re not shocked or don’t condemn them as perverts. I watch their faces change as they talk. That’s what I try to do. I listen.

Q: What is the Church’s position on homosexuality?

A: Church documents say some surprising things. We don’t believe the same things as fundamentalists because we believe in the human dignity of gays and lesbians.

For example, homosexuality is not a choice, but a discovered orientation, and it would seem it can’t be unlearned, as some conservatives suggest. It’s also not a sin, so gays and lesbians are not commanded to change orientation. They are full members of the Church and invited to be active in their parishes.

But genital sexual expression for homosexuals is sinful. Sexual activity is holy because it starts the possibility of new life. The Church bans homosexual sex or artificial or mechanical controls on birth because they provide an obstacle to new life.

Q: How does the Church say homosexuals should react to sexual urges?

A: When a person says, “I have to be sexual,” or “I have a right to love somebody,” I say, “You can do that, but it has to be platonic.” There are people in platonic relationships. There may be an occasional slip with that.

Other people would say they need to bond sexually and they do, claiming a lot of times not a rebellion against teaching but a long process of searching. This consists of examining Scriptures, church doctrines and works of reputable theologians, and consulting with fellow Christians. We call that following one’s conscience. They solved the issue of their sexual actions in their own minds and remain in the Church. You can be dead wrong in what you decide, but if you do that in good conscience, you’re doing the best you can to respond to God’s will, and the Church respects that.

Another category is the person who attacks this teaching on human sexuality as outdated. A public statement contrary to solemn pronouncement can get you in trouble. That’s not being in good stead with the Church.

Q: You had two cousins who died of AIDS.

A: Yes. One I didn’t know well. But my cousin Gary was a big influence. I still grieve for him. He looked like my twin, except I’m 10 years older.

Gary had been in the Navy, married and had a child. All this was his way of dealing with his orientation, hoping all the time that if he’d act straight, he’d become straight. He said that when his wife had the baby, he went crazy. A therapist told him he was going to have to accept who he was. The marriage ended in divorce. The Church granted an annulment.

About 10 years ago, Gary’s life mate, Kevin, came down with AIDS and my cousin asked me to prepare him for death. I had never seen AIDS. I knew nothing about it except what I had read. I was on my way to UCLA to see him when I had what I guess you’d call a faith crisis.

I was feeling very frail. I was wondering what this situation meant. My cousin and this man were estranged from the Church. Why were they calling me? I got so shook I began to cry. I pulled off the freeway. I wondered how I was going to be able to comfort this man.

Q: What happened?

A: I got to the hospital and my cousin told me, “Kevin is going to die any minute and needs you.” He was in intensive care. I put on a mask, gloves, a gown and booties and went in.

I could not pull myself together. This is where the religious experience starts. Kevin was lying on a white sheet and had lesions all over his body, and I thought, oh my God, Jesus looked like that when they took him down from the cross.

Without thinking I took my mask and gown off. I had a feeling that I had to be not only vulnerable to God but to let Kevin see me. Then I cried. And the roles completely changed. I said, “Kevin, I need you to bless me.”

He said, “Can I do that?”

I said, “I’m sure you can.”

With the little strength he had, he put both hands on my head. I lost it. I realized that the healing power of Christ can only be ministered through our frailty and our weakness.

Kevin didn’t die then. He lived two more months.

After that I said I can’t stop here. I have to get involved in responding to AIDS.

Q: Has your ministry been effective?

A: The most dramatic result has been that three parishes have recognized the gay community and encouraged gays to participate.

The other thing is that I’m giving talks to priests or to lay people, and they’re really surprised. They don’t know the Church’s teachings. That kind of information works to change people’s attitudes. It can also be a big tension in my life. Static always comes from people who don’t think we should be doing anything with gay people and, when they hear we do, they’re resentful.

Another accomplishment would be that the word has gotten around that there’s finally some official place where parents dealing with a gay child can call and someone will listen to them talk about that situation.

It’s such a breath of fresh air. The phone rings. Someone says, “You were at my motion picture studio. I didn’t know the Church had anything like this.” I’ve had policemen, lawyers, doctors and nurses call. They ask, “Isn’t there somewhere for me to be back in the Church?”