Priest Who Held Gay Weddings Reassigned

Father James Callan conducts gay weddings, allows women an active role on the altar and serves Holy Communion to non-Roman Catholics in a downtown parish where he has been minister for 22 years--all forbidden by church rules.

Now, Callan is being reassigned to another parish, and he believes the ejection was ordered by senior officials at the Vatican who want to rein him in for his disobedience.

“Deep down I knew that this day would come, that I would be removed,” Callan said Wednesday. “I was hoping, since it went on so long, that everybody would look the other way and just let reform happen in the church. But I guess it’s not going to happen that easily.”

Bishop Matthew Clark of the Catholic Diocese of Rochester, who courted criticism himself for holding a Mass for gays and lesbians last year, said it was his decision to reassign Callan. He warned that the parish needed to change some of its ways to line up with “definitive church teachings.”