Out of the Closet; Into the Church

Homo McGreevey Finds Higher Calling

thelastcrusade.org

What does a gay governor do after he resigns from political office in disgrace?

He becomes an Episcopalian and enters the priesthood.

Jim McGreevey, the former New Jersey love gov, has gone from Turnpike truck stops to All Saints Church in Hoboken, where he is known as “Father Jim.”

Last Sunday, the ex governor administered the sacrament of baptism to a bevy of babies, blessed the Eucharist, and carried the cross during the processional.

In 2004, Mr. McGreevey resigned as Governor of New Jersey after revealing that he is gay and has had an adulterous relationship with another man.

At the time of his resignation with his wife by his side, Democratic Gov. McGreevey said: “At a point in every person’s life, one has to look deeply into the mirror of one’s soul and decide one’s unique truth in the world, not as we may want to see it or hope to see it, but as it is. And so, my truth is that I am a gay American.”

The gay American enrolled in a master of divinity program at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in Chelsea in 2007. As part of his education, he started an 18-month training program at All Saints in April and is expected to stay until his graduation next spring.

Seminarians like McGreevey are offered such courses as “The Poetry of Ancient Israel” and “Loving Thy Neighbor: The Church and Human Rights.”

McGreevey once described his quest for a third master’s degree as a “spiritual journey,” and said that “at different points in my life, I had grappled with the idea of going into the priesthood.”

Episcopal priests can be married, whether they are male or female, straight or gay, unlike in the Roman Catholic Church, which used to count McGreevey as a member.

McGreevey declined to comment on his new calling.