Archbishop Patrick Batuyong, wearing a clerical collar, sits in the small nave of St. Michael the Defender Catholic Church in East Point, a picture of priestly tradition.But Batuyong is openly gay, hardly a Roman Catholic tradition. Pope Benedict XVI, who toured the U.S. for the first time last week, wrote in 1986 as then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger that homosexuality is “an intrinsic moral evil.”
More recently, in 2003, he drafted instructions for Catholic politicians, urging them to oppose gay marriage and adoption by gay couples.
St. Michael’s is part of the Reformed Catholic Church, based in Ohio, a growing offshoot of the Roman Catholic Church. “Catholic guilt is powerful — ‘If I’m not in the Apostolic Catholic Church then I’m not in the real church’ — but we are in the Apostolic line that is tied not to the Pope, but to St. Peter,” Batuyong said. “We are a Catholic Church, we agree with the traditions of Rome, the faith of Rome, but not the politics of Rome.”
Batuyong was elevated to archbishop this week as part of the church’s annual Synod. St. Michael’s is part of the Diocese of St. Michael that includes churches in North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Florida, Tennessee and Georgia. When asked, he has a committed relationship, not a marriage. And while he is a gay archbishop, his church is largely heterosexual. “We’re very clear when visitors come to explain to them that we’re not Roman Catholic, we’re independent Catholic, and I think because of that [the local Catholic diocese] leaves us alone,” he said.
Spiritually, the Reformed Church holds all the essential Catholic beliefs and traditions, like going to confession and the use of a crucifix instead of an empty cross. The differences are not limited to political, structural and cultural.
“We respect the Pope, and we respect Rome, but we do not follow Rome,” Batuyong said. He did however watch Pope Benedict’s recent visit closely. “It was an excellent visit, he did an excellent job,” he said. “[Pope] John Paul II was the first to get on the plane [to travel around the world]; they couldn’t stop him. He threw the doors of the plane open, and Benedict followed him.”
Pope Benedict XVI held massive services during his visit, something the Reformed Church is unlikely to ever do. The church’s regulations call for a congregation that reaches 100 families to split off a mission church and start a new congregation. “It’s all right to have a mega-church, but I don’t know if you actually know everyone past being number 474 on the giving envelope,” Batuyong said. “Then when they are in the hospital and you have to visit them its like ‘who are they? Are they active?’ With a small church you know each other.”
A monastic order and less than a dozen churches fall under Batuyong’s dioceses. But the church hopes to be a growing worldwide network of worshipers who want to remain Catholic, but want a more open environment. To that end, no Reformed priest will deny the sacraments, require an annulment before a second marriage or insist families not use birth control.
Batuyong, however, does not endorse gay marriage. Although he has been with his partner, Jerry, for 13 years, they are not married, and do not plan to do so.
“I believe that a marriage is a spiritual relationship between a man and a woman,” Batuyong said. “Now if you want to talk about equality, that is something different, but I believe marriage is a sacrament.” Not being married does not release him from any commitments to himself, his partner or his congregation.
“I am in a loving, committed relationship. That means I have to set an example for those in my congregation as a model of what a relationship should be,” he said, noting members keep distance from some Midtown activities. “We go into the city occasionally because we like entertainment, but we have to be responsible.” The church draws a line between having a gay archbishop and being a “gay church.”
“We’re not a gay church,” Batuyong said. “We don’t market ourselves as a gay church, we market ourselves as an open church, all are truly open. Whether you are gay, straight, bi, transgender, black, white, Latino, you’re welcome here at St. Michael’s.
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