By Kilian Melloy
EDGE Boston
May 14, 2008
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=74435
A Dallas-area priest who had contributed to an Internet site where gay priests electronically congregated has resigned amidst protests regarding his involvement with the site.
The Dallas Morning News reported in a May 14 article that Arthur Mallinson, a Catholic priest assigned to McKinney's St. Michael the Archangel Church, resigned in order to keep the controversy around his involvement with the site from getting out of hand and harming the congregation.
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According to diocese communications director Annette Gonzales Taylor, Mallinson felt his resignation "was in the best interest of the parish, his family and the diocese," reported the Dallas Morning News article.
Mallinson had recently been reassigned to McKinney from Lancaster, where he had been at the St. Francis of Assisi Parish for a number of years.
The reassignment prompted concerns that Mallinson's presence would have a negative impact on the church, due to his involvement with the Web site, at which gay priests chatted about the sorts of young men they found attractive and vented their displeasure with Cardinal Ratzinger, an anti-gay cleric in the church who has since been elevated to the position of Pope.
According to Taylor, only a few local parishioners voiced concerns; many more came from around the country, driven by the Internet item.
An undated Washington Times article that has circulated on the Internet detailed how the site for gay priests generated concern and was eventually restricted to a password-protected private site.
However, Catholic laypersons afraid that active gay priests might be a danger to their children managed to gain access to the site, and copied the priests' chat messages to another, public site, for concerned Catholics and others to view.
Mallinson had been involved with the site in its earlier days, the Dallas Morning News reported, when its mission was to support gay priests and help them remain celibate, and before pornographic content began appearing there.
Mallinson's connection to the site ended in 2001, but in 2002, news reports about the site, and his own early involvement with it, appeared.
According to Taylor, Mallinson is at this time in good standing with the church and it is expected that he will be reassigned.
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