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	Catholic Critic Cites Hudson Murders But Mortician's Kin Object to Being Used in 'Gay Culture' Fight against Archdiocese By Steve Scott Pioneer Press [Minnesota] March 27, 2006 http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/14194832.htm A longtime critic of the Twin Cities Catholic archdiocese has enlisted the memory of a murdered Hudson, Wis., funeral home director in his fight against what he calls a "gay culture" in the church. Dr. David Pence, who two years ago led a group of men in blocking gay-rights supporters from receiving Holy Communion at the Cathedral of St. Paul, recently formed the Dan O'Connell Society to make his case. But family members of O'Connell, killed in 2002 likely by Wisconsin priest Ryan Erickson, have objected to the use of his name and threatened legal action unless Pence stops using it. The goal of Pence's group, whose membership is yet unspecified, is to "rebuild masculine fraternity among Catholic laymen and priests" and to ask for the resignations of church officials and priests who embrace a "gay cult" or ideology, according to the society's founding documents. Archdiocesan officials vehemently deny any such "subculture" exists in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. O'Connell's survivors, meanwhile, say they don't share Pence's goals. "It was painful for us to see, and I don't like that he's taken my brother's name for his own personal cause," said Tom O'Connell Jr. "His agenda is not ours." Pence has laid out a broad indictment of the local Catholic hierarchy, ranging from an ignored pattern of homosexual behavior exhibited by Erickson to a recent letter signed by 28 local priests asking church leaders to withdraw their support for the proposed Minnesota marriage amendment. The state's Roman Catholic bishops have supported the amendment, and Pence believes the priests' opposition is a sign of unfaithfulness to the church. Pence — who said he would issue a "white paper" before Easter detailing the "polluted diocesan priesthood" — said he believed a gay culture contrary to church teaching existed among priests, which created a system of deceit that allowed Erickson to get through seminary. Dan O'Connell was a funeral home director and Catholic parishioner who authorities believe had confronted — or was about to confront — Erickson with allegations of sexual abuse. O'Connell, 39, and funeral home intern James Ellison, 22, were shot to death in February 2002 at the Hudson mortuary. Erickson hanged himself in December 2004. Attorneys for the O'Connell family sent letters Thursday asking Pence to stop using Dan O'Connell's name and photo on Pence's Web site. "It's wrong, and we are giving him a chance. If he doesn't stop, we'll take action," said Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul attorney representing the O'Connell family. Pence said he used Dan O'Connell's name, "because we think his murder was a kind of martyrdom. … He went to a predator and told him, 'You're a predator,' and he was killed for being a Catholic layman, a father who felt he had some duty to protect a kid who was not his own kid." Pence, a physician from Mankato, Minn., who works in the Twin Cities, recently included a disclaimer on his Web site saying the society is not endorsed by the O'Connell family and apologizing "if any of our efforts bring them pain or in any way hamper their own efforts to gain justice." On Pentecost 2004, Pence — a 1960s liberal anti-war activist turned orthodox church layman — organized 35 men called Ushers of the Eucharist to form a quasi-barricade forcing parishioners wearing rainbow-colored sashes to step over, around and through them to receive Holy Communion. After a Wisconsin judge's ruling last fall that Erickson was likely responsible for the Hudson killings, Pence said, he began asking, "How did Ryan Erickson get through our seminary? Why was the seminary so incapable of judging this man, who turned out to be a murderer? Is there something so wrong with our culture that he could be graduated as a father?" It is a question many have asked. Pence believes a widespread acceptance of homosexuality is the culprit. "I contend that if you're in a system which is blatantly being built up around deceit and corruption," Pence said, "then a person who is fairly corrupt and deceitful can probably make it in that system because there's no truth system to check him." Pence, who has announced a public meeting of his group April 11, is calling for the resignation of certain priests for a range of offenses, including "pushing homosexuality," engaging in abusive behavior and denying a "homosexual problem" exists in the archdiocese. "Dr. Pence is on some kind of mission of his own, and he has knitted together these charges and rumors of different kinds into some kind of whole, and he's trying to use them to ride on the coattails of a horrible tragedy," archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath said. "We shouldn't even have to dignify it by responding." The Rev. Kevin McDonough, vicar general and the target of some of Pence's criticism because he oversees the operations of the archdiocese, said he has actively opposed any "subculture" in the church and said none exists in the Twin Cities. "He has an ideology that he stitches together, pieces of which may make sense, but the facts point in a different direction," McDonough said. "I don't believe in this archdiocese there has ever been an active subculture of homosexual priests who were sexually active and justifying their behavior." Kevin Harter contributed to this report. Steve Scott may be reached at 651-228-5526 or sscott@pioneerpress.com.
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