BY Sharon Gittleman
DETROIT– When Reverend Mark Bidwell learned activist priest Bishop Thomas Gumbleton was asked to leave as pastor of St. Leo's Church, he felt he couldn't stand by without voicing his protest.
Bidwell isn't alone.
LGBT and straight supporters alike joined in a letter-writing campaign to ask the Vatican to allow Gumbleton to stay on.
Church officials point to rules governing clerics' mandatory age of retirement to explain Gumbleton's departure. The bishop believes politics may have played a part in his losing his pastoral role at his church.
Bidwell thinks Gumbleton's stand on lesbian and gay issues was to blame.
"I believe it because he's been outspoken for our community – the LGBTQ community," said Bidwell, who serves as pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit in Ferndale.
While Bidwell said he had no evidence to support his theory, he questioned why Gumbleton would be asked to leave his leadership position at his parish when there was a shortage of priests.
"I'm speaking up for someone who I admire and respect for his years of seeking justice as a humanitarian," he said. "I see him as a beloved person."
Bidwell hopes to inspire the LGBT community to write letters to church officials asking that Gumbleton be permitted to keep ministering in the Detroit area.
"I don't think anyone should be forced to retire," he said.
Gumbleton said priests submit letters of resignation at age 70, but it's customary for them to be reappointed to their posts on a year-by-year basis if they are in good health and want to continue their pastoral functions.
"Contrary to that policy, I've been told that the authorities in Rome don't want me to stay on," said Gumbleton, 77.
He retired his position as a bishop in January 2005.
His advocacy on behalf of LGBT rights probably didn't have an effect on his situation, Gumbleton said.
"Most likely it has to do with my testimony in Ohio last year, where I talked about extending the statute of limitations for acts of sex abuse against children by priests," he said. "That's when I got the word I had to resign."
Gumbleton said he's most concerned about the future of his parish, St. Leo's Church in Detroit.
"I don't want St. Leo's to not have a pastor," he said.
He didn't discourage people writing letters on his behalf.
"They need to do what they believe is right," he said. "I'm not pushing for them to do it. I don't want to be the issue. The issue is what's good for the parish."
Church representatives denied that politics had any role in the Vatican's acceptance of Gumbleton's resignation.
"I think that would be a wrong interpretation of what's happening here," said Ned McGrath, director of communications for the archdiocese of Detroit. "Bishop Gumbleton is leaving because he submitted his retirement."
Gumbleton is not being treated differently than other clerics who have reached their 70s, said McGrath.
"When a bishop comes to the point in life where he has to retire, he submits that to the pope. Cardinal Maida and Bishop Gumbleton were informed from the Vatican that they accepted his resignation and he needed to give up any pastoral offices, such as the pastor of his parish," said McGrath. "That's typically the way the Vatican handles things."
Gumbleton has no reason to fear for St. Leo's future, McGrath said.
"The diocese is committed to having a priest there," he said,
Church authorities won't be swayed by letters in Gumbleton's support, he said.
"I think the decision has been made," he said.
