Saint Newman? Gay Saints?

Here's a probable infuriating tidbit on John Henry Newman I heard via NPR on Friday.

"It's not unreasonable to think he might have been homosexual," says the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of My Life with the Saints. "His letters and his comments on the death of one of his close friends are quite provocative."

Yes,there's nothing like a Jesuit investigation. I think if this Jesuit actually had something of substance, the story would've been out years ago, or at least two years ago. Frankly, I haven't done much reading about Newman, and the whole thing seemed a bit vague.

The whole notion of declaring someone a "saint" is more upsetting to me.

From the same broadcast comes the following as well, perhaps some of our Roman Catholic friends can unpack this one:

"Martin has no doubt that there are plenty of gay saints, which is acceptable under church doctrine. "It is church teaching that a gay person can be holy, and a gay person can be a saint," he says. "And it's only a matter of time before the church recognizes one publicly."

On the other hand, yes I do listen to NPR occasionally. Here's my favorite NPR show "New Sounds"  which I believe only broadcasts out of New York.