What DEI Has Done For the Catholic Church
DEI is killing retention and recruitment not only in the Catholic priesthood, but also the US military.
As a retired military chaplain who supervised over 150 chaplains assigned or deployed with U.S. Marine Corps units over two-thirds of the Earth between Arizona and the Horn of Africa, I wrote articles addressing how former President Joe Biden’s Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) organizational frameworks were “killing” military retention and recruitment. Instead of staying 20-30 years in the military, talented and well-trained officers and enlisted were leaving because they did not want to serve in an institution in which they would not be promoted based on their qualifications and performance. The retention problem resulted in increased recruiting goals which in most cases were not being met. Even before his inauguration, when Donald Trump announced he would eliminate DEI programs in the military and government, Army recruiters reported enlisting almost 350 soldiers a day in December. Following Trump’s inauguration, Army recruiters reported hitting their best recruiting numbers in 15 years.
The Roman Catholic Church in Europe and the Americas where the majority of bishops, priests, and seminarians today are homosexuals is experiencing a serious recruitment and retention problem, particularly involving heterosexually oriented men who appear to suffer from “destabilization.” The late seminary rector, Father Donald Cozzens, explains “destabilization” as a feeling of “not fitting in” similar to how a heterosexual might feel in a gay bar. The ordination and promotion of homosexuals over the past seventy-five years has not only resulted in the “destabilization” of many straight seminarians and priests who have left ministry – and in some cases the Church – but it has also caused countless lay Catholics to leave as well.
Gene Thomas Gomulka writes for JohnEighteenThirtySeven.