Priest’s Defrocking Over Gay Rite Urged

SAN FRANCISCO — Fifteen Catholics have petitioned Oakland Bishop John Cummins to defrock a Pleasanton pastor for allowing blessings of gay unions.

The targeted priest, Father Dan Danielson of St. Augustine’s Church, said that he had authorized three gay blessings in his parish but that he did not conduct the ceremonies himself.

“It was nothing resembling a marriage,” Danielson said. “There was no exchange of vows or rings.”

The petition said, in part, “We are aware of the church’s constant teaching that ‘homosexual acts are acts of grave depravity’ and of the pope’s clear teaching that such relationships must never be blessed by the church.”