CATHOLICISM

  
You’re a Catholic. What do you think of the recent stories about priests and sexual abuse? Have they shaken your faith?

I believe we did a show in the ‘80s about them. This was no easy decision for a graduate of Notre Dame, incidentally. I had 16 years of Catholic education. I was a very good Catholic. 

Was?

I am a divorced and remarried Catholic. I refused to have my first marriage annulled. I refused to pay a fee to four or five celibate men whom I didn’t know, who would somehow, behind closed doors, conclude that my marriage never existed. I do see myself as a Catholic. I will always be a Catholic. But I want my church to join the human race and finally walk away from this antisexual theology.

-- Phil Donahue, interviewed in the New York Times Magazine