63 former Catholic priests: We support Ref. 74

A group of 63 former Catholic priests, with a total of more than 800 years of clerical service, will announce Thursday their support for Referendum 74, which would make Washington the seventh state in America to support same-sex marriage.
They will take issue with the state’s four Roman Catholic bishops, who are campaigning against marriage equality with pastoral letters, policy statements and videos.
Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain has issued both a pastoral letter and a video, and supplied material to pass out in parishes. Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima on Sunday claimed that Referendum 74 “jeopardizes freedom rather than expands it” and “endangers our religious liberty and the right of conscience.”
“We are uneasy with the aggressive efforts of Catholic bishops to oppose R-74 and want to support the 71 percent of Catholics (Public Religious Research Institute) who support civil marriage for gays as a valid Catholic position,” the former priests said in a statement late Monday.
The former priests are all married, and belong to three Seattle parishes.
“This is the first public action we’ve taken: We are used to fun and games within the Church, but this (opposition) is such a violation of church-state separation,” said Pat Callahan, formerly a priest for 15 years, said Monday.
The former priests are following in the footsteps of a group of retired and resigned priests in Minnesota, who have taken on Minneapolis-St. Paul Archbishop John Nienstedt.
Minnesota is voting on a state constitutional amendment that would enshrine marriage as between a man and a woman. Nienstedt has warned active priests to keep silent if they have reservations. The Church has poured more than $1 million into the campaign for the amendment.
But retired and former priests, not subject to ecclesiastical retaliation, have spoken out in opposition to the amendment.
Already in Washington, two prominent Catholic laypersons have championed the cause of marriage equality, Gov. Christine Gregoire and State Sen. Ed Murray, chief sponsor of same-sex marriage legislation in the Washington State Senate. Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Catholic, has backed Maryland’s marriage equality law.
“Our approach is not going to be getting into a big peeing match with the Bishops, but there are so many good-willed Catholics in the laity, that it’s time for us to give some witness,” Callahan said.
The former priests will deliver their statement at 10 a.m. on Thursday at St. Clement of Rome Episcopal Church, a parish of Anglo-Catholic tradition in Seattle’s Mt. Baker neighborhood. The statement will come hours after a Bellevue appearance by former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, a longstanding, often-intemperate opponent of gay rights legislation and same-sex marriage.