Camp and hypocrisy in the Catholic Church

David Berger, 42, who used to be Professor of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas until he outed himself and resigned in April this year, says that despite the Catholic Church's outdated and often homophobic views on the GLBT community "...it must recognize that a large proportion of the Catholic clerics and trainee priests in Europe and the United States are homosexual".

He's just written a book about his experiences, and given an interview to Der Spiegel which gives an extraordinary insight into gay life inside the Catholic Church in Germany and elsewhere.

"Many gays are attracted by the clear hierarchies of the male world of Catholic rituals. Among clerics I discovered extremely effeminate behavior of the sort I knew well from certain gay scenes. People give each other women's names and attach very high importance to clerical robes in all colors. Just think of the nicknames Bishop Walter Mixa (who recently stepped down amid accusations of violence and financial irregularities) and his housemaster friend gave each other: "Hasi," or "bunny," and "Monsi," short for monsignore."

He says he's worried that unless it stops being so reactionary, the Catholic Church may end being no more than a sect.