QUOTE
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: February 18, 2004
ALBANY - Shoulders hunched forward and hands clasped on knees, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany looked toward a row of television cameras, his shadow cast starkly against the white wall behind him. He proclaimed that he had lived a lifetime of chastity, but acknowledged, \"I think the taint will always be there.\"
A man once lauded as a \"street priest\" who fought for social justice, Bishop Hubbard is fighting for something else these days: his reputation in the face of accusations last week that he had a homosexual affair with a man who later killed himself, and that he had sexual encounters with a teenage street hustler.
....
... He supported New York's gay rights bill. During the interview last week, he declined to say whether he supports laws defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.For years Bishop Hubbard has been the subject of a whispered campaign that his diocese was friendly to gay priests, and that he was gay. His critics include a traditionalist group called Roman Catholic Faithful in Petersburg, Ill., and The Wanderer, an ultraconservative newspaper.
....
Published: February 18, 2004
ALBANY - Shoulders hunched forward and hands clasped on knees, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany looked toward a row of television cameras, his shadow cast starkly against the white wall behind him. He proclaimed that he had lived a lifetime of chastity, but acknowledged, \"I think the taint will always be there.\"
A man once lauded as a \"street priest\" who fought for social justice, Bishop Hubbard is fighting for something else these days: his reputation in the face of accusations last week that he had a homosexual affair with a man who later killed himself, and that he had sexual encounters with a teenage street hustler.
....
... He supported New York's gay rights bill. During the interview last week, he declined to say whether he supports laws defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.For years Bishop Hubbard has been the subject of a whispered campaign that his diocese was friendly to gay priests, and that he was gay. His critics include a traditionalist group called Roman Catholic Faithful in Petersburg, Ill., and The Wanderer, an ultraconservative newspaper.
....