"James, please take my call," Bishop Robert Brom said Tuesday into the answering machine of James Hartline, a Hillcrest man who supported canceling the funeral Mass. "I have to explain how it's all wrong and how I was done in. We need to talk and we need to meet. Please call me back immediately."

In a second message, the bishop sounded more urgent: "This is Bishop Brom begging you to call me back. I did not cave in. I stood for our position and I still do, but I need to explain, and I need your help."

Hartline said he never returned Brom's calls. Instead, he played the messages for a reporter, saying he was outraged by the bishop's "totally spineless" apology to the family of John McCusker, a nightclub owner who died this month. The bishop had banned a Catholic service for McCusker, citing what the diocese considered his sinful business activities.

In the days after Brom released his three-sentence statement, many are trying to decipher what the leader of nearly 1 million Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties meant by his words of consolation.

Was he expressing regret for canceling the funeral?

Or was he simply expressing sympathy for the family's turmoil?

From talk shows to e-mails, the nuanced words of the statement have been parsed and debated:

"I deeply regret that denying a Catholic funeral for John McCusker at the Immaculata has resulted in his unjust condemnation and I apologize to the family for the anguish this has caused them. To help rectify this situation, insofar as it can be, I will preside at a Mass for the family, in memory of John, at the Immaculata. In consideration for the family, I will not be available for any further public statements on this matter," Brom wrote Monday.

Adding to the speculation is a cover letter that accompanied the statement when it was sent Tuesday to Catholic clergy.

"The enclosed statement . . . should be read carefully," wrote Monsignor Steven Callahan, a top official with the diocese. "Note the extent and nature of the apology that Bishop Brom offered, free of media interpretations."

Callahan followed up with a notice to clergy on Wednesday that the Mass would be for the family only and closed to the public.

Yesterday Brom, 66, wouldn't answer questions about why he banned the funeral, the first such cancellation in his 15-year tenure, or discuss why he was so concerned about Hartline's opinion.

Brom did, however, indicate that he felt besieged by dual forces as he tried to navigate the controversy: "Throughout this whole ordeal I have struggled with my obligation to clearly define moral principles and at the same time to be properly compassionate."

Meanwhile, the diocese issued another statement yesterday afternoon acknowledging that the apology "has met with a variety of interpretations. The covenant with the McCusker family, found within the statement itself, precludes any comment in this regard." The McCusker family could not be reached.

Mark Brumley, president of San Francisco-based Ignatius Press, a Catholic publishing company, said the bishop's statement was unclear.

"It would serve the community of San Diego well to have some clarification," said Brumley, a former spokesman for the San Diego diocese. "There are people on many sides of this issue who will look to the statement to see where the bishop comes down on the issue and will be unable to do so."

Janet Mansfield, a member of the liberal reform group Call to Action, still regards the apology as important. "For a bishop to actually apologize is something," she said, adding, "I think he's walking a tightrope."

Dignity USA, a national independent advocacy group for gay Catholics, released a statement with its San Diego chapter yesterday praising Brom's apology. Pat McArron, former national president and a San Diego resident, said there is disagreement over what Brom meant by his statement.

"Dignity, quite frankly, has chosen not to pick it apart," McArron said.

But Mike Portantino, publisher of the San Diego-based Gay and Lesbian Times called Brom's statement a "shallow victory."

"Do I feel that the Catholic Church has changed its stance or opinion? No," Portantino said. "I think they felt a tidal wave of publicity coming their way and their public relations arm recognized that this was not only within the gay community but even within Catholic community."

The flap began last week after Brom canceled a funeral Mass scheduled at the Immaculata Catholic Church at the University of San Diego, where McCusker had been a student. McCusker, 31, died March 13 while vacationing in Mammoth.

The diocese said the funeral wasn't canceled because of McCusker's sexual orientation, but because his "business activities" – he owned a gay bar and a popular nightclub with a largely gay clientele – "were contrary to sacred Scripture and the moral teaching of the church."

The diocese said it had obtained information that a gay porn video had been recorded at McCusker's Club Montage, near Lindbergh Field, and that gay porn stars had appeared at his North Park bar, ReBar. But McCusker's friends said he often rented out the nightclub and had no involvement in making the video.

McCusker's family moved the funeral to an Episcopal church last Friday. Monday night, as the gay community and its supporters gathered to discuss a response, his family read Brom's apology and urged people to accept it "as an offering of peace."

But as Holy Week draws to a close and Christians prepare to celebrate Easter on Sunday, the issue doesn't appear to be over.

Yesterday, Sue Lopez of Bay Park was among a small group of protesters gathered outside the diocese headquarters. They were upset that Brom issued any apology at all.

Noting that the church teaches that homosexuality is a sin, Lopez said the bishop buckled "under tremendous pressure by the homosexual community."

She added: "We're praying for his leadership, that he'll be a shepherd, not a politician, and not come out with statements that you have to read carefully. Say what you mean, mean what you say, and let the chips fall where they may."

This entry was posted on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 9:03 AM. Want to discuss? Leave a comment below.