RIP, John J. McNeill, [formely] SJ

A troubled and troubling man has died.

John J. McNeill, died Sept. 22 in a hospice facility in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 90....
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, today said McNeill possessed "a rare mixture of both a great heart and a great mind," adding that gays and lesbians have been "informed not only by his philosophical principles and logic, but by his awareness of deep and real human needs."...
Born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., McNeill entered the U.S. Army in 1942 and became a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany — an experience that for him was profoundly spiritual and led him to his entering the Jesuits in 1948. Ordained in 1959, he taught philosophy and theology at Fordham University, Union Theological Seminary, and Le Moyne College, where he was a noted peace advocate during the Vietnam War....
In 1988, he received yet another order from Rome directing him to give up all ministry to gay persons, an order, he said, he could not follow in good conscience.
He disobeyed the order and this led to his expulsion from the Jesuit order, his home for nearly 40 years.

He was very wrong on very many subjects, and think cause a great deal of harm to the Mystical Body of Christ, but I believe he always tried to do what he, at least, thought good.
God rest his soul.