TRENTON, N.J. The nation’s first openly gay governor has headed back to school as a seminary student.
Jim McGreevey began full-time studies at General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in Manhattan on Tuesday, Sept. 4, seminary spokesman Bruce Parker confirmed. McGreevey switched his religious affiliation from Roman Catholic to Episcopalian earlier this year and expressed interest in pursuing a call to ministry.
As a student in the non-degree program at the seminary, McGreevey has up to a year to choose a course of study. In the meantime, he can choose a broad array of courses in theology, liturgy, ministry and related topics that are available to students who are unsure of their educational and vocational goals, Parker said.
McGreevey, 50, declared his homosexuality in 2004 in a nationally televised speech with his stunned wife and parents at his side. He proclaimed himself “a gay American” to quash a blackmail threat by a former aide. and resigned as governor three months later.
Religion has become an issue is his contentious divorce proceedings. His estranged wife, Dina Matos McGreevey, has demanded that their daughter not be allowed to receive communion in the Episcopal Church because she is being raised a Roman Catholic.
Asked about her estranged husband enrolling in divinity school, Matos McGreevey laughed.
“In order to be a leader, whether it’s a leader of a state, a nation or a church, you need to have some sort of moral compass and I don’t think he does. It’s unfortunate,” she said.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition September 7, 2007