Daniel A. Helminiak (born November 20, 1942)

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Daniel A. Helminiak (born November 20, 1942 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American Catholic priest, theologian and author. He is a professor in the Department of Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology at the University of West Georgia, near Atlanta.

Helminiak was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a Polish-American Roman Catholic community on the city's South Side. He frequently refers to this experience in his popular writings on spirituality and community. He attended parochial grade and high schools and at age seventeen entered seminary to study for the priesthood at Our Lady of the Lake Seminary, Syracuse, Indiana, and St. Vincent Seminary, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he was awarded a Bachelor's degree in philosophy (1964). He completed graduate studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, earning the degree of Bachelor of Sacred Theology (1966) and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (1968), and was ordained there at the cathedral of Rome, St. John Lateran Basilica (1967).

Helmimiak served as an Associate Pastor of SS. Simon and Jude Church in Scott Township (Pittsburgh) for four years. On weekends throughout the 23 subsequent years, Helminiak ministered in local parishes in Baltimore, Boston, San Antonio and Austin. He came out as gay in 1976, and served in those areas and nationally as a chaplain to DignityUSA, the LGBT Catholic support network.

In 1995, Helminiak submitted to the Vatican a formal resignation from active ministry, to which, as of 2013, the Vatican has not responded.

He subsequently pursued an educational ministry, serving as junior faculty-member at St. Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore, Maryland from 1972-1973. He then completed a PhD in systematic theology in the Joint Doctoral Program of Boston College and Andover Newton Theological School (1979), served as Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology and Spirituality at Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio (1981–1985), completed an MA in personality theory at Boston University (1983) with a thesis that became Part I of his book Spiritual Development, and earned a second PhD in Human Development at The University of Texas at Austin (1994).

In 1995, Helminiak accepted a teaching position at the University of West Georgia (then, West Georgia College), where he has remained except for advanced training in counseling at Pittsburgh Pastoral Institute. Helminiak is certified as a Fellow of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, was elected Fellow to the American Psychological Association, and is licensed as a Professional Counselor (LPC) in the state of Georgia.

At the university of West Georgia, from 1995 to 1997 and 2000 to the present, he regularly teaches Human Sexuality, Statistics for the Social Sciences, and Foundations of Neuroscience. On the graduate level he has taught courses—such as Ethics, Epistemology, Mysticism, Personal Growth, and "God" in the Brain—related to the psychology of spirituality, which is his specialization and the focus of his research, lecturing, and writing. He is most widely known for his international best-seller, What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_A._Helminiak

Further Readings:

What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality by Daniel A. Helminiak
Paperback: 152 pages
Publisher: Alamo Square Press; Millenium edition (May 1, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 188636009X
ISBN-13: 978-1886360099
Amazon: What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality
Amazon Kindle: What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality

Does God's word in the Bible really condemn homosexuality?...... Top scholars--like the late John Boswell of Yale, Daniel Boyarin of Berkeley, Bernadette Brooten of Brandeis, L.William Countryman of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Victor P. Furnish of SMU, Saul M. Olyan of Brown and Robin Scruggs of Union Theological Seminary--show that those who perceive Bible passages as condemning homosexuality are being misled by faulty translation and poor interpretation...... Danial A. Helminiak, Ph.D. respected theologian and Roman Catholic priest, explains in a clear fashion the fascinating new insights of these scholars...... The Bible has been used to justify slavery, inquisitions, apartheid and the subjugation of women. Now, in this books which has sold over 100 thousand copies, read what the Bible really says about homosexuality.