"I can't tell you how many gay Catholic kids I've buried who killed themselves because they didn't believe God loved them."
Thus spake the Rev. Mel White of a US organisation called Soulforce, whose New York chapter joined a demonstration on Saturday prior to Pope Ratzinger's Stateside visit this week. White says in this story* that, while many Catholics can separate what they believe from the Pope's teaching, "there are tens of millions who don't have that ability".
He said Benedict XVI (a.k.a. Joseph Ratzinger, former head of the Inquisition, which is now known, cosily, affectionately, fluffily, by the more cuddly sobriquet of "the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith") is "directly responsible for the consequences of his teaching on homosexuality that has led to suffering and death for his people".
Hard-hitting stuff. You can read much of the papal bull this evil bastard and his cronies have uttered about gay people in that story linked to above. Go on, get yourself into a lather. Then ask yourself just how gay Catholics can follow this church – a church that thinks they are intrinsically disordered and guilty of a moral evil.
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* That link has been broken since posting, possibly due to site changes at Gaycitynews.com; sorry about that – ed.
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Monday, 14 April 2008
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When the Pope visits Ground Zero, he will be greeted by a protest vigil honoring the late FDNY chaplain, Father Mychal Judge, the first official casualty of the 9/11 attacks.
ReplyDeleteMychal was considered a living saint by many even prior to his heroic death. His extraordinary works of compassion have been compared to Mother Teresa (see http://SaintMychalJudge.blogspot.com )
But ironically, Fr. Mychal Judge would be barred from the priesthood today because he was openly gay, though celibate. He often asked, “Is there so much love in the world that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love ?!”
We have no illusions that this pope is going to change. Rather, we are bearing witness to two truths -- that God created and loves gay people, and that the pope does not speak for the whole Church, the Ecclesia, on these matters.
Indeed, two-thirds of U.S. Catholics-in-the-pews reject the pope’s homophobic views and support either civil unions or full marriage rights, according to numerous surveys.
As Fr. Mychal also said, "Don't let the (institutional) church get in the way of your relationship with God."
You ask,"Just how (can) gay Catholics follow this church -- a church that thinks they are...guilty of moral evil?"
The short answer is that the pope and the hierarchy are not the Church. WE the Catholics in-the-pews are the Church. Most Catholics ignore the pope on numerous issues, and change is very real on the parish, pastoral, and grassroots levels.