Calling a Spade a Spade

UPDATED: Don, thanks. the typo has been corrected.

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Most voices in the Catholic Church universe mindlessly follow the dictates of the bitter old men in dresses at the Vatican or quietly ignore their blather in typical cafeteria Catholic fashion. Neither action helps to push the Catholic Church toward much needed reform and/or a thorough house cleaning of the petrified old self-hating closet cases in Rome. Lunatic Catholics like Bill Donohue of the Catholic League hyperventilate and spray spittle at any criticism of the Church when in fact sometimes being a critic IS the most faithful thing one can offer - just as the "America, love it or leave it" crowd in my view are not true patriots. Thus, it was a refreshing surprise to see an article in America (a U.S. Catholic weekly) that basically reamed the Vatican a new one over some of its hateful actions of late. Here are some highlights:

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To mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights this past December, the European Union delegation to the United Nations, led by France, introduced a declaration condemning the criminalization of same-sex relations. Homosexual activity is illegal in over 80 countries, concentrated in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, with punishments ranging from imprisonment to torture, and in at least six countries, execution. Before this non-binding legislation was submitted, the Vatican officially objected, claiming that the declaration could harm traditional marriage by eventually being interpreted in a way that would call for the decriminalization of same-sex unions.

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With this latest proclamation from the Vatican, it seems that gay and lesbian people are becoming ever more marginalized, and many of them feel that they are being pushed out of the Catholic Church. During the past few years, some church leaders have used gay men as a scapegoat for the priest sex abuse scandal; claimed that humanity needed to be saved from homosexuality in the same way that the rainforest must be saved from destruction; spent millions of dollars to rescind civil marriage rights; and have tried to ally the church with Russia, China, Iran, and other infamous human-rights abusers by objecting to the anti-discrimination measure that may save lives.

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There are millions of gay and lesbian Catholics in this country and around the world, and rather than seeing the church as a spiritual sanctuary, they often see the church instead as emblematic of the hostility that they face each day in their lives. Imagine the powerful message of Christ’s love for all people that would have been manifested had the Catholic representative to the UN supported the EU declaration. Imagine if instead of pouring millions of dollars into the fight against same-sex marriage, Catholics had spent that money to care for gay and lesbian teens made homeless by non-accepting families. The church is consistently a tireless advocate for human rights, unless, it now appears, those rights are to be extended to this increasingly marginalized group of people.

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Obviously, I agree with these sentiments completely. Unfortunately, I do not see the Catholic Church as capable of changing - at least not in my life time. Hence, like so many other gay Catholics I left the Church and found a spiritual home in a denomination that does not treat gays as if we were human garbage. As I have said before, if you belong to a church that hates gays - despite fleeting lip service to the contrary - the best thing one can do is to walk away.