Monday, May 27, 2013

Archbishop Dolan Preaches More Anti-Gay Hate Despite Wave of Hate Crimes

The utter hypocrisy of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy is truly unbelievable.  Easter Sunday morning Archbishop Timothy "Porky Pig" Dolan stated on national television that the Catholic Church needed to do a better job reaching out to gays and that "all are welcome" in the Church.  Unless, of course, you are gay, and then you're not really very welcomed at a.  New York City has witnessed a wave of anti-gay hate crimes including a brazen murder of a gay man over the last month.  So what does Dolan do?  Does he condemn the violence and speak out against religious based hate and bigotry?  No, he instead disseminates an anti-gay insert to be circulated by all Catholic parishes across America over the next month.  In short, he is helping to fan anti-gay bigotry under the guise of "protecting marriage" by depicting gays as a "threat" to marriage.  The New Civil Rights Movement looks at Dolan's nasty propaganda effort.  The man is despicable.  Here are article highlights:

Cardinal Timothy Dolan has issued a directive to all Catholic dioceses to focus their sermons on “traditional marriage” and opposing the “redefinition of marriage” to include LGBT people, now through June. Dolan, who is the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and thus the top representative of the Roman Catholic Church in America, is also the Archbishop of New York, but has said not one word about the skyrocketing anti-LGBT violent hate crimes in his own back yard. 

As of Friday night, New York City has been home to nine anti-LGBT violent hate crimes this month, and 27 this year — almost double the rate of last year, which saw a double-digit increase over the previous year. But instead of denouncing anti-gay violence, instead of even acknowledging it, instead of calling for tolerance and love, Cardinal Dolan issued a directive to preach anti-LGBT hate in Church, and created a “USCCB Nationwide Bulletin Insert,” to share with all Catholics across the country.

Not only has Cardinal Dolan not acknowledged the anti-LGBT hate — which even Pastor Rick Warren admits and the vast majority of Americans agree that church teachings hold responsibility  for — but he has contributed to it.

In a blog post falsely claiming  “All Are Welcome!,” Timothy Cardinal Dolan belittled LGBT people, demanded we wash our “dirty hands” before he could accept us into his Church — and then literally barred LGBT and allied Catholics from entering NYC’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Cardinal Dolan’s home, unless they literally washed the dirt from their hands.

This silence is a testament to the passive homophobia that defines Catholic Church teaching and comments from the institution’s hierarchy regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

I would not call the Church's conduct "passive" homophobia.  It's active and virulent.  It's why I never plan to step foot inside a Catholic church ever again for any reason whatsoever.  


No comments: