As I noted in the last post, while perhaps not as bad as the Mormon Church, the Catholic Church certainly doesn't have clean hands when it comes to religious extremism and bigotry against LGBT citizens in the form of Proposition 8. The difference in comparison the the Mormon Church it would seem is that the power of the bishops and enablers of sexual predators in the Vatican are increasingly powerless to dictate how Catholics act and make their own moral judgments. Or at least such is the case outside of circles of Kool-Aid drinkers such as William Donohue and Maggie Gallagher (each of who are making nice six figure incomes off of peddling hatred). *
An example of this growing independence of thought and of what I wish more Catholics would do - namely publicly challenge the Church fathers - is Brian Cahill, a former executive director of Catholic Charities in San Francisco, who has an op-ed piece in the San Francisco Chronicle that takes on the Church's efforts to dehumanize LGBT individuals. Because that's what we are really talking about. Regardless of what they may - disingenuously, in my view - claim to the contrary, the Church leadership and others who by their acts and deeds fan homophobia in essence strive to keep LGBT individuals as viewed as somehow less than human. Here are some column highlights:
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I am a Catholic who voted against Proposition 8 in 2008 and contributed $1,000 to the No on 8 Campaign . . . . . I am also the father of a gay son, from whom I was slow to learn how painful, debilitating and denigrating are the constant legal and social reminders that he and those like him are not fully accepted members of the human community.
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In their statement supporting Prop. 8, the California Catholic Bishops declared that marriage is "intrinsic to stable, flourishing and hospitable societies." Ironically, this is one of the compelling reasons gay and lesbian couples wish to be joined in civil marriages. They are seeking a structure and context for their love, commitment, fidelity and mutual support.
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[W]hen gays and lesbians are referred to in a 2003 Vatican teaching as "objectively disordered," it is difficult for them to feel respected. When gay and lesbian couples are willing to assume full, loving parental responsibility for abused and neglected children who would otherwise languish in the foster care system, and church teaching characterizes them as "doing great violence to children" by raising them in same-sex households, it is difficult for those parents to feel respected.
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I know that my son and his partner are made in the image and likeness of God. They are not perfect, but they are brilliant, creative, personable and moral. They are certainly not objectively disordered. I know, as do many fathers, mothers, grandparents, sisters, brothers, friends, neighbors, co-workers and fellow parishioners of gay and lesbian individuals and couples, that the relationship, the love, the friendship, the personal association, the proximity, put a human face on this issue and let us see that in the context of the human spirit, none of us are different and none of us should be anything less than fully accepted members of our human community.
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I am a Catholic who voted against Proposition 8 in 2008 and contributed $1,000 to the No on 8 Campaign . . . . . I am also the father of a gay son, from whom I was slow to learn how painful, debilitating and denigrating are the constant legal and social reminders that he and those like him are not fully accepted members of the human community.
*
In their statement supporting Prop. 8, the California Catholic Bishops declared that marriage is "intrinsic to stable, flourishing and hospitable societies." Ironically, this is one of the compelling reasons gay and lesbian couples wish to be joined in civil marriages. They are seeking a structure and context for their love, commitment, fidelity and mutual support.
*
[W]hen gays and lesbians are referred to in a 2003 Vatican teaching as "objectively disordered," it is difficult for them to feel respected. When gay and lesbian couples are willing to assume full, loving parental responsibility for abused and neglected children who would otherwise languish in the foster care system, and church teaching characterizes them as "doing great violence to children" by raising them in same-sex households, it is difficult for those parents to feel respected.
*
I know that my son and his partner are made in the image and likeness of God. They are not perfect, but they are brilliant, creative, personable and moral. They are certainly not objectively disordered. I know, as do many fathers, mothers, grandparents, sisters, brothers, friends, neighbors, co-workers and fellow parishioners of gay and lesbian individuals and couples, that the relationship, the love, the friendship, the personal association, the proximity, put a human face on this issue and let us see that in the context of the human spirit, none of us are different and none of us should be anything less than fully accepted members of our human community.
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