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PDF versionDignityUSA: A show of fidelity
by Tom Roberts on Jul. 07, 2011
Much has been made in recent months of the enormous drain of members from the Roman Catholic Church in the United States in recent decades. The estimated 28 million who have left for an array of reasons would constitute, taken together, the second largest denomination in the country after Catholics who remain.
That statistic occurred to me last Saturday as I sat as one of four panelists during a segment of DignityUSA’s 20th national convention in Washington. Dignity is the major organization of Catholic lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics as well as their friends, families and other allies.
During Independence Day weekend more than 300 gathered at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington for a convention headlined “Love Hopes All Things.”
Hope, indeed, must be the motivation here. The massive number of ex-Catholics occurred to me as I sat on stage before the crowd while moderator Phil Donahue, a pioneer of the TV talk show format showed that he was yet a master of engaging a roomful of people in conversation. So many people leaving the church for so many reasons, and yet this band of the faithful, certainly representative of many more times those in the room and with more reason than most to leave, refuse to go. Of course, their presence is more than a refusal to go. It is also a statement of affirmation, as the brochure said, of “the wholeness and holiness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics.”
Donahue was quick to pick up on the paradox, a properly biblical one. Members of Dignity, those who persist in staying even as the church levels a cruelest cut at them – deeming homosexuals “disordered “ – are the ones the bishops ought to be celebrating, he said.
I’ve often thought the same. If bishops want to understand fidelity to sacramental life, to the idea of community and to the social justice tradition they really ought to engage in conversation with, not condemnations of, those in the Catholic LGBT community.
Among those in attendance was John McNeill, the former Jesuit who, as author of the groundbreaking The Church and Homosexuality serves as the movement’s theologian and who appeared on Donahue’s show shortly after the book was published in 1976.
McNeill has lived through the waves of initial shock at his book, Vatican outrage, dismissal from his order and some of the ravages of time. He moves slowly now, in his 80s, with the aid of a cane and help from Charles Chiarelli, his partner of more than 40 years. He’s become a revered wisdom figure among the LGBT community. I noted as part of a brief presentation (others onstage were psychoanalyst William Braun of New York, Sister of Loretto Sr. Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of New Ways Ministry, and Georgetown professor Joseph Palacios, co-founder of Catholics for Equality) an interview McNeill had done with NCR’s Robert McClory in 2005.
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At that time McNeill said he believed the “whole trajectory of the church is toward the era of the Spirit, when each will know the truth in his heart and there wil be no need for extrinsic authority.” To place that in context, McNeill was referring to the teaching of Joachim of Flora, a 12th century visionary, who spoke of three periods of Christian history: that of the Old Testament, which he called the era of the Father; the second was that of the Son, or the period of the development of the institution church, and the coming era of the Holy Spirit.
“I think we’re moving into that era,” McNeill told McClory. Gays and lesbians are in the vanguard of that era, he suggested. “By being rejected by church leadership, gays and lesbians have had to ask God directly if they can live authentic Christian lives, and they are getting [positive] answers. They’ve come to see church teaching on homosexuality as destroying their self-image, so they’ve had to take direct access to God, based on prayer, spirituality and freedom of conscience.”
It would be a reasonable inference form that to see the LGBT community as one set apart and engaged in a kind of individualistic, perhaps congregational, approach to spirituality and Catholic life. But Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, said following the convention that there seemed to be a new conviction to “move outward, to take the firm conviction that we’ve all come to about the holiness a nd wholeness of LGBT people and witness to that in the public sphere,” whether in church or the wider community.
She said the group also seemed intent on making greater connection with other individual Catholics and other movements, “at looking at all of our work through the lens of other justice issues – women's issues, immigration issues, ageism, class issues, racism.”
In other words, she said, she sees local chapters connecting with other organizations in the church, partnering with people in parishes who find themselves marginalized in other ways – from women’s issues to the matter of forced parish closings. She sees the LBGT community as part of what is emerging in the church. “It is all that same energy of the gospel,” she said. “The life, death and Resurrection of Jesus is still important in our world. Themodel for how to make that alive is not coming in a satisfactory way from the hierarchy.” Instead, she said, “people are putting their faith into action in ways that matter.”
It is kind of interesting
It is kind of interesting that they remain in the Church while others readily leave. Perhaps they realize unlike the others that there really is no other place to go.
But the question has to be asked are they actually in the Mystical Body of Christ? The belief that homosexual activity is not intrinsically evil & the matter for mortal sin does constitute a sin against faith in my view. And sins against faith place a person outside the Mystical Body of Christ.
Having said that if they remain in the institution & try to keep their hearts open they may realize that active honosexuality is a dead end street. The same is true of all impurity. The body is the temple of the Spirit & impurity soils this temple causing the Spirit to flee.
The only real option for people with a homosexual orientation is the celibate lifestyle. This may seem an impossibility to many in this community but with God's grace anything is possible. My suggestion to all in this community is to refrain from any reception of the Eucharist until they make a good & honest confession of all homosexual impurity in the past. Then try to start a new life in chastity.
Those in relationships who do this should encourage their partners to do the same. Then both can move forward in a new loving realtionship with each other which includes Christ. The paradigm for this kind of relationship can be best friends or siblings or both. My brother is my best friend or my best friend is my brother. My sister is my best friend or my best friend is my sister.
As someone who has tried the
As someone who has tried the approach you recommend, I wholeheartedly disagree.
I would like you to imagine that you are never again allowed to reach emotional or physical intimacy with another person; that you are never again allowed to love or be loved, romantically. While your family and friends are getting married and establishing families, you must live alone. Imagine living in a one-bedroom apartment, cooking alone, going to church alone, avoiding social situations and potential friendships. Imagine being elderly and managing your failing health alone. Imagine lying on your deathbed in a hospital without a spouse or children to visit you. I am 22, and you and the Church encourage me to live this lifestyle for 60 years onward, without the reward of a priestly or religious vocation to validate the celibacy.
I encourage you to place yourself in the shoes of LGBT Catholics and to face this lonely life. I hope it makes you reconsider your blind belief in gay celibacy. Humans were made for romantic love, to love and be loved.
The flaw in your argument is
The flaw in your argument is that the single vocation cannot be a rewarding way to live life in the world whether the person is heterosexual or homosexual. You make it out to be a prison sentence which it is not. Not everyone desires to marry, not everyone is called to marry. It is up to the single person to make a happy & productive life for himself or herself. And if you look at married people in general you will find many people who aren't all that happy. Marriage per se is not a panacea for all questions of loneliness. No one said that life is easy or fair! Try reaching out to other people in friendship.
As someone who has tried the
As someone who has tried the approach you recommend, I wholeheartedly disagree.
I would like you to imagine that you are never again allowed to reach emotional or physical intimacy with another person; that you are never again allowed to love or be loved, romantically. While your family and friends are getting married and establishing families, you must live alone. Imagine living in a one-bedroom apartment, cooking alone, going to church alone, avoiding social situations and potential friendships. Imagine being elderly and managing your failing health alone. Imagine lying on your deathbed in a hospital without a spouse or children to visit you. I am 22, and you and the Church encourage me to live this lifestyle for 60 years onward.
I encourage you to place yourself in the shoes of LGBT Catholics and face this lonely life. I hope it makes you reconsider your blind belief in gay celibacy.
Celibacy is everyone's
Celibacy is everyone's default state,and it is obnoxious selfishness to treat it as a hardship.Romantic love can not be justified except between persons of opposite sexes.Friendships are friendships.Children arise out of opposite-sex connections.
Paul stated that if a person
Paul stated that if a person cannot control their sexual urges, they should get married. (1 Cor 7:9) I would figure that this marriage is to focus the sexual urge upon a single person, then a person should select someone who can help with these sexual urges. Which leads me to conclude that Paul is for marriage equality.
All the Church really teaches
All the Church really teaches is that persons with a homosexual orientation must refrain from genital sex. I don't think you can make the statement that romantic love is out of bounds for gay people. People will feel love for other people; this is something which happens spontaneously & is not wrong.
For instance if there is a gay couple who chooses to refrain from sexual activity to be in line with Church teaching, then that would be enough for them to return to the sacraments. They don't have to stop living together or loving each other. Love is actually a pure thing separate from sex; it is something good in general. Love cannot be restricted to one sexual orientation only. Gay people have enough hardship as it is. You can't place unreasonable demands on them.
God is Love. Who created this
God is Love.
Who created this body
by love
" I’ve been in the church a
" I’ve been in the church a long time. The higher one climbs the more one sees – and the more clearly. It’s a pious legend that the priesthood sanctifies a man, or that celibacy ennobles him. If a priest can keep his hands out of his pockets and his legs out of a woman’s bed until he is forty-five, he stands a reasonable chance of doing it until he dies. There are a lot of professional bachelors in the world, too. But we are still subject to pride, ambition, sloth, negligence, avarice. Often it’s harder for us to save our souls than it is for others. A man with a family must make sacrifices, impose a discipline on his desires, practice love and patience. We may sin less, yet have less merit in us at the end.'
Morris L. West in his "The Devil's Advocate" (1959) - and still very relevant today, maybe even moreso!
To be very honest with you,
To be very honest with you, I'm not sure why members of Dignity WANT to remain a member of Unholy Unmother the Former Church.
If they leave they won't die and go to hell. Their souls are not in jeopardy once they cut the rotten umbilical cord that still remains from the lies and falsity that they have been taught over the years.
I'm not saying that, if they can find a welcoming parish, they shouldn't go there. I'm just saying that they should not waste their time hoping that this sad sick remnant of what once was Catholicism will welcome them.
It won't and they shouldn't wait around for what is not going to happen.
"church levels a cruelest cut
"church levels a cruelest cut at them – deeming homosexuals “disordered “
The church deems homesexual ACTS disordered, not the persons themselves. (Catechism of the Catholic Church: 2357)
There is big difference between being and action. Heterosexual acts outside of conjugal marriage are also disordered. The teaching is a call to chastity and holiness for all, and should not drive those of strong faith away.
As a female Independent
As a female Independent Catholic/Old Catholic priest I am a former eucharistic presider at the Dayton Ohio branch of Dignity, and a strong supporter of Dignity's stated mission of justice for LGBT people in church and society. However, their fidelity to that mission, and to the other progressive/reform movements you mention, is called into serious question by Dignity Dayton's knowingly allowing notorious pedophile Ellis Harsham to celebrate mass for a decade, and Dignity USA's collusion in endangering children and vulnerable adults and covering up the truth when I spoke out for justice and protection of the innocent. Even after a pseudo-resignation, in compliance with DignityUSA's inadequate policy, Harsham (and others with a substantiated history of child sexual abuse) is allowed to continue in every ministry except for principal celebrant/presider and to worship and attend social events at Dignity Dayton without appropriate safety procedures. Real reform at Dignity Dayton, Dignity USA, and an improvement of their policy on pedophiles as presiders would go a long way toward restoring their credibility as a moral voice in progressive theology. (Full story at my blog, linked above).
'Members of Dignity, those
'Members of Dignity, those who persist in staying even as the church levels a cruelest cut at them – deeming homosexuals “disordered “ – are the ones the bishops ought to be celebrating, he said."
Well, this author, with all due respect, is either uninformed of the Catholic Church's teaching on same sex attraction or he is attempting to mislead his readers... The Catholic Church accepts all sinners and recommends all to the sacrament of penance. Sinful actions are disordered, not the person. According to the CCC:
1935 "The equality of men rests essentially on their dignity as persons and the rights that flow from it: Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God's design."
2357 "Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved."
And what does Pope Benedict say?: "...Sacred Scripture condemns homosexual acts “as a serious depravity... (cf. Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10). This judgment of Scripture does not of course permit us to conclude that all those who suffer from this anomaly are personally responsible for it, but it does attest to the fact that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered”. This same moral judgment is found in many Christian writers of the first centuries and is unanimously accepted by Catholic Tradition. Nonetheless, according to the teaching of the Church, men and women with homosexual tendencies “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided”. They are called, like other Christians, to live the virtue of chastity. The homosexual inclination is however “objectively disordered” and homosexual practices are “sins gravely contrary to chastity”....In those situations where homosexual unions have been legally recognized or have been given the legal status and rights belonging to marriage, clear and emphatic opposition is a duty. One must refrain from any kind of formal cooperation in the enactment or application of such gravely unjust laws and, as far as possible, from material cooperation on the level of their application. In this area, everyone can exercise the right to conscientious objection."
The Church's teaching on faith and morals will NEVER change, and that is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit. The Church founded by Christ welcomes ALL!! ALL are welcome to share in the sacrament of reconciliation. It is sin that marginalizes each of us, but as we repent and increase our contrition and humility, then we will be united with Christ and with His body the Church. Demanding that our sinful behavior be legitimized by Christ and the Church is odd indeed. Using the Church as a social and political tool to further our ideological agenda is probably not somthing Christ meant when he asked us to be PERFECt as the heavenly Father is perfect. PAX!
One more NCR ode to
One more NCR ode to homsexuality.
In denial of basic genetic science, that has made the amazing discovery that the very purpose of sex is children. Thus homosexuality is disordered perversion, as common sense says.
I dream of a day when Fr John
I dream of a day when Fr John McNeil is a Roman Catholic saint.
I am glad to hear that Dignity is forming the alliances mentioned in the article. At the same time, I am glad Dignity's founders and mentored took the time to don their own spiritual oxygen masks. Have fortified themselves with life-saving air, they can now reach out to otehrs in need of their guidance on the path to Love in its fullest, most Christ-like meaning.
A Catholic ally,
Jean
I was asked to be a god
I was asked to be a god parent and went to a baptism last weekend. I realized how much I missed the church and how sad I was to be alienated by an organization that I had such love for as a child.
My husband and I eloped to Canada to get married and lived in California during all of the Prop 8 hate speech funded in a large part by Catholics and their Mormon partners in crime. We were forced to move to Florida to find work and my husband passed away in a tragic accident. I was not allowed to see him, read the autopsy report to see if he suffered, or be present when he was cremated. All thanks, in a large part, to the efforts and funding of the Catholic Church. When the will was approved, his ashes were sent to me in a card board box.
For me it is difficult to read the smug hurtful comments made from Catholic Clergy who are supposed to be representatives of Christs love. When I came out of the closet, there was no support for me or my family. Yet the call themselves pro family.
I hope the Church realizes the damage they are doing but don't expect it in my lifetime. In the mean time, I can I justify financially supporting and participating in an organization that has expended so much effort and money, that should have been used to feed the poor, to hurt me, my family, and all of my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters?
Far too many questions here
Far too many questions here are undescribed and unanswered...so sad for Dr Chip.
There should be no support
There should be no support for your characterization of your relationship with the deceased as "a family" or him as your "husband"...friends don't let friends lose themselves in such delusions.Needed correction offered in love is not "hate",the only "hate" in the equation is your obstinate refusal to admit your being in error turning you against wisdom.
"Dignity is the major
"Dignity is the major organization of Catholic lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics"
Dignity may be a "major organization" of some sort, but the "Catholic" organization for homosexuals heroically living according to Christ's teaching is called "Courage". Just thought I'd mention this as NCR columnists would probably never acknoweldge the existence of 'Courage'.
I know that NCR is perhaps
I know that NCR is perhaps the most progressive part of the catholic community.
But if you read the book Benedict and his battle with the modern world
and the book - A moral reconing by Goldhagen, every real catholic should be horrified.
To put these books in a few sentences, Benedict is an absolutist, totalitarian control mentality, who wants to take the church back to the dark ages of absolute orthodoxy. the mentality and culture that gave the world the christian crusades that murdered tens of millions of Muslims. And the Inquistion etc ettc. Crimes against humanity that helped to breed the hatred of the Muslims.
As for A Moral reconing by Goldhagen, its all about how the church, with its absolutist doctrines, hated the Jews because they wouldn't convert. A hatred that laid the foundation for the hOlocaust and WWII and 50 million deaths.
To say nothing of how its "absolute truths" provided the foundation for the church to hide tthe endless molestation of children.
Gays are simply the newest victims of the church, which tries to impose its will on others. Exactly what Islamic terrorism is about.
One group uses words to control, the other violence.
The words for example contribute to the deaths of 3000 gay kids every year by induced suicide. For which the church should be brought before the ICC for crimes against humanity.
And pls dont think that words dont hurt. Hitler is known to only have killed one person - a niece who refused to have sex with him. His words killed 55 million, the german people, infused from birth with the hatred of Jews etc, simply went along with him.
Also - why was the church almost untouched in WWII. www.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm in about 80 pictures shows why.
How anyone who considers themselves a true catholic can attend and contribute to this church is beyond imagination.
Its all though because of being brainwashed from birth, when kids are too young to stand up and say BS.
Thank you, Mr. Roberts for
Thank you, Mr. Roberts for this article and summary of the conference.
While not a member of the LGBT community, I have come to see them as our incomplete self using a trinitarian concept in which male/female/&LGBT complete our humanity.
It is time for the Church...perhaps a "big" first among many global interfaith brothers, to acknowledge our error and ostracization to these of our Body in Christ so that we can effect a good change in our world.
¿Did the father of Joseph of
¿Did the father of Joseph of Nazareth check it out with the father of María of Nazareth before they made the marriage arrangement, just to make sure that neither one of those two kids were gay?
¿Gay people living in Nazareth? ¿Why not? Nazareth was a good slice of normal life in a village of poor people living in first century Palestine.
Supposedly the question today is moot regarding homosexuality as a natural (that is, a God-given) inclination.
That the sun revolved around the earth was also a moot question until good old Padrecito Nikolas Kopernikus published his theory, in 1543, shortly before his death, and so escaped being clouted by his local bishop.
That the earth spins on its axis was also a moot question until brave Galileo Galilei managed to evade condemnation by the “Santa Inquisition” and died a natural death in 1642.
That when sailing west you would eventually “drop off the edge of the earth” was a moot question until Christopher Columbus, sailing out of Europe, banged into the Caribbean Islands in 1492 and then stumbled upon little old Nicaragua in 1502.
Only in 1827 science debunked the mooted question that “the male” was the only substantial cause of new human life, and the female was a mere nest to nurture this new life during nine months.
Human slavery was a mooted question that until only rather recently was condemned by the Christian Church, nevertheless even as of today the “Vatican State” of the Roman Catholic Church has refused to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
So for Gay People the moral is: just hang in there and eventually the Church will get around to declare that when Jesus said: “Whatever you do to the least of these little ones you do UNTO ME”, “these little ones” include everybody, Gays, Straights, goodies and badies, oldies and youngies, females and males of whatever color, race, culture or language. “OUR FATHER...THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN” which is the only reason for Jesus with us and the existence of the Church.
Justiniano de Managua
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