Catholic bishops adopt plan for outreach to “Persons with a Homosexual Inclination”
Bishops Pass Guidelines on Gay Outreach
BALTIMORE (AP) — The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops adopted new guidelines for gay outreach Tuesday that are meant to be welcoming, while also telling gays to be celibate since the church considers their sexuality ”disordered.” Gay Catholic activists said the approach was so contorted and flawed that it would alienate the very people it was trying to reach. The statement, ”Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination,” was adopted by a 194-37 vote, with one abstention, at a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
(Editor’s note: I suppose I should begin with the requisite disclaimer: I abhor Catholicism…NOT CATHOLICS. There; please try to keep this in mind as you proceed through this unfocused rant. Thank you. That is all.)
Yesterday’s statement by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops: Ministry To Persons With A Homosexual Inclination represents everything that is wrong with Christianity today. Yeah, I know; I say that a lot these days, but is there anything more hypocritical than the Catholic Church making pronouncements about homosexuality after their past experiences with gay and pedophile priests? Are they really in a position to be so dogmatic and judgemental when their own house is still in disarray?
On top of everything else, they have the unmitigated gall to tell gays and lesbians that they can come out of the closet to a few close friends, but don’t even think that the Church is going to be okay with the idea of going public. No, there’s nothing wrong with coming out of the closet, but if you want to be a good Catholic, you can’t leave the house.
The guidelines condemn discrimination against gays and say it’s not a sin to be attracted to someone of the same sex — only to act on those feelings.
Yeah, you’re different, and you should be thoroughly ashamed of who and what you are. And if you forget that, you can count on the Church to remind you- freuqently and reproachfully
The bishops also underscore Catholic opposition to gay marriage and adoption by gay and lesbian couples, but also say children of gay Catholics can be baptized if they are being raised in the faith.
Yeah, now THERE’S a recipe for raising one thoroughly screwed-up chiled, eh??
Under the guidelines, parishes are instructed to help Catholics avoid ”the lifestyle and values of a ‘gay subculture.”’ Gays also are discouraged from telling anyone about their sexual orientation outside a close circle of friends and supporters in the church.
On the subject of therapy to change same-sex attraction, the bishops said there is no scientific consensus on whether it can succeed. But church leaders say gays are free to seek counseling to help them live a chaste life.
The hypocrisy underlying this document is almost beyong imagination. Consider a collection of old, celibate, overfed, out of touch (and predominantly White) men thinking that they have anything to add to a world they clearly do not understand and cannot tolerate.
I’m hardly a proponent of “the gay lifestyle”, whatever the Hell that is, but neither do I think that I have the right to tell someone else how to live their life. How anyone can subscribe to this sort of misguided, hateful, misogynistic theology is beyond me. Then again, the Catholic Church long ago lost whatever humanity and credibility it might have once possessed.
“[P]ositive, pastoral and welcoming”? Sure…and Adolf Hitler was just a misunderstood dreamer.
