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KEVIN NAFF
Friday, November 17, 2006
DEMONSTRATING YET again just how detached they are from what’s happening in local parishes, the nation’s Catholic bishops met in Baltimore this week and affirmed their belief that homosexuality is “disordered” and that anyone in the church ministering to gay parishioners must adhere to that demeaning, archaic position.
Before you get too upset, remember that it took the Catholic Church an awfully long time to concede that the Earth isn’t flat.
The bishops, in all their backward-looking wisdom, concluded that Catholics with a “homosexual inclination” should live in chastity and avoid publicly announcing their sexual orientation.
That’s like telling people with a “black inclination” to cover up and avoid revealing their dark skin to the world. And gays should try their hand at chastity, because it has worked so well for Catholic priests, many of whom have preyed on young boys, in large part because they spent their lives suppressing their most natural and innate urges — to have sex.
Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee on doctrine, told The Washington Post this week that homosexual acts are “sinful,” “never morally acceptable” and “do not lead to true human happiness.”
I suppose we’d all be happier if we denied our nature and suppressed all those innate urges.
Even before Pope Benedict XVI assumed control of the church, he was busy attacking gays. In a 1986 Vatican letter, he described homosexuality as an “intrinsic moral evil.” He has since tried to ban gay priests (good luck with that) and denounced same-sex marriage and adoption.
In 2005, he said, “The church, while deeply respecting the people in question, cannot admit to the seminary and the sacred orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture.”
So even those gay seminarians who commit to the chastity vow are ineligible for the priesthood, according to Pope Benedict. The reference to “gay culture” is striking, too. Does that mean a seminarian who listens to Madonna or enjoys Broadway musicals need not apply for the priesthood?
IRONICALLY, THE CHURCH is only exacerbating its problem of gay men flocking to seminaries. It is policies like those endorsed by the Catholic Church that perpetuate the myth that being gay is wrong and sinful and means a path to loneliness and misery. So many gay men pursued the priesthood because the chastity vow meant they would never have to find a girlfriend or explain away their eternal bachelorhood to family members.
By continuing their attacks on gays, the church helps to ensure that another generation of closeted gay men will try to suppress their natural instincts by entering seminaries and attempting to avoid entirely the issue of sexual orientation in their lives.
That sure doesn’t sound like a prescription for lifelong happiness to me.
I wonder how many of those Catholic Bishops meeting in Baltimore this week, after spending the day denouncing gays, spent their evening at the Hippo. Enough of us — myself included — have been propositioned by Catholic priests over the years to know that chastity vow isn’t exactly ironclad.
I also wonder if any of those Catholic bishops paid a visit to Corpus Christi Church in Baltimore’s Bolton Hill neighborhood while in town. It was there two years ago that my sister was married. She and I attended Mass there a few months before the wedding to scope it out. Knowing that her gay brother would be in the wedding party, she didn’t want any fire and brimstone at the ceremony.
We were stunned looking around the half-empty church in all its marble, mahogany and stained glass glory to see the congregation consisted mostly of gays and lesbians. A gay ministry was advertised in the church bulletin. The priest wore Mardi Gras beads during the service, a flamboyant nod to the partying that precedes Lent. And, most shockingly, the church sent a mailing to its parishioners at the height of the debate over a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage assuring its congregants that Corpus Christi does not agree with the Vatican’s position on gay relationships.
Gee, I didn’t realize the Catholic Church was such a democratic organization. Of course, it isn’t. But you wouldn’t know it by the way many churches — like poor little Corpus Christi, with its dwindling congregation — operate. Mass attendance across the country is down dramatically and the Catholic Church faces a serious shortage of priests. In an effort to shore up flagging attendance, many local churches turn a blind eye to the Vatican’s insulting positions on homosexuality and openly welcome gay and lesbian churchgoers. For many inner city churches, the gays are all that’s left of the congregation, given how many families have taken flight for the suburbs.
WHAT I DON’T understand is why gays and lesbians continue to show up for Catholic Mass. There are plenty of affirming churches out there now, from the network of Metropolitan Community Churches to many Episcopal, Methodist and United Church of Christ congregations. Spiritually minded gays and lesbians need not subject themselves to the harmful teachings of the Catholic Church under Pope Benedict, who has an odd obsession with homosexuality.
As we’ve learned from the recent case of Ted Haggard — the former evangelical leader and accused meth queen — it’s always the most sanctimonious people who are engaged in the worst behavior. Given Pope Benedict’s penchant for Prada and those cute red shoes, it’s a wonder he hasn’t been the subject of more speculation himself.
The Catholic Church’s woefully outdated views on human sexuality would be quaint and amusing if they didn’t have such serious real-life consequences. Too many gay people are subjected to bullying, discrimination and violence to allow the church to get away with its demeaning pronouncements. I’m all for working for change from within. But at some point, gay and lesbian Catholics need to take a stand and refuse to allow the church to demonize them further. That time is now.
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