The Vatican released its newest diatribe against homosexuals in its response to pedophilia. (Don't worry, doesn't make sense to me either.) These are my thoughts.
1) The church, she's in trouble! I was at a very enlightened seminar about celibacy, homosexulaity and the priesthood at the last Religious Education Congress hosted by the Los Angeles Archdiocese. At it, one of the speakers--a priest who I think identifies as gay--said that by his estimation, as many as 40% of American priests are *celibate* homosexuals. If the church wants to cut them out, well, then the priest recruiting problem just got worse. That would be like the US Navy saying it wasn't going to recruit anymore... well... homosexuals!
2) To my liberal friends: This is not the time to attack all of Catholicism. You won't win a friend in me that way. Show your support for gay Catholics and gay priests. If the Church is repulsive to you, then stay at home and watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition while I'm at Mass. Then join us for cocktails afterward.
3) To my liberal Catholic friends: Running away won't save our Church. She's got problems, that's for damn sure. But we aren't Catholic because we pine for the inquisition and miss the crusades. We are Catholic because we find stregnth in the global church and peace in her liturgy. We can't leave just because she pissed us off... again. Come to Saint Monica's with me some time and see what a loving and affirming community can be about! Imagine if the Martin Luther just left every time... oh. Ok, what if every time the British King wanted a divorce he just... ok... nevermind. I'll meet you at All Saints Episcopal Church at noon!
4) While this news was devastating for me, it wasn't about me. I never wanted to be a priest because frankly, I don't look that good in purple (for non-Catholics, the vestments during this time of year, Advent, as well as during Lent, are purple). Think of how hard this must be for the thousands of gay priests already serving faithfully and celibately. (One of the heroes of the Church, Fr. Mychal Judge, a NYFD chaplain who was killed on September 11, was among other things also openly gay.) This must be devastating. Pray for them. Or at least take one out for cocktails at the Abbey!
5) Things will get better. A long time ago in my memory, the Vatican published a bunch of ugly stuff. And then the American bishops got together and published some beautiful stuff for parents about loving and accepting their gay children. Vatican: ugly. American Bishops: less ugly. Already, American Catholic leaders seem to be willing to defend their gay brethren. The head of the Bishop's conference, as well as a leader of the religious orders, have both spoken admirably of our celibate gay priests and acknowledge that "priests 'have become concrete examples of Christ' through their work, no matter what their orientation."
6) The Church--which is often right about so many things--is often VERY wrong on so many others. Exhibit A: Galileo. The Church finally apologized. Exhibit B: the Silence of the Holocaust. Oops. They apologized. So, give it time. Just a few hundred years. After all, if the Vatican can oppose Intelligent Design because, well, science disproves it, then they can backtrack from this one!
And as my boss, a Jewish lesbian, said today, "At least they aren't blaming the Jews for this one."
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