Tag Archives: Gay Catholics

05/15/13

Bishops say full effect of ‘redefining marriage’ will be felt for years

More sour grapes from our beloved leaders.

The “full social and legal effects” of state lawmakers’ decision to legalize same-sex marriage “will begin to manifest themselves in the years ahead,” said the Minnesota Catholic Conference.
“Today the Minnesota Senate voted to redefine marriage in Minnesota. The outcome, though expected, is no less disappointing,” the conference said in a statement.

Archbishop John Nienstedt

Say, I don’t look like i have a same-sex attraction, do I?

The state Senate in a 37-30 vote gave final approval Monday to a same-sex marriage bill. The state House passed the measure May 9. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed it Tuesday.

The law is to take effect Aug. 1, making Minnesota the 12th state to allow same-sex couples to marry. Earlier in May, Rhode Island and Delaware became the 10th and 11th states, respectively, to legalize same-sex marriage.

“The church, for its part, will continue to work to rebuild a healthy culture of marriage and family life, as well as defend the rights of Minnesotans to live out their faith in everyday life and speak the truth in love,” said the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s bishops.

“Some wish to believe that sexual relationships outside of the marital context of husband and wife are innocuous, choosing to ignore the fact that they are actually harmful to individuals and to society as a whole,” said Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

“There are many of us Americans, including many Minnesotans, who stand for the natural and true meaning of marriage,” he said in a statement released Tuesday. “They know that men and women are important; their complementary difference matters, their union matters, and it matters to kids. Mothers and fathers are simply irreplaceable.”

Cordileone called it “the height of irony” that the final vote on “the redefinition of marriage” and the governor’s signature on the bill occurred just a day “after we celebrated the unique gifts of mothers and women on Mother’s Day.”

In November, Minnesota voters rejected a ballot measure to amend the state constitution to define marriage as only a union between a man and woman, but polls show Minnesotans remained sharply divided over legalizing such unions. According to Minnesota Public Radio, a recent survey showed a majority are against same-sex marriage.

The measure changes the definition of marriage from “between a man and a woman” to “a civil contract between two persons.” A prohibition against marriage between relatives, such as first cousins, remained in place.

In a statement about the earlier House vote, the conference said lawmakers by approving same-sex marriage “set in motion a transformation of Minnesota law that will focus on accommodating the desires of adults instead of protecting the best interest of children.”

“This action is an injustice that tears at the fabric of society and will be remembered as such well into the future,” it said.

The Catholic conference said the bill posed “a serious threat to the religious liberty and conscience rights of Minnesotans.”

It includes legal protections for clergy and religious groups that don’t want to marry same-sex couples, but the conference said lawmakers failed “to protect the people in the pew — individuals, non-religious nonprofits, and small business owners who maintain the time-honored belief that marriage is a union of one man and one woman.”

According to the conference, lawyers on both sides of the issue have stated that no accommodations for “the deeply held beliefs of a majority of Minnesotans will result in numerous conflicts that will have to be adjudicated by our courts.”

In a separate statement issued after the House vote, Duluth Bishop Paul Sirba said the church “will continue to uphold and propose to the world what we know, through sound reason and through divine revelation, to be the authentic nature of marriage: a permanent union between one man and one woman, uniting a mother and a father with any children produced by their union.”

No civil authority, he said, “has the authority or competence to redefine marriage. Civil authorities have the obligation to protect and defend true marriage for the sake of justice and the common good.”

Sirba acknowledged that many disagree with the church’s stand on the issue and expressed dismay over the negative tone the debate over same-sex marriage has taken toward the church.

“We are particularly mindful of our brothers and sisters who have same-sex attractions,” he said.

(Have you ever noticed how our fearless leaders can’t and won’t use the word gay? We use it to self-define, but they want to define us for us, using the euphemism — our brothers and sisters who have same-sex attractions. It’s like if our same sex attraction is an add-on, the likes of which they want us to pray away, if we don’t mind.)

“Our hearts break that this debate has often been used as an occasion to sow mistrust and doubt, as if followers of the God who is love, and whose love for all people we proclaim each day as the body of Christ, are acting instead out of some sort of ill will.”

“To all those with same-sex attraction, we continue to extend our unconditional love and respect. For those who have heard God’s call and respond in faith, hope and love, striving to walk in his ways, we also offer our pastoral support,” the bishop added.

In Rhode Island May 2, Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed into law a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in that state. Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence expressed “profound disappointment” that the measure to “legitimize same-sex marriage” passed the Legislature.

In an open letter to the state’s Catholics, he said the Catholic church has fought very hard to “oppose this immoral and unnecessary proposition,” and that God would be the final arbiter of people’s actions.

Same-sex marriage became legal May 7 in Delaware; the law goes into effect July 1.

In an April 15 letter to Delaware legislators, Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Wilmington said marriage “is a unique relationship between a man and a woman” and it’s not the government’s place to “define or redefine” it.

Complete Article HERE!

05/10/13

Gay Would-Be Priest Fathers 22 Kids with 17 Lesbians As a Form of “Revenge” on the Church

In Munich, Germany, a once-aspiring priest is allegedly spreading his love around as a very popular sperm donor to lesbian couples as a way, he says, of getting “quiet revenge” on the church for denying him his vestments.

 

By Lester Brathwaite
Markus K. has never slept with a woman, but since fathering his first child nine years ago with a lesbian couple, he hasn’t been able to stop impregnating them. It all started in 1994. Friends had taken the U.S. by storm and Markus decided to do the same to some German ovaries. He had been in seminary in hopes of becoming a priest, but he was forced to leave because he was gay.

markus-k“Six years of theology, the Latinum Graecum, Hebraicum, all for naught,” Markus told the Munich Evening News. “My life was at a low point.”

You know what always cheers us up? Ejaculating into a paper cup. Markus felt the same way after seeing a note on the wall from a lesbian looking for a sperm donor. Big mistake. The woman was a bit of a whack — “she wore her first menstrual blood in an amulet around the neck, stuff like that” — but luckily his check bounced, as it were.

Then in 2003, a few years older and wiser and wealthier (he works in insurance) Markus answered an ad from a lesbian couple. Once he met them, he felt they would be good parents. Two attempts and nine months later he had a son. What’s more he didn’t charge the women so it was literally a gift of life.

Once word spread that Markus’ sperm took the HOV-lane to the uterus without paying a toll – well, let’s just say it’s a wonder he’s not incapacitated by severe carpal tunnel. Women just come to his apartment, he gives them the…stuff in a cup and then they go into a separate room to self-baste. See, nothing shady or strange about it. Sure, some of the ladies might “do a headstand after” but “others simply lie down and fall asleep.”

Now 45, Markus has 22 sons and daughters — 12 in Munich, one in Vienna, one in Tuscany, six scattered throughout the rest of Germany and two still on the way. With the birth of the two this summer, he’ll have 12 boys and 12 girls — then he might give it a rest.

The hectic seed-spreading schedule he’s been keeping over the last ten years has taken its toll on Markus’ love life. Turns out guys aren’t lining up to date a guy with more kids than pairs of shoes. His last boyfriend wasn’t too keen on having to deal with Markus’ 17 women and all of his fatherly commitments. Even with all those kids in different places, Markus is no deadbeat dad. He makes sure to see all of them for their birthdays and meets with five of the families every four weeks.

When one of his five-year-olds asked him how many other kids he’s been competing with, Markus began to wonder what other questions will be asked of him once his kids grow up — such as “why?”

“Probably a mix of help, reproductive instinct, loneliness and quiet revenge on the church. I can not be a priest as a gay man,” he said, “but I can reproduce myself as often as I want.”

Complete Article HERE!

05/6/13

Catholic church excommunicates Brazil priest for liberal views

File under: Insulated, monolithic, callous, tone deaf church power structure

By Paulo Prada

The Catholic Church has excommunicated a Brazilian priest after he defended homosexuality, open marriage and other practices counter to Church teaching in online videos.

Roberto-Francisco-DanielIn a statement released late on Monday, the priest’s diocese said Father Roberto Francisco Daniel, known to local parishioners as Padre Beto, had “in the name of ‘freedom of expression’ betrayed the promise of fealty to the Church.”

The priest “injured the Church with grave statements counter to the dogma of Catholic faith and morality.” The actions amount to “heresy and schism,” the statement said, the penalty for which is excommunication, or expulsion from the Church.

The rare punishment follows what Daniel’s bishop and the priest himself said were repeated rebukes about the videos and other public activities, such as a radio broadcast and local newspaper column, in which he challenged Church doctrine.

The 47-year-old cleric, who studied theology in Germany, is popular in the southeastern city of Bauru, where he has been a priest since 2001. He is known for his rock T-shirts, a silver stud pierced through his right ear and his habit of posing, as on his official Facebook page, with a glass of beer.

On Facebook and Twitter, Daniel posted a brief statement about the excommunication: “I feel honored to belong to the long list of people who have been murdered and burned alive for thinking and searching for knowledge.”

SPREAD OF MODERATE VIEWS

Daniel’s excommunication, which prompted headlines across Brazil and protests in social media, illustrates the rising influence of more moderate social views in Brazil, Latin America’s biggest country, and much of the rest of the region.

Progressive stances on sexuality, birth control, scientific research and other delicate topics for the Church are increasingly common in Latin America, home to 42 percent of the world’s Catholics, more than any other region worldwide.

The shifting views are among the many challenges faced by Pope Francis, an Argentine who ascended in March to become the first Latin American pope in history.

The excommunication comes just two months before Francis is scheduled to attend World Youth Day, expected to attract as many as 2 million young Catholics to Rio de Janeiro.

Though Francis is known to be a traditionalist on social issues and Church doctrine, his appointment raised hopes that the first non-European pope in 13 centuries would do more than his predecessors to modernize Catholicism.

But Daniel’s beliefs clearly went too far for church leaders.

In one of the recent videos he posted on YouTube.com and his own Website, the priest said a married person who chose to have an affair, heterosexual or otherwise, would not be unfaithful as long as that person’s spouse allowed it. “If someone is in an extramarital relationship and that relationship is accepted by the spouse, then faithfulness still exists there,” he said.

A “REBEL SON”

In a telephone interview, Daniel said his statements “are personal reflections that should be considered and discussed in the dialogue of the church.” The excommunication, he said, is “the sad act of a lukewarm and disengaged church that is out of touch with today’s society.”

The diocese retained a church expert in canonical law to oversee the excommunication process. The diocese also initiated a separate process at the Vatican through which Daniel will be stripped of clerical authority.

Last Tuesday, Bishop Caetano Ferrari gave Daniel a letter asking him to take the videos offline and publicly retract his statements. In an interview posted on the diocese Web site shortly afterward, Ferrari called Daniel “brilliant,” but characterized him as a “rebel son” who “crosses the line.”

On Monday, Daniel said he went to the diocese headquarters planning to renounce his clerical duties rather than retract any of his comments. But before he had a chance, the bishop and canonical expert made him face a committee of Church officials.

“It was a trial,” Daniel said. “I told them I was not there to be tried, that I had not been indicted.”

Shortly afterward, the Church issued the statement announcing his excommunication.

Complete Article HERE!

04/25/13

In bizarre move, bishop who ousted gay catholic from parish rejects 18,000 signatures, sends them back

File under: insulated, monolithic, callous, tone deaf church power structure

by Ross Murray

On April 11, Nicholas Coppola delivered over 18,000 signatures gathered through Faithful America to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, asking that Nicholas be once again allowed to volunteer with his parish, after getting married to his husband.

nicholas-coppolaOn April 23, Bishop William Murphy mailed them back, accompanied by one sentence:

“FROM YOUR FAITHFUL ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP.”

Seriously. You can see the cover letter here.

“I really don’t understand what sort of message Bishop Murphy is trying to send,” said Nicholas Coppola upon learning that the signatures were mailed back. “Is he no longer listening to the voices of the faithful? I have more questions than anything now.”

“Bishop Murphy owes Nicholas and the 18,000 people who’ve signed this petition a real answer, not a tactless ‘return to sender’” said Michael Sherrard, executive director of Faithful America. “I’ve never heard of a church official returning a petition like this without any kind of explanation.”

In January, Nicholas was informed by his priest that because he got married, he was to be removed from all parish activity, including altar server, lector, visitation minister, and religious education instructor. More than 18,000 people, including many Catholics, stood up in support of Nicholas, and asked that he be restored to his participation with the parish. Rather than speak with Nicholas, the Diocese dispatched security and would not allow Nicholas to enter the building. A security guard stated that he was to collect Nicholas’ petition and deliver it to the correct person.

Since that time, Nicholas has launched a second petition through Change.org, inviting Cardinal Timothy Dolan to break bread with him and listen to the story of at least one faithful gay Catholic. The petition comes in response to Cardinal Dolan’s admission to George Stephanopoulos that the Roman Catholic Church hasn’t “been too good” about not attacking gay and lesbian people. The Change.org petition has collected over 20,000 signatures to date.

According to canon law, the bishops must respond to letters that have been delivered. Later the same day that Nicholas delivered the petitions, the diocese issued a media statement reaffirming Nicholas’ ouster. It is unclear if returning the petition is the official response, per canon law.

“Nicholas Coppola is a faithful Catholic who loves his church, and he is now being treated like a threat by his own bishop,” said Ross Murray, GLAAD’s Director of News and Faith Initiatives. “Now more than ever, it is vital that Cardinal Dolan break bread with Nicholas to hear how he is being treated by the church that he loves so much.”

Take Action: Tell Cardinal Dolan to break bread with Nicholas Coppola

It’s time to replace shunning with real dialogue. Please join GLAAD in asking Cardinal Dolan to break bread with Nicholas Coppola so he can see that they are just like any other American Catholic family. Visit www.glaad.org/breakbread to learn more.

Complete Article HERE!

04/23/13

Same-sex marriage: France changes law

The French parliament has approved a bill legalising same-sex marriage and adoption, following a divisive public debate.

husband & husbandFrance becomes the 14th country to pass a law allowing gay marriage, and follows New Zealand last week.

Opponents of the move have staged some of the biggest protests seen in France in years, though polls suggest a small majority in favour of gay marriage.

Demonstrations are expected from both supporters and opponents of the bill.

Police reinforcements have been brought in and security stepped up. Although previous rallies have been overwhelmingly peaceful, some clashes on the fringes have been blamed on far-right elements.

President Francois Hollande has made the law his flagship social reform.

He is expected to add his signature to the bill once it has cleared any challenge in the constitutional council.

Opponents of gay marriage hope the council will block the bill – but analysts say that is unlikely.

Supporters say gay people will only have equal rights when they are allowed to marry.

They also say the campaign of opposition has encouraged an increase in violent attacks on gay people.

There have been some high-profile attacks in recent weeks, and on Monday gunpowder was posted to the speaker of the lower house, demanding he stop the vote.

The violence and threats have been condemned by both sides.

Some argue this is the most important social reform in France since the death penalty was banned in 1981, says the BBC’s Christian Fraser in Paris.

France becomes the ninth country in Europe to allow same-sex marriage. It has already been legalized not just in the traditionally liberal Netherlands and Scandinavia, but also in strongly Catholic Portugal and Spain. Legislation is also moving through the UK Parliament.

But the measure has aroused stronger than expected opposition in France – a country where the Catholic Church was thought to have lost much of its influence over the public.

In January, a protest in Paris against the bill attracted some 340,000 people according to police – one of the biggest public demonstrations in France in decades. Organisers put the figure at 800,000.

Since then both sides have held regular street protests.

The opponents, backed by the Catholic Church and conservative opposition, say France already has civil partnerships for homosexual couples, and extending rights to marriage undermines an essential building block of society.

Opinion polls suggest about 55-60% of the public support same-sex marriage.

However, support for adoption by same-sex couples, which is also provided for in the bill, is only at about 50%.

Opponents have marched under banners declaring a child’s right to a mother and father.

At a last-ditch demonstration on Sunday, Camille, 32, told AFP news agency as she fed her baby of four months: “We are here for the rights of the children… We take it as a slur when we are called homophobes or fascists.”

Complete Article HERE!

04/15/13

Constitutional convention backs extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples

By Ruadhan Mac Cormaic

The constitutional convention has voted overwhelmingly in favour of extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.
Some 79 per cent of members voted to recommend that the constitution be amended to allow for same-sex marriage, with 19 per cent against and the remainder having no opinion.

gay irelandSupporters of the proposal, some of whom cheered and wept as the result was announced this afternoon, hailed it as a landmark on the road towards equality for gay couples and urged the Government to act swiftly by calling a referendum. The convention’s recommendation will now be sent to the Government, which has pledged to hold a debate in the Oireachtas and set out its response within four months.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore welcomed the result, saying he had always believed “that our laws reflect the past, not the future” on this issue. “It’s not the role of the State to pass judgement on who a person falls in love with, or who they want to spend their life with,” he said.

Asked what form the constitutional change should take, the convention – comprising one third politicians and two thirds ordinary citizens – 78 per cent of members voted for a directive amendment (“the State shall enact laws providing for same-sex marriage”) while 17 per cent opted for a permissive amendment (“the State may enact laws providing for same-sex marriage”).

The members also voted in favour of recommending that the State pass laws “incorporating changed arrangements in regard to the parentage, guardianship and the upbringing of children”.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said he welcomed the support expressed for “the reform and modernisation” of laws in relation to parentage, guardianship and upbringing of children.

“Essential work has been undertaken on the preparation of a new Family Relationships and Children’s Bill to address these issues in relation to children and details of the bill will be published in the coming months,” he said.

The same-sex marriage discussion had attracted considerable public interest, with more than 1,000 submission having been lodged with the convention. Today’s vote followed a weekend of discussion on the topic at the Grand Hotel in Malahide, north Dublin, where members heard from legal experts as well as supporters and opponents of the proposal.
In a joint statement this afternoon, advocacy groups Marriage Equality, the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties welcomed the outcome as “an historic step”.

“It is a major milestone on the remarkable journey to full constitutional protection for lesbian and gay people and families in Ireland,” said GLEN director Brian Sheehan. “It builds on the extraordinary progress we have achieved over the last 20 years, and clearly demonstrates that Ireland is ready to take the next step to complete that remarkable journey.”

The Irish Catholic Bishops Conference was one of three groups that gave presentations arguing against same-sex marriage.

Commenting on the outcome today, a spokesman for the Catholic Communications Office said: “While the result of the constitutional convention is disappointing, only the people of Ireland can amend the constitution. The Catholic church will continue to promote and seek protection for the uniqueness of marriage between a woman and a man, the nature of which best serves children and our society.”

Convention chairman Tom Arnold thanked the participants and said proceedings were conducted in a fair and transparent manner. “This weekend’s discussions have been both passionate and thoughtful, both heartfelt and rigorous,” he said.
Independent Senator Ronan Mullen said the debate on same-sex marriage had been a “flawed process”. He said documentation commissioned from various experts ahead of the meeting was “not inclusive of all the relevant issues and failed to be completely impartial”.

Senator Mullen also said “some citizen members of the convention felt that they had been pressured by politician members at the tables to support a particular line”.

Same-sex marriage is permitted in 11 countries, and Bills are being debated in a number of others, including France, Britain and Uruguay.

The next meeting of the Constitutional Convention will consider the Dáil electoral system and the way in which politicians are elected.

Complete Article HERE!

04/8/13

Two Catholic Leaders Advise Denying Communion to Marriage Equality Supporters

Detroit Catholic leaders, one a legal adviser to the Vatican, suggest those who support gay marriage be denied Communion. Compare this to news that the Vatican collaborated with another murderous dictator.

By Niraj Warikoo

A Detroit professor and legal adviser to the Vatican says Catholics who promote gay marriage should not try to receive holy Communion, a key part of Catholic identity.

And the archbishop of Detroit, Allen Vigneron, said Sunday that Catholics who receive Communion while advocating gay marriage would “logically bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury.”

The comments of Vigneron and Edward Peters, who teaches Catholic canon law at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, are part of a polarizing discussion about gay marriage that echoes debate over whether politicians who advocate abortion rights should receive Communion.

In a post on his blog last week, Peters said that Catholic teachings make it clear that marriage is between one man and one woman. And so, “Catholics who promote ‘same-sex marriage’ act contrary to” Catholic law “and should not approach for holy Communion,” he wrote. “They also risk having holy Communion withheld from them … being rebuked and/or being sanctioned.”

Peters didn’t specify a Catholic politician or public figure in his post. But he told the Free Press that a person’s “public efforts to change society’s definition of marriage … amount to committing objectively wrong actions.”

Peters, an attorney and the Edmund Cardinal Szoka chairman at Sacred Heart, was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 to be a referendary of the Apostolic Sinatura, which means he helps advise the top judicial authority in the Catholic Church. Peters’ blog, “In Light of the Law,” is popular among Catholic experts, but not everyone agrees with his traditional views.

“Most American bishops do not favor denying either politicians or voters Communion because of their positions on controversial issues,” said Thomas Reese, a Catholic priest and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. Reese said that Peters’ views are “in a minority among American canon lawyers.”

But, Reese added, “about 30 or so bishops have said that pro-choice or pro-gay-marriage Catholics should not present themselves for Communion.”

Peters has said before that liberal Catholic Democrats, such as U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, should be denied Communion because of their statements and positions.

In 2011, Peters said that Cuomo should not receive Communion because he is an outspoken proponent of gay marriage. Last month, Peters said, “Pelosi suffers from one of the most malformed consciences in the annals of American Catholic politics or … she is simply hell-bent on using her Catholic identity to attack Catholic values at pretty much every opportunity.”

In 2002, Catholic Jennifer Granholm’s support of abortion rights became an issue in the gubernatorial race a month before the election, when Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida released a letter saying Catholic politicians had a “special moral obligation” to oppose abortion.

Last month, Vigneron said at a news conference that maintaining views that oppose abortion and support traditional marriage are important for Catholics.

“Were we to abandon them, we would be like physicians who didn’t tell their patients that certain forms of behavior are not really in their best interest,” said Vigneron, who oversees 1.3 million Catholics in southeastern Michigan.

On Sunday, Vigneron said about supporting gay marriage and receiving Communion: “For a Catholic to receive holy Communion and still deny the revelation Christ entrusted to the church is to try to say two contradictory things at once: ‘I believe the church offers the saving truth of Jesus, and I reject what the church teaches.’ In effect, they would contradict themselves. This sort of behavior would result in publicly renouncing one’s integrity and logically bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury.”

Vigneron said the church wants to help Catholics “avoid this personal disaster.”

Complete Article HERE!

04/4/13

Gay man removed from Catholic parish involvement after getting married

The media has made much ado about Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s appearance on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, wherein he claimed that the Roman Catholic Church needs to be better at welcoming gay and lesbian people.

Cardinal Dolan also stated that the Catholic Church isn’t “anti-anybody” and should be a church for all.

Nicholas and David at homeBut his words do not ring true for real life Catholics. In fact, as Cardinal Dolan was expressing his desire to have the church be open to all, one gay Catholic man was being stripped of his roles and responsibilities within his Long Island parish.

Nicholas Coppola is a parishioner at St. Antony’s Roman Catholic Church in Oceanside, New York. His involvement at the church included serving as a religious education instructor, lector, altar server, visitation minister for homebound members, as well as member of the Consolation Ministry and St. Vincent de Paul.

He has been completely out to his parish for years, and has had the support of his priest and fellow parishioners. Mr. Coppola and his husband, David were married on October 27, 2012. A number of parishioners attended their wedding.

Upon returning from his honeymoon in January, Mr. Coppola was called into the office of Fr. Nicholas Lombardi S.J., the pastor of St. Anthony.

Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre received an anonymous letter, informing him of Mr. Coppola.

According to the letter:

“Nicholas Coppola is a Religion Teacher at St. Anthony’s. I have also seen him involved with other Parish work including his name on a board for “THE ST. ANTHONY PROJECT” to raise money for air conditioning in the Church. The problem is that he is a homosexual. He was recently married to another man. He does not hide this or keep it silent.”

The diocese then faxed the letter to Fr. Lombardi, noting that “it would be of concern to you if a catechist were, in fact, ‘married’.”

Fr. Lombardi stated that Mr. Coppola must be removed from all parish involvement. The reason stated was that Mr. Coppola made a public statement by getting married, which is against church teaching.

“I was in shock. I had just come home from my honeymoon. I went to mass on Martin Luther King Day, where we heard a great sermon about justice and equality,” said Mr. Coppola, recalling the meeting.

“After mass, I was summoned into the pastor’s office and told that I could no longer be active in my own parish.”

Mr. Coppola has had two meetings with the Diocese of Rockville Centre, and was informed that the bishop’s ‘hands were tied.’ While the Roman Catholic hierarchy states that it wishes to welcome gay and lesbian people into the church, being in a loving, committed relationship, and seeking protections for that relationship and for one another through civil marriage will exclude one from parish life.

Following Cardinal Dolan’s interview and assertion that the church is welcoming to gay and lesbian people, Mary Ann Walsh, Director of Media Relations, took to Huffington Post to respond to the heightened media attention around Dolan’s claims.

She stated very boldly, “No one is carded at a Catholic Church. Shunning is not the Catholic tradition.”

However, once Nicholas Coppola was identified as a married gay man, he was shunned from the parish.

“When I suffered a back injury that didn’t allow me to work, participating in the ministries at St. Anthony’s gave me a purpose,” said Mr. Coppola.

“Being shunned from a community that means so much to me takes a toll, not just to me, but to those around me. My mom cried. My husband has been a great source of support for me, but he is also struggling with this action. Even my fellow parishioners are hurt and angry that I can’t be involved in the parish anymore.”dolan

Nicholas Coppola is not the first Catholic to be persecuted by Roman Catholic hierarchy.

Several employees of Roman Catholic parishes, schools, and related institutions have been fired for their support for marriage equality, no matter how public or private those beliefs have been.

Dominic Sheahan-Stahl was uninvited to speak at the graduation of his alma mater in Michigan.

Lennon Cihak was denied confirmation after urging people to vote against the anti-marriage amendment in Minnesota.

Most famously in Maryland, Barbara Johnson was denied communion at her own mother’s funeral because she was gay.

“We continue to hear assertions from the hierarchy that the Roman Catholic Church is loving and embracing to all, but the experience of Nicholas Coppola and so many others run counter to those claims,” stated GLAAD’s Director of News and Faith Initiatives, Ross Murray. “Until the hierarchy stops persecuting those within its ranks who support full equality for LGBT people, its message of love and inclusion means nothing.”

Mr. Coppola continues to express his hope for the church. “I want a church that is open to all and loves each one of us the same.”

GLAAD calls on the media to highlight the stories of Nicholas Coppola and others who have been persecuted by the Roman Catholic hierarchy for supporting full equality for LGBT people.

These stories represent the disconnect between words like that of Cardinal Dolan or Sister Walsh and the experience of real LGBT Catholics in America.

They will tell a fuller story of why Catholics overwhelmingly support LGBT equality, including marriage equality, despite virulent opposition from Roman Catholic hierarchy.

Complete Article HERE!

04/2/13

Catholic Church Rips Off Marriage Equality Facebook Campaign With Red Division Sign

File under: Insulated, monolithic, callous, tone deaf power structure

division-sign

Nearly three million Facebook users turned their Facebook profile pictures into some variation of a red HRC equal sign in support of marriage equality.

The Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco didn’t like that one bit, so it encouraged the faithful to post its own symbolic images: a plus sign, a division sign and a “man + woman = child’” icon.

After a Change.org petition was started to get the Archdiocese to remove its divisive images, the division symbol was taken down, but the others remain.

We’d say the Church was being pretty pathetic in stealing the LGBT community’s symbols, but co-opting imagery and rites from other cultures is pretty much the Catholic Church’s bailiwick.

plus

baby

Complete Article HERE!

03/4/13

Cardinal O’Brien’s confession turns spotlight on Scottish Catholic church

Admission of sexual misconduct exposes former head cleric and church to claims of hypocrisy especially over gay rights

By Severin Carrell

The Scottish Roman Catholic church is facing a series of questions about the conduct of its former leader and its attacks on gay rights, after Cardinal Keith O’Brien admitted to a secret sexual life dating back decades.

O’Brien is expected to face a more detailed investigation by the Vatican after admitting to incidents of sexual misconduct throughout his career, which started in 1965.

HypocritesAfter a week of denials over allegations of sexual conduct and approaches by four men, the cardinal said on Sunday he was guilty of conduct that had “fallen beneath the standards expected of me”.

In a statement that left questions unanswered about the nature of that misconduct, he added: “To those I have offended, I apologise and ask forgiveness. To the Catholic church and people of Scotland, I also apologise.”

Those admissions are likely to supersede the original Vatican investigation, first revealed by the Observer, into formal allegations levelled against O’Brien in early February by three serving priests in his former diocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, and a former priest.

The latter said he left the priesthood after he was sexually propositioned by O’Brien in the 1980s. Other incidents involving O’Brien, who became archbishop in 1985 and then cardinal in 2003, included a series of “drunken fumblings” and unwanted advances, church sources said.

His remarks are an admission that he breached ecclesiastical codes on celibacy and against homosexuality, and that his officials misled the Vatican, the Scottish church and the public in their denials following the Observer article.

While the Vatican inquiry is expected to remain confidential, and will be set up once 116 or so of the church’s cardinals gather in Rome elect Pope Benedict XVI’s successor within the coming days, it will ask O’Brien for further details about that misconduct.

It also exposes the cardinal and the Scottish church to claims of hypocrisy, and raises questions about whether other senior figures in the church knew about his private life and covered it up or failed to take action.

It also emerged last week that a fifth priest had reportedly made accusations to the Vatican against O’Brien late last year, concerning an incident in 2001. In 2003, O’Brien took office as a cardinal, signing an oath about upholding the church’s teachings: until then, he had been regarded as a liberal archbishop.

O’Brien has since become notorious among equal rights campaigners for his vigorous attacks on gay marriage and gay adoptions, calling homosexuality a “grotesque subversion” and “harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing of those involved”.

Colin MacFarlane, director of Stonewall Scotland, which named O’Brien “bigot of the year” last year, challenged the cleric and the Scottish church to explain why he had not apologised directly to the gay community.

“We note with sadness that the cardinal didn’t find it in him to apologise to gay people, their families and friends for the harm his vicious and cruel language caused,” he said.

Church officials confirmed on Monday that O’Brien had left Scotland for an undisclosed location to rest and escape the furore over his admission of misconduct. He had been due to attend this week’s conclave in the Vatican. Before being disgraced, he had been scheduled to visit a parish in Dunbar, East Lothian, after retiring on his 75th birthday later this month.

Professor John Haldane, an adviser to the Vatican and a leading commentator on Scottish Catholic affairs at St Andrews University, said the O’Brien affair raised a number of “broad lessons” for the church and a challenge to the Scottish church to reform itself.

Writing in the weekly Catholic newspaper the Tablet, Haldane said the church was guilty of double standards for denouncing homosexuality as an inherently disordered condition while knowing many of its priests and trainees at its seminaries were gay, or wrestling with their sexuality. Regardless of their sexuality, priests ought to be made to explicitly pledge to remain wholly celibate or leave the priesthood, Haldane said.

He added that the Scottish church should abolish at least half of its eight diocese – a throwback to the size and power of the pre-reformation church.

The Scottish church is struggling to fill five bishop vacancies. It has only three full-time, permanent bishops or archbishops in post. It needed a new body of at most six lay advisers to help in that transformation, Haldane said.

Catherine Deveney, the journalist who broke the original story in the Observer, told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme none of the four accusers she had reported on was pursuing a personal vendetta against O’Brien.

“One of the individuals concerned said that to take the cardinal on as an individual himself would have been like running into a brick wall,” she said, adding: “These men are spiritual men – they want to see an open and transparent Catholic church as a result of this, they don’t want to see it destroyed.”

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