By Michael O’Loughlin
When Carol Baltosiewich was a Catholic nun, she spent 10 years caring for young men dying from AIDS. Even so, the first time I spoke to her, in 2016, I was terrified to tell her I’m gay.
As a reporter who covers the church, I had started interviewing Catholics who worked and fought during the height of the H.I.V. crisis in the United States, roughly 1982 to 1996. People like Ms. Baltosiewich persisted amid frequent hostility from church leaders toward gay people and the broader stigmas of the time. A poll in 1987 found that 43 percent of Americans agreed with the statement, “AIDS might be God’s punishment for immoral sexual behavior.”
A Catholic myself, I’d long internalized that being honest about my sexual orientation could be dangerous. L.G.B.T. people have been fired from their jobs at Catholic organizations. Some groups supporting L.G.B.T. Catholics have been barred from parishes. So even someone like Ms. Baltosiewich, who has loved and served countless gay men, could feel risky.
But my conversations with Ms. Baltosiewich and others like her — the fellowship, gratitude and moments of revelation we exchanged — had a profound effect on my own faith. So much so that recently, I wrote a letter to Pope Francis to share the book I wrote based on those conversations, and even to tell him a little about myself as a gay Catholic. To my surprise, he wrote back. His words offer me encouragement that dialogue is possible between L.G.B.T. Catholics and church leaders, even at the highest levels.
When I first learned about Ms. Baltosiewich’s work, I was tempted to describe her as a hero nurse-nun who showed compassion to gay men with AIDS at a time when so many other people refused to help. And she was. But what gets lost in that framing of her story is the reality of how the individuals she met through this ministry broadened her understanding of God’s love and ultimately made her a better Christian.
Ms. Baltosiewich can trace this change to a particular moment. She had moved to Manhattan from her home in Belleville, Ill., to learn about AIDS ministry. She was sitting on the stoop of the convent in Hell’s Kitchen where she was staying when she noticed a young man, Robert, walking toward her. He was visibly upset. Ms. Baltosiewich recognized him from the hospital where she volunteered and asked what happened.
His partner was dying from AIDS and there was nothing he could do to help. Robert broke down in tears. Ms. Baltosiewich held him.
She knew what her church taught about homosexuality. She remembered her own initial discomfort at the thought of romantic love between two men. But in that moment, as she held Robert, she thought about the love and concern he showed his partner and, she remembers thinking, “You couldn’t say it was wrong.”
I’ve felt isolated and alone at times as a gay Catholic trying to find a place in the church. I stay partly for cultural reasons, taking comfort in practicing the faith of my ancestors. I also find order and meaning in Catholicism, especially when life feels unpredictable. With U.S. bishops meeting in Baltimore this week, following months of debate about the worthiness of some Catholics to receive Communion, I’ve realized that personally, I stay in the church mostly for the Eucharist, that ritual during Mass when I believe the divine transcends our ordinary lives and God is present. I haven’t found that elsewhere.
Still, there have been moments when I felt that I had no choice but to leave, that the hypocrisy and judgment were too great. I once went so far as to begin the process of being received into the Episcopal Church but didn’t follow through. I sometimes wonder if I should have, like the time I sat at a dinner in Rome and listened to another Catholic criticize Pope Francis and suggest that despite the pope’s “Who am I to judge?” attitude, gays would, in fact, burn in hell.
But my encounters with people like Ms. Baltosiewich have been transformative, so much so that when I decided this past summer to write a letter to Pope Francis about my book, the fear I had once felt with Ms. Baltosiewich was gone. I told him that I am a gay Catholic journalist and that these stories of encounter have the power to change lives. I told him about the many L.G.B.T. Catholics I’ve interviewed, who are barely hanging on to their faith.
Later, when I saw the white envelope with the return address of the Vatican Embassy in Washington, I froze. Pope Francis had written back.
“Querido hermano,” began the letter. The letter was in Spanish, Pope Francis’ native tongue, but it’s been translated into English for this article. “Dear brother. I thank you for the letter and the book, which you wrote.”
“As I finished reading your letter,” the pope continued, invoking the Gospel of Matthew, “I was spontaneously struck by that through which we will one day be judged: ‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to me.’”
I read on.
“Thank you for shining a light on the lives and bearing witness to the many priests, religious sisters and lay people, who opted to accompany, support and help their brothers and sisters who were sick from H.I.V. and AIDS at great risk to their profession and reputation.”
Then he offered a decades-delayed papal blessing on the work undertaken by people like Ms. Baltosiewich.
“Instead of indifference, alienation and even condemnation,” Pope Francis continued, “these people let themselves be moved by the mercy of the Father and allowed that to become their own life’s work; a discreet mercy, silent and hidden, but still capable of sustaining and restoring the life and history of each one of us.”
“Again, I thank you and ask that the Father bless you and the Virgin Mary care for you, and please, don’t forget to pray for me,” he concluded, signing off, “Fraternally, Francis.”
I’m not under any illusions that a letter, even one signed by the pope, will heal the wounds some Catholics imparted decades ago. Or that this might finally be the moment when Francis changes church teaching on homosexuality. In fact, under his leadership, the Vatican has doubled down, releasing what many read as a reiteration of the ban on gay priests. More recently, the Vatican stated that while the church should welcome gay people “with respect and sensitivity,” God “does not and cannot bless sin” and thus declared priests cannot bless gay couples.
But Christians are called to have hope, and so for now, I still do.
Ms. Baltosiewich’s world was altered through her encounters with gay men more than 30 years ago. She has since left the order of nuns she was part of during her years of AIDS ministry and joined the Sisters for Christian Community, a non-canonical group, but remains a Catholic. When I called to read her the letter, she told me her eyes filled with tears.
My faith has been edified through my interactions with Ms. Baltosiewich. And now, with a papal blessing on this kind of work, perhaps church leaders — maybe even the pope — will be transformed in how they see L.G.B.T. people and others whose faith is lived on the margins. If they don’t, imagine what the church will have lost.
Complete Article ↪HERE↩!
Pope honors Catholic priests, nuns who cared for HIV victims
By Associated Press
Pope Francis has paid tribute to Catholic priests, nuns and laypeople who helped care for people with HIV and AIDS during the early period of the epidemic in the U.S. “at great risk to their profession and reputation.”
Francis offered the words of praise in a letter to Michael O’Loughlin, national correspondent for the Jesuit magazine America, who wrote the book “Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear,” out this month.
“Instead of indifference, alienation and even condemnation these people let themselves be moved by the mercy of the Father and allowed that to become their own life’s work; a discreet mercy, silent and hidden, but still capable of sustaining and restoring the life and history of each one of us,” Francis wrote.
O’Loughlin provided the text of Francis’ Aug. 17 letter in an essay published Monday in the New York Times, recounting his experience as a gay Catholic reporting the project and the tensions in the 1980s among the Catholic hierarchy, the gay community and AIDS activists to confront the epidemic.
In the letter, Francis thanked O’Loughlin “for shining a light on the lives and bearing witness to the many priests, religious sisters and lay people, who opted to accompany, support and help their brothers and sisters who were sick from HIV and AIDS at great risk to their profession and reputation.”
Francis’ letter was praised by the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit and editor at large of America who has advocated for the Catholic Church to build bridges with the LGBT community. In an email, Martin said Francis’ letter “is another significant step in the pope’s continual outreach to LGBTQ people.”
The Vatican holds that gay people must be treated with dignity and respect, but that gay sex is “intrinsically disordered.”
Complete Article ↪HERE↩!
Right-wing Catholic cult, Opus Dei, accused of exploiting women
by Barry Duke
FOUNDED by Josemaría Escrivá, above, now a saint, Opus Dei has long been accused of secrecy, elitism, cult-like practices, and political involvement with right-wing causes, such as the rule of Francisco Franco in Spain.
Now the organisation, according to Religion News Service, is being accused by a group of women of labour exploitation, as well as abuse of power. Often minors at the time, they laboured under “manifestly illegal conditions” that included working without pay for 12 hours-plus without breaks except for food or prayer, no registration in the Social Security system and other violations of basic rights.
The women are demanding financial reparations from Opus Dei and that it acknowledges the abuses and apologises to them. They also want those responsible punished.
A total of 42 women have lodged a complaint with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. One is Lucia Gimenez, 56, who joined the Catholic group in her native Paraguay at the age of 14 with the promise she would get an education. But instead of math or history, she was trained in cooking, cleaning and other household chores to serve in Opus Dei residences and retirement homes.
For 18 years she washed clothes, scrubbed bathrooms and attended to the group’s needs for 12 hours a day, with breaks only for meals and praying. Despite her hard labor, she says:
I never saw money in my hands.
The complaint says that the Argentine and Paraguayan citizens worked for the movement in Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, Italy and Kazakhstan between 1974 and 2015.
Opus Dei – Work of God in Latin – was founded by the Spanish priest Escrivá in 1928, and has 90,000 members in 70 countries. The lay group, which was greatly favored by St John Paul II, who canonized Escrivá in 2002, has a unique status in the church and reports directly to the Pope.
According to RNS the women in the complaint have one thing in common: humble origins. They were recruited and separated from their families between the ages of 12 and 16. In some cases, like Gimenez’s, they were taken to Opus Dei centre in another country, circumventing immigration controls.
They claim that Opus Dei priests and other members exercised “coercion of conscience” on the women to pressure them to serve and to frighten them with spiritual evils if they didn’t comply with the supposed will of God. They also controlled their relations with the outside world.
Most of the women asked to leave as the physical and psychological demands became intolerable. But when they finally did, they were left without money. Many also said they needed psychological treatment after leaving Opus Dei.
Said Sebastián Sal, the women’s lawyer:
The hierarchy (of Opus Dei) is aware of these practices. It is an internal policy of Opus Dei. The search for these women is conducted the same way throughout the world. … It is something institutional.
The women’s complaint also points to dozens of priests affiliated with Opus Dei for their alleged:
Intervention, participation and knowledge in the denounced events.
The allegations in the complaint are similar to those made by members of another conservative Catholic organisation also favoured by St John Paul II, the Legion of Christ. The Legion recruited young women to become consecrated members of its lay branch, Regnum Christi, to work in Legion-run schools and other projects.
Those women alleged spiritual and psychological abuse, of being separated from family and being told their discomfort was “God’s will” and that abandoning their vocation would be tantamount to abandoning God.
Pope Francis has been cracking down on 20th-century religious movements after several religious orders and lay groups were accused of sexual and other abuses by their leaders. Opus Dei has so far avoided much of the recent controversy, though there have been cases of individual priests accused of misconduct.
Josefina Madariaga, Director of Opus Dei’s press office in Argentina, told the AP.
We do not have any official notification from the Vatican about the existence of a complaint of this type. If there is a traumatic experience or one that has left them with a wound, we want to honestly listen to them, understand what happened and from there correct what has to be corrected.
She added that all the people currently “working on site are paid,” adding that some 80 women currently work for Opus Dei in Argentina.
However, she said:
In the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, society as a whole dealt with these issues in a more informal or family way.
Opus Dei has made the necessary changes and modifications to accompany the law in force today.
Beatriz Delgado, who worked for Opus Dei for 23 years in Argentina and Uruguay, said she was told that
I had to give my salary to the director and that everyone gave it. … It was part of giving to God. They convince you with the vocation, with ‘God calls you, God asks this of you, you cannot fail God.’ … They hooked me with that.
So far, the Vatican has not ruled on the complaint and it’s not clear if it will. A Vatican spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for information.
If there is no response, the women’s legal representatives say they will initiate criminal proceedings against Opus Dei:
For human trafficking, reduction to servitude, awareness control and illegitimate deprivation of liberty.
Complete Article ↪HERE↩!
Catholic church thrilled to announce reports of clergy sex abuse are down (but still insanely high)
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection just released its annual report and is pleased to announce that reports of clergy sexual abuse trended down during the pandemic!
According to the report, which was conducted by StoneBridge Business Partners of Rochester, New York and covers the year from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020, there was a slight decline in people alleging they were sexually abused by priests, deacons, and other church officials.
Just 3,924 sexual abuse survivors filed 4,228 allegations in 2020, down from 4,220 filing 4,434 allegations in 2019. So, that’s progress, right?
While the number of allegations was still incredibly, incredibly high, the report states that only 22 of the allegations, or 1%, were new cases of abuse and the “vast majority of these reports were historical in nature.”
Of those 22 allegations, six were found to be substantiated, two were declared unsubstantiated, seven are still being investigated, three have been determined “unable to be proven,” and four were classified as “other.” Nine of the allegations included the use of child pornography.
Of course, the whole report should be taken with a huge pillar of salt.
Two eparchies refused to participate in the audit (we wonder why?), and two dioceses and two more eparchies were determined to be in noncompliance with auditors (again, why?). On top of that, the pandemic prevented auditors from making on-site visits, meaning much of the information had to be cobbled together online.
Then, of course, these are only reported cases, and it’s a well-known fact that most sex crimes go unreported. It’s also a well-known fact that the Catholic church isn’t great at keeping records when it comes to this kinda stuff. But, hey, at least they’re trying.
“By the grace of God, the church is working toward being accessible, accountable, and safe,” Deacon Bernie Nojadera, executive director of the USCCB Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection, said in a letter accompanying the report. “We continue to rely on the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Our Mother to guide our efforts as we promise to protect and pledge to heal.”
Bless their hearts.
Complete Article ↪HERE↩!
Study Finds Nearly A Third Of Millennials Now Identify As LGBTQ
By Stewart Perrie
A new study of millennials in the United States of America has revealed a third of those surveyed identify as LGBTQ.
The number of people who recognise themselves to be non-heterosexual or non-cisgendered has been slowly climbing over the years thanks to visibility, law changes and acceptance.
But the Arizona Christian University wanted to see just how many people are comfortable with their sexuality or gender expression.
They surveyed 600 people aged between 18 to 37 in the hope it would give them an insight into how these two aspects of identity are tracking in the modern age.
They found 30 per cent of millennials now categorise themselves as being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.
A decent chunk of these millennials (39 per cent) are aged between 18 to 24.
According to the Daily Mail, the study concluded: “[Millenials are] redefining sexuality, their own and how to perceive and respond to the gender identity and sexual-orientation choices of others.”
But sexuality wasn’t the only focus of the study.
The Arizona Christian University’s investigation asked young people about the world around them and they found millennials are largely ‘anti-establishment, unpatriotic, pro-freedom of religion, and desperately trying to find a purpose in life’.
The age group said managing the coronavirus pandemic was the most important issue in the US.
They were split nearly down the middle when asked whether they prefer socialism or capitalism, with the former gaining a little less than half the vote.
Forty per cent of people listed themselves as progressive, while 29 per cent categorised themselves as conservative.
One in three millennials had been to a protest recently, highlighting how young people are particularly pro-activism.
However, this age group has largely admitted to being racked with stress, depression, anxiety and feelings of being lost.
Three quarters of those surveyed said they are still trying to find their purpose in life, which isn’t surprising considering a big chunk of them would still be in university and might be facing a crisis about whether they want to keep studying.
The Arizona Christian University’s director of research at the Cultural Research Center, George Barna, explained how this data is crucial to understanding young people.
He noted: “Rather than blasting them for a range of perceived inadequacies, perhaps we can support them with perspective, solutions, resources, and encouragement.”
Complete Article ↪HERE↩!