Faith & Sex – Page 85 – Hear Our Voices

August 5, 2015

Bismarck bishop tells parishes to break ties with Boy Scouts after ban lifted on gay leaders

File Under: Holy cow, you could get the gay cooties!

Bishop John Folda — “I’m afraid of the gays so you can’t be a boy scout. That’s just how our church works.”

The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bismarck has ordered parishes in western North Dakota to sever sponsorship ties with the Boy Scouts of America following the group’s decision to lift its ban on gay adult leaders.

“I cannot permit our Catholic institutions to accept and participate directly or indirectly in any organization which has policies and methods which contradict the authoritative moral teachings of the Catholic Church,” Bishop David Kagan wrote Monday in a letter to parishioners.

The Boy Scouts last week ended its ban on gay adult leaders, while allowing church-sponsored Scout units to maintain the exclusion for religious reasons.

“Effective immediately, the Catholic Church of the Diocese of Bismarck and each and every one of its parishes, schools and other institutions is formally disaffiliated with and from the Boy Scouts of America,” Kagan wrote.

Sonia Mullally, a spokeswoman for Kagan, said he was not available for comment Tuesday because he was attending Mass in Minot.

A woman who answered the phone at the Boy Scout headquarters in Texas said the organization had no comment on the bishop’s order.

North Dakota’s other Roman Catholic diocese, in Fargo, serves more than 80,000 Catholics in the eastern part of the state. Bishop John Folda said in a statement that he hopes “scouting remains a viable option for Catholic youth” in that part of the state. But he said Boy Scout leaders should “select volunteers based on character and conduct consistent” with the church’s teachings.

The Bismarck diocese, which covers the western portion of the state, serves more than 62,000 Catholics.

Cory Wrolstad, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts’ Northern Lights Council in Bismarck, says the bishop’s decision will affect eight Boy Scout troops and Cub Scout packs in Bismarck, Mandan, Beulah and Williston. The troop in Mandan will end a 66-year affiliation with the Catholic church, Wrolstad said.

“They will be working to find other charter organizations within those communities, and there will be a good chance they will be faith-based organizations,” he said.

Scout groups pay a $40 annual charter fee to sponsoring organizations, which helps cover insurance liability costs, Wrolstad said.

The Northern Lights Council, which also includes parts of neighboring South Dakota, Montana and Minnesota, has more than 400 packs and troops, he said.

Complete Article HERE!

August 5, 2015

23,000 sign petition for Catholic teacher’s reinstatement

File under: Seige Mentality

Former Waldron Mercy Academy teacher Margie Winters was not allowed in the building, but an archdiocesan representative accepted the box of signed petitions. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer — Former Waldron Mercy Academy teacher Margie Winters was not allowed in the building, but an archdiocesan representative accepted the box of signed petitions.

By Chris Brennan

Margie Winters, accompanied by about 50 supporters and carrying a box of petitions signed by 23,000 people who want her reinstated as a Catholic school educator, could not get in the front door.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Center City offices were on lockdown Monday afternoon. A security guard politely but firmly refused to allow Winters to enter the building.

“Because I’m so threatening,” Winters joked after handing the box to the guard and asking him to deliver it to Archbishop Charles J. Chaput.

Winters was fired June 22 as director of religious education at Waldron Mercy Academy in Merion for being in a same-sex marriage, something she told the school about when she was hired eight years ago.

“We ask for full inclusion at the table and in the church,” Winters told her cheering supporters Monday. “And we ask now for a moratorium on firing any LGBT employee.”

Winters questioned the archdiocese’s repeated claim that it played no role in her firing. An anonymous complaint to the archdiocese in June “very quickly” set in motion her firing, Winters said.

“It wasn’t until the archdiocese was notified that something changed,” she said. “You can draw your own conclusions.”

The petitions, addressed to Chaput, read, “Margie Winters’ firing was unjust and contrary to Catholic values, and she should be reinstated immediately. Please inform the school’s leadership that you will not interfere with their staffing or threaten their status as a Catholic school.”

Archdiocesan spokesman Ken Gavin called the petitions “problematic.”

“It’s wrong for any individual or group to perpetuate the falsehood that the archbishop interfered with the school’s personnel decisions,” he said.

The petition drive was organized by Faithful America, a group that says it has more than 319,000 members.

The group’s website describes it as “the largest and fastest-growing online community of Christians putting faith into action for social justice. Our members are sick of sitting by quietly while Jesus’ message of good news is hijacked by the religious right to serve a hateful political agenda.”

The group’s previous petition drives have pressured Google and MSNBC to cut ties with organizations accused of discrimination against the LGBT community, and targeted a corporation using religion to defend employee insurance plans that did not include birth control.

Chaput, in a statement last month, said school officials showed “character and common sense” in firing Winters.

The school and the Sisters of Mercy, the religious order that sponsors it, have said Waldron Mercy’s Catholic identity could have been put at risk if it did not follow the church’s teachings on same-sex marriage.

Chaput clearly saw that as a possibility.

“Schools describing themselves as Catholic take on the responsibility of teaching and witnessing the Catholic faith in a manner true to Catholic belief,” Chaput said in a statement last month. “There’s nothing complicated or controversial in this.”

Winters’ firing outraged parents, prompting some to withhold contributions and tuition to the school and others to consider sending their children to other schools.

The school’s board of trustees last month held three “small-group discussions” on Winters’ firing that were attended by about 170 parents, and the board has promised to hold a “larger town hall meeting” as the school year approaches.

Complete Article HERE!

August 4, 2015

Catholic bishop in ‘death to gays’ storm

Vitus Huonder, the controversial Catholic bishop of Chur in eastern Switzerland, has once again attracted criticism for quoting homophobic Bible passages and denouncing non-traditional family models.

At the “Joy in Faith” forum in the German city of Fulda, he quoted a passage from the Bible which said homosexuals should be punished by death.

In his 50-minute address on Friday, titled “Marriage – a gift, sacrament and order”, Huonder quoted various passages backing up his views. He also slammed gender theory, divorce, sex education and gay marriage.

Regarding homosexuality, the 73-year-old bishop quoted two verses from the book of Leviticus, including Leviticus 20:13: “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”

In response to applause, he continued: “Both of these passages alone suffice to clarify unambiguously the church’s position on homosexuality”.

In his opinion, the passages also had implications for the definition of marriage and the family. “There is no diversity when it comes to marriage and family models, although a book has just come out in my bishopric called ‘Family Diversity’,” he said.

“Even speaking of family diversity is an attack on the Creator.”

The book he is referring to is “Family Diversity in the Catholic Church” by Hanspeter Schmitt, a professor at the Chur University of Theology, and Arnd Bünker from the socio-pastoral institute in St Gallen. The book addresses church teachings on the issue of family.

‘Gaffe’

Swiss gay organisation Pink Cross said it was “shocked and angry” by Huonder’s comments, calling for a “public apology for the latest gaffe”.

Pink Cross said it was looking into how such hate speech could be prosecuted, pointing out that representatives of the church do not live in a legal vacuum.

On Monday, Huonder released a statement in which he regretted that his comments had been misunderstood and interpreted as contemptuous towards homosexuals.

“That wasn’t my intention,” he said, before referring to the catechism of the Catholic Church on the issue.

Fundamentalist

This is far from the first controversy that Huonder has found himself embroiled in since being appointed bishop of Chur, the capital of canton Graubünden, in 2007.

His fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible has resulted in his opposing issues including women priests and sex education. He believes parents should have the right to have their children exempted from sex education classes in school and that divine law comes before human rights.

Earlier this year Huonder called for a Swiss priest who had blessed a lesbian couple to be sacked. The priest kept his job after apologising to Huonder for causing him any “inconvenience” and promising not to bless any more gay couples.

Complete Article HERE!

July 30, 2015July 30, 2015

TruthTrending

Remember my posting of 07/01/15,

What is it about some Catholics…

Here’s TruthTrending: TruthTrending uses the truth about the laws that we all live by that remind viewers that religious protections are already in place and not threatened or oppressed when equality spreads wider to include more people. Our United States Constitution is the law we all live by regardless of faith and asserts the protections and equality in treatment for all Americans. This is why the gentle and respectful reminder to viewers that meaningful discussions and debates can continue but all should be able to come to the table equally protected and not at a disadvantage because they don’t share the same faith.

July 30, 2015

United Methodist LGBT advocates tape pledge to doors after ousting of gay minister

Rev. Benjamin Hutchison speaks to the media after supporters taped an LGBT inclusiveness pledge to the doors of a United Methodist Church center on July 28, 2015.

By Emily Lawler

United Methodist pastors from different parts of the state Tuesday traded in the pulpit for a press conference podium and a pledge to support the Rev. Benjamin Hutchison, an openly gay pastor who said he was forced to resign because he has a husband.

LGBT Advocates Tape Up Pledges Advocates on July 28, 2015 taped pledges of inclusiveness to the doors of a United Methodist Church building in Lansing.

Hutchison said he was forced to resign from the United Methodist church in Cassopolis after the church’s district superintendent found out that Hutchinson had a gay partner. The church allows gay members, but not gay pastors. After resigning, Hutchinson officially married his partner, which landed other pastors who participated in the ceremony in hot water with church leadership.

More than 50 supporters of Hutchison and LGBT inclusion in the United Methodist Church gathered at the church bishop’s office at 1011

Northcrest Road in Lansing to read a pledge and tape it to the office door. It was a symbolic nod to Martin Luther, who helped start the Protestant Reformation by posting his Ninety-Five Theses on a church door in 1517.

The modern-day pledge taped to doors by advocates asks for inclusiveness of the LGBT community in all of the church’s ministry, including as pastors. Representatives from the bishop’s office were not present at Tuesday’s event.

The Rev. Lois McCullen Parr is a national representative to the Reconciling Ministries Network, which advocates for full participation of LGBT people in the United Methodist Church. She said she’s spoken with church members who hadn’t had a good experience with their churches.

“What they told me is that they’d been harmed by the institutional church,” McCullen Parr said.

She and others advocated to “Stop the Harm” and have a truly inclusive church.

Hutchison said that when he was asked to resign two weeks ago, he couldn’t have anticipated the effect it would have.

“I would never imagine this, and I could have never imagined the support not only from my local congregation, who is in an uproar about it, but also from my community. The chief of police and county commissioners have come to the church requesting ‘what’s happened? We need him in our community,’ and beyond,” Hutchison said. “All over the world people have sent me Facebook messages and told me they’re here to support me.”

The Rev. Michael Tupper, who signed Hutchison’s marriage license, said the issue was close to him because his own daughter is gay, and said she’d been harmed by the church.

“It’s time for that to stop,” he said.

Hutchison said Tuesday’s event was especially moving because his own family made him choose between his partner, Monty, and them.

“It’s been a great thing for me emotionally to see the support because I never received it from my own family,” Hutchison said.

Complete Article HERE!