Well, unsubscription or not, I cannot let these remarks go unattended. It is entirely a fabrication, in the modern world, that is. Nor can I accept that my region is rather unusual, as I have done, and still do, a considerable amount of traveling, outside of my area, to other standard parishes.
Most people in my region do not show up as even couples, let alone with children, necessarily. That includes the most “orthodox,” conservative parish in my area, which is quite traditional, has two Latin Masses per Sunday, and in most other ways resembles the parishes of many, many decades ago – including many women wearing headcoverings. There are a few large families, with small children, that show up all together on Sundays, but that would be at the most 15% of the parish attendance for any given Sunday Mass. (I’ve been to all of them.) If there were any even subtle questioning of one’s status, orientation, lifestyle, etc., one would expect it to be present there, and it is nowhere to be found – including in parish dinners and social events close in time to the Masses themselves (no gossip, no rejection), Even further is there no ostracization. Who would they ostracize? There are countless “single, childless persons” registered (and even just visiting or attending) at this most traditional parish. No one raises a single eyebrow, including the very holy, charitable priests in residence there. Now, naturally if a person were gay and were to show up with a partner, and he or she were showing overt physical affection to said partner during Mass, then theoretically eyebrows could be raised, but you just admitted that you’re not talking about such a scenario. So there is no issue. Thousands of people register privately every year, in parishes all across the country, as simply a member of the parish. No inference can be drawn about orientation, just because they’re single. They could have had an annulled marriage, they could be divorced, never-married by choice (even if straight), or widowed. They could have minor children, be childless, or have grown children (natural or adopted). It’s a total red herring to be stating that the parish administrators care, first of all (including the pastor), let alone that it would necessarily be that any parishioner would care as to status or lifestyle, or immediately demand such private information upon being formally introduced to a new parishioner. Further, lots of people register quietly and even attend church functions, but never reveal anything about themselves – even though I might happen to know that some of these people are quite straight & live conventional lifestyles. Nobody interrogates them, or necessarily assumes that they must be gay if answers are absent or vague.
As has been noted on other threads, the Catholic population is essentially a reflection of the modern American social world: the multiplication of single households, small households, separated households, divorced households, and combined households of many types – such as “boomerang” grown children who have returned home (and who may or may not be practicing Catholics attending Mass). There is a microcosm of that in every single Catholic parish that I know of. People show up at the above traditional parish in enigmatic groups; you can’t always even tell if they’re related: there might be 4 or 5 adults, not necessarily of different generations, so you can’t assume that grandparents are accompanying to Mass. It could be the family’s neighbors! It’s not necessarily their 'gay relatives." Nobody would spend time wondering about who they were and what kind of life they lived.
