In Synod-Related Effort, Homosexual-Rights Activists Target Eight U.S. Bishops

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RedFox0456 said:
Even if they don’t think the Church is true, having 1.2 billion people suddenly compelled to accept your lifestyle as good and holy would certainly be appealing.

And yes, much of progressive ideology is hypocritical.
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Then it is quite apparent that their ideology is nefarious and satanic at its root.

The only thing that is even partially redeemable here is the fundamental desire to appear good, even if their manner of doing so is completely incorrect. Well, at least we’ve got that. But now there’s really only one more step before falling off the cliff of, “I’m wrong and I don’t care.” But dat pride… ooh.

My reasoning simply comes back to… if the Church is so irrelevant to you, then, then what, really? If you really think you’re right, then let the Church die in its irrelevance. It makes no sense.
 
YoungTradCath said:
Then it is quite apparent that their ideology is nefarious and satanic at its root.

The only thing that is even partially redeemable here is the fundamental desire to appear good, even if their manner of doing so is completely incorrect. Well, at least we’ve got that. But now there’s really only one more step before falling off the cliff of, “I’m wrong and I don’t care.” But dat pride… ooh.

My reasoning simply comes back to… if the Church is so irrelevant to you, then, then what, really? If you really think you’re right, then let the Church die in its irrelevance. It makes no sense.
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To play devil’s advocate for a moment, I could see them countering with the idea that the Church promotes intolerance of gay people, which leads to gay people being bullied and experiencing low self-esteem and being at increased risk for committing suicide, etc. So on that level, the Catholic teaching does impact them and they therefore have a stake in what that teaching is.

Of course, they are misunderstanding a great deal about Catholic teaching, but it makes a certain amount of sense.
 
Joe_5859 said:
To play devil’s advocate for a moment, I could see them countering with the idea that the Church promotes intolerance of gay people, which leads to gay people being bullied and experiencing low self-esteem and being at increased risk for committing suicide, etc. So on that level, the Catholic teaching does impact them and they therefore have a stake in what that teaching is.

Of course, they are misunderstanding a great deal about Catholic teaching, but it makes a certain amount of sense.
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Do you know any Catholics who bully homosexuals? I don’t. Anymore than I know any Catholics who shun couples who are shacking up, or are in an irregular marriage.
 
Joe_5859 said:
To play devil’s advocate for a moment, I could see them countering with the idea that the Church promotes intolerance of gay people, which leads to gay people being bullied and experiencing low self-esteem and being at increased risk for committing suicide, etc. So on that level, the Catholic teaching does impact them and they therefore have a stake in what that teaching is.

Of course, they are misunderstanding a great deal about Catholic teaching, but it makes a certain amount of sense.
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Then we can counter by saying that they disrespect and misunderstand our religion and co-opt our faith and use it as nothing but a potential tool to further their agenda!

Make their actions look bad. They use the lefty language, as I call it, things like “unfortunate” and “I would hope.” Let’s co-opt that language and make what they’re doing look bad. Never lie, always tell the truth, but steal their language and use it against them.

I would hope that they would not venture down the path of religious bigotry.
 
Any Church document I can recall seeing on homosexuality spent over 90% of its ink on why we should respect homosexuals as persons. Someplace in the last couple of paragraphs [for anyone who got that far] there was an “oh by the way their activities are sinful.” I have always thought some much stronger presentations of Church teaching were in order.
 
Joe_5859 said:
In Synod-Related Effort, Homosexual-Rights Activists Target Eight U.S. Bishops

A coalition of well-funded groups is lobbying against prominent bishops in hopes of changing Church doctrine and practice.

by KEVIN JONES/CNA/EWTN NEWS 10/15/2014

ROME — The start of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family has triggered a wave of activism from well-funded LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) activist groups in the U.S., who are targeting “outspoken” Catholic bishops in hopes of changing Catholic practice and moral doctrine.

“Most important is the opportunity to create a precedent for change,” the Human Rights Campaign said in its pamphlet on the synod.

The LGBT group has announced an activist effort targeting eight bishops in a pamphlet that labels them as “the best of the worst Catholic bishops across the country.”

(read more)

I know that some accuse Catholics of being paranoid about a “gay agenda” that seeks to change Catholic teaching rather than simply to foster a “live and let live” attitude. But when you come across stories like this, it’s hard not to be paranoid.
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foxnews.com/opinion/2014/10/14/city-houston-demands-pastors-turn-over-sermons/

Houston Mayor Annise Parker (AP)

The city of Houston has issued subpoenas demanding a group of pastors turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity or Annise Parker, the city’s first openly lesbian mayor. And those ministers who fail to comply could be held in contempt of court.

“The city’s subpoena of sermons and other pastoral communications is both needless and unprecedented,” Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Christina Holcomb said in a statement. “The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions.”

ADF, a nationally-known law firm specializing in religious liberty cases, is representing five Houston pastors. They filed a motion in Harris County court to stop the subpoenas arguing they are “overbroad, unduly burdensome, harassing, and vexatious.”
Things are heating up…Please read the above link & tell me what you think…Thanks for the thread, Joe.

:bighanky::highprayer:
 
Lormar said:
Do you know any Catholics who bully homosexuals? I don’t. Anymore than I know any Catholics who shun couples who are shacking up, or are in an irregular marriage.
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No, I don’t. But that is the perception that many have.
YoungTradCath said:
Then we can counter by saying that they disrespect and misunderstand our religion and co-opt our faith and use it as nothing but a potential tool to further their agenda!

Make their actions look bad. They use the lefty language, as I call it, things like “unfortunate” and “I would hope.” Let’s co-opt that language and make what they’re doing look bad. Never lie, always tell the truth, but steal their language and use it against them.

I would hope that they would not venture down the path of religious bigotry.
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🙂 If you ever have opportunity to utilize this approach, I’d be interested to hear the response you receive.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
It is unfortunate that they could only find eight bishops to target. 😦
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I am not sure that “only find” is an accurate statement. They took the most consistently vocal bishops. That does not mean that other bishops do not uphold Church teachings, only that these 8 are among the most “newsworthy”.

And any smart campaign is going to focus. One does not focus, if one attempts to go after all bishops.

It is too bad they know so little about both the Church, and the bishops they chose. None of those bishops are going to be swayed to say that homosexual activity is morally acceptable, which is the goal.
 
YoungTradCath said:
A question I’ve asked about 55555 times to myself, again, why do they care what the Church teaches? Clearly they don’t care… unless they did… which… circular reasoning? Agh! What interest do they have in changing the Church’s teachings? If they don’t believe them they don’t believe them, I don’t see the personal strife here. I would never lobby an organization to change its beliefs, I’d feel like a fraud. If I were truly convinced that I were right, I’d go do my own thing. Of course I’m not trying to make people leave the Church, I’m just trying to inject some consistency into this thing. Again, why do they care?

I cannot believe the galling logical inconsistency here! It’s astounding. It would seem–of course I can’t read minds–that these people will not stop until the entire world looks just how they want it to. In a manner of speaking they are just up-to-date bigoted racists with the face of compassion.

brain=poof
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People have all sorts of motivations for what they do. The Church, in spite of what is said, has not lost influence within political arenas; and if you don’t believe that, you need to reflect on two issues of the recent past - the Cairo conference, which united the Catholic Church with the Muslim world in rejecting abortion and other related sexual issues being pushed by the UN and UN related NGOs, and the proposition - I think it was Prop 8, in California, in which the Catholic Church united with the LDS church (and others), and were successful.

And because of the influence and constancy of the Church, it is like holding up a mirror to these groups - and they don’t want to look in the mirror. If they can get the Church to change, they have achieved some of their wildest dreams.

Granted that a tremendous number of Catholics use ABC, the Church still holds that ABC is norally wrong, period. And it is the only mainline church which so holds, and continues to act as a moral voice in the wilderness.

The Church is not about success, about numbers. It is about truth - and Truth - And that is what so aggravates and incites these groups. Who else, other than not entirely organized evangelicals, holds up the truth? There are scattered groups here and there, but the largest and most organized church of all is the Catholic Church. Getting it to change is massive.
 
I will not say anything against any specific bishop, per forum rules, but I will say that I agree with the targeting of at least one of the bishops. I’d imagine most of the bishops I would happily defend, but one of them I would not and I believe severely needs to take into account the words of the Synod as I believe he has done severe harm to the Catholic community. I will keep who to myself. So they are not completely in the wrong for doing what they’re doing – I don’t think requesting respect is something to be ashamed of.
 
otjm said:
I am not sure that “only find” is an accurate statement. They took the most consistently vocal bishops. That does not mean that other bishops do not uphold Church teachings, only that these 8 are among the most “newsworthy”.

And any smart campaign is going to focus. One does not focus, if one attempts to go after all bishops.

It is too bad they know so little about both the Church, and the bishops they chose. None of those bishops are going to be swayed to say that homosexual activity is morally acceptable, which is the goal.
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Are you sure that’s the goal?

I see the goal is to encourage others to oppose these Bishops.
In the same way the radical group Femen is currently targeting the Pope. They don’t hold hope to change his mind – as much as a goal to encourage others to openly oppose him.
 
phil19034 said:
Yeap. I know he’s on their list… that’s why I hope I don’t see them.

Please pray for me and other Faithful Catholic in Philadelphia and the other cities that we will handle the protesters without committing sin.
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The best way to handle them is to not handle them. Having more protesters (or rather, counter-protesters) simply brings more attention, particularly from the media, and that plays directly into their hands. If they couldn’t get the media stirred up, a whole lot of what they do would simply fall flat on its face. The media is not, has not been, and is not going to be honest. They are biased in the most part to the liberal end of the spectrum, and showing up and attempting to bring truth to the table isn’t going to go anywhere positive.

Keep in mind our beloved President, and what he had to say about conservatives - although he threw guns into the equation, he was dismissive of half or better of the US who believes in truth, in moral law, in the dignity of women, in protection of the unborn - and the list goes on and on.

There are a lot of people who feel so enlightened that anyone disagreeing with them is a knuckle dragging redneck. And showing up and counter-demonstrating plays right into that image.
 
Lormar said:
Do you know any Catholics who bully homosexuals? I don’t. Anymore than I know any Catholics who shun couples who are shacking up, or are in an irregular marriage.
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Oh, I know a fair number of them, and they are not all Catholic.

Sadly, too many are Catholic.
 
I think they are going to have as much success in changing doctrine as I would of changing gravity by lobbying scientists.
 
M-Dent said:
Are you sure that’s the goal?

I see the goal is to encourage others to oppose these Bishops.
In the same way the radical group Femen is currently targeting the Pope. They don’t hold hope to change his mind – as much as a goal to encourage others to openly oppose him.
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I don’t think I would say there is only one goal. Certainly one goal is cow bishops into change; and that change can be disavowal of previous statements; withdrawal of previous statements, attempts to “clarify” previous statements, attempts to silence bishops, and attempts to isolate to the point of irrelevance.

Some or all of that is their goal(s) and they are all basically for the same objective, which is to promote their lifestyle and moral choices and to silence the witness the bishops give.

There are people who actually think they can get the Church to change it’s position on these matters. And given the success they have had in some of the mainline churches, one can understand their goals and enthusiasm.
 
A leading gay-rights group is targeting several Catholic bishops, hoping to influence the results of the 2015 Synod of Bishops, the National Catholic Register reports.The Human Rights …

More…
 
Joe_5859 said:
I know that some accuse Catholics of being paranoid about a “gay agenda” that seeks to change Catholic teaching rather than simply to foster a “live and let live” attitude. But when you come across stories like this, it’s hard not to be paranoid.
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👍

The laity need to be particularly protective and supportive of these eight bishops. In a nut shell, push back.
 
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