Penny Plain:
Well, she’s stopped now.
Tell me again why the original poster has any actual responsibility to get “all the facts?”
Is the OP responsible for making sure that all the RICA candidates are suitable for entry into the Church? The answer is pretty clearly no.
Does the OP have information that should be brought to the attention of those who are responsible? Let’s see. The OP knows (or thinks he/she knows) that the men are roommates and somebody else saw them wearing rings on the ring finger of the left hand. That’s it.
I don’t have all the facts in this case, so I cannot say for sure. But I’m going to give the OP the benefit of the doubt that he has good reason to believe there are people in his RCIA class who are sinning publically and have no plans to stop. In fact, they do not acknowledge that they are sinning.
Penny Plain:
The OP doesn’t know whether they’re homosexual. He/she clearly assumes that they are and that they’re sexually active, but he/she doesn’t know and doesn’t even really have any reasonable grounds to assume so. The scandal appears to be entirely in the OP’s mind.
You have determined that the OP does not have reasonable grounds based on only a few posts. If I were in the OP’s situation, and it came to my attention that two men were living together and wearing matching wedding rings, I would find it hard to believe that they were living in a chaste relationship. The OP, one of the OP’s fellow parishioners, other posters and I seem to agree their may be a problem here without jumping to any conclusions.
That’s why I said the OP may want to simply speak with the gentlemen in question. It’s not gossip; it doesn’t need to be accusatory. Perhaps he will discover that there’s nothing going on and that will allow the OP to have no further concerns.
Penny Plain:
We are not the Church police. It is not our job to ferret out homosexuals and other unorthodox types and fix their behavior. Their conduct in this case – to the extent that they’ve actually done anything wrong – is between them, their priest, and Almighty God.
Turn it around for a second. Assume they’ve done nothing wrong. Do you think that the actions some of you have suggested in this thread will (a) bring them closer to Christ’s church or (b) lead them to conclude that Christ’s church is a haven for obnoxious, interfering busybodies and maybe they should go someplace else?
When did I ever suggest that we are “Church police”? We do not walk around investigating crimes.
As members of the Church though we are called to look out for our brothers and sisters and lead all to Christ through our example and actions. When we know (and the OP may not yet know for sure) that someone is doing something sinful, we are obligated to correct them. Of course factors such as our knowledge and relationship with the person should be considered.
Penny Plain:
Turn it back around. Assume they’re doing exactly what you think they’re doing. Better to (a) get them into the Church, where they can hear the Truth and, over time, come to a fuller understanding, or (b) drive them away?
Yes, I believe those who willfully sin need to hear the Truth. But if no one is willing to tell them the Truth because they are all minding their own business, then they will never hear it. If speaking the Truth in love to them drives them away, that is truly sad, but it is not a reason to stay silent.
We are not doing a service to anyone by allowing people to come into the Church and receive communion in a possible state of mortal sin! (Speaking generally. As mentioned earlier, I do not have enough information to speak about these two particular gentlemen.)
