In the recent past, individual bishops, bishops’ conferences and the Vatican have assumed a tone of such violence and abusiveness toward these sons and daughters of the Church(no not the sinner, the sin, it is grave and should be condemned), we can no longer remain silent. Has any other group of people within the Body of Christ been so assaulted and violated by such mean-spirited language? Examples from the most recent Vatican document show all too clearly the demonization of these children of God,(again the sin not the sinner has been condemned) referring to homosexuality as a “troubling moral and social phenomenon,” “a serious depravity,” “the spread of the phenomenon,” “approval or legalization of evil,” “grave detriment to the common good,” “harmful to the proper development of human society,” “intrinsically disordered.”*(this is not condemning the sinner but the sin, why is it wrong in our society to point out behavior that is detrimental to society?)***Does anyone consider this vile and toxic language invitational? **
For many gay and lesbian Catholics, this most recent series of attacks has forced them, out of self-respect and self-love(self respect and self love come from the knowledge that one is doing the rightous thing not following what feels good to them. Simplistically, if I said that since I love icecream I should be able to eat 5 gallons a day without consequences, but I don’t, I eat balanced meals because they are good for me.), to withdraw from active participation in the Church and question how they can remain members of a Church they experience as abusive(So because of their perception, it is true?). It is not possible to minister to and with the needs of our homosexual brothers and sisters with language of this tone as a foundation.
The Catholic Church is most catholic when it is inclusive and embracing, and least reflective of the gospel of Jesus when it is exclusive and rigid(Isn’t this what some Protestant religions did when they decided that it wasn’t necessary to follow all the teachings of Jesus Christ? The Catholic Church is most inclusive when she stays true to the teachings of Christ, Christ pointed out the sins of others, he forgave their sins if they were truly repentant, that is how we should be). For this reason, we also want to affirm the many pastoral and positive statements by certain bishops and bishops’ conferences (e.g. “Always Our Children”).
The Church’s theology, including her moral teaching, is always in dialogue with the broader lived experience of her members, which shapes and rearticulates (where in God’s name did they get this notion? Jesus was the example of how we are to live not some minority that refuse to fully embrace their faith) the ancient deposit of faith. We encourage a new atmosphere of openness to dialogue which includes the lived experience of many Catholic members. We recognize the blessings of countless homosexuals in a variety of relationships (WHAT!!!). We believe their experiences must be listened to respectfully.
While we do not know the reasons for the increasingly violent and abusive language, we deplore it as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ and ask that it stop immediately.
x 1,000,000,000
