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(Montreal, Quebec) Nineteen priests in Quebec have issued a stinging public rebuke of the Vatican position of gays and same-sex marriage.
In an open letter published in La Presse, the largest circulation newspaper in the province, they called on other Catholic clergy to join them in opposing the Vatican ban on gays in seminaries and same-sex marriage.
Under the headline "Enough is enough," the priests charge that by pronouncing homosexuality a "disorder," the church is fuelling homophobia.
The 980-word letter notes the church has been wrong before on "the mysteries of political, social, family and sexual life."
The letter also criticizes the Canadian bishops' conference which fought legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in Canada.
The bishops made a presentation before a Parliamentary committee studying the legislation and told MPs that allowing same-sex marriage weakened families and endangered children.
"Was there any trace of the compassion that marked Jesus's passage on Earth?" the letter asks. "Not a paragraph, not a sentence in your brief that takes into account the historical discrimination against homosexuals and the tragedy of their social and ecclesial exclusion."
Religious scholars in Quebec where most people consider themselves Catholic but where attendance at mass is lower than most other regions of Canada, called the letter and its tone surprising and suggested it could set a precedent.
The church has not responded to the letter
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
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3 comments:
Peter Kreeft said it best:
"If you want to invent your own religion, do not be a Catholic. If you want to teach the Church rather than let the Church teach you, there are plenty of other churches for you, churches that welcome theologies without miracles, moralities without absolutes, and liturgies without adoration. Please do not be a Catholic unless you believe the Church's claim to speak in these areas in the name of Jesus Christ."
"There is no such thing as a 'cafeteria Catholic'. Catholics do not pick and choose among the Church's doctrines and laws; we receive them gratefully from God, we 'eat all the food Mother puts on our plate'".
"A 'cafeteria Catholic' or a half Catholic or a 95 percent Catholic is a contradiction in terms. If the Catholic Church does not have the divine authority and infallibility she claims, then she is not half right or 95 percent right, but the most arrogant and blasphemous of all churches...It must be either/or, as with Christ himself...The only honest reason to be a Christian is because you believe Christ's claim to be God incarnate. The only honest reason to be a Catholic is because you believe the Church's claim to be the divinely authorized Body of this Christ."
Re: you comment about " If the Catholic Church does not have the divine authority and infallibility she claims, then she is not half right or 95 percent right, but the most arrogant and blasphemous of all churches...It must be either/or, as with Christ himself..."
I am delighted someone who seems to be Catholic has finally noticed that in fact - since most of the teachings of hatred and intolerance fall squarley into the realm of sin, then it's perhaps fact that the modern Catholic churchc is indeed the most arragant and lastphemous church of all!
This simple truth is one that most of protestants have known since our first communion - or one we quickly learn when we see the angst and suffering among our fellow men who were raised Catholic and taught to hate and be judgemental and unforgiving of their fellow man.
Don't forget that this arrogant group is the one that not only brought us the Inquisition under their own sponsorship directly but has also (in the 20th Century) chosen to stand idly by while the Hollocust was killing jews by the millions... of course they did manage to impose a Church tax on Germany which persists to this very day - apparently this was like buying an indulgence on an individual scale - but was applied to a hole country and hence it required state tax collectors to enforce it and see that the requisite number of marks are deducted and then forward to the Mother Catholic Ship.
Blasphemous and arrogant - yeah, that about sums it up. Thanks for admitting it! Now will those who still wish to be Catholic, given the accuracy of this admission, please leave the rest of us the hell alone?
M Issacs
Actually, within the Catholic faith there is something called a 'matter of personal conscience'. You see even within the structure of authority that lies with the pope and hierarchy of the Church we cannot be asked to do something which is against our own conscience. It is not meant to be used as a blanket solution for all that we disagree with, but, then as a Catholic I do not disagree with all of her teachings. The point is that I am not picking and choosing just what I like or do not like about my Church. Rather, it has been a terrible struggle to speak out against the authority of the Church; I believed in working within the structure of the Faith community to which I belong. In the instance of homosexuality, however, the beliefs of the Church now cross the boundary of spiritual teaching and personal faith as the political machine of the Church works to influence governments of free nations to bring about laws which enshrine discrimination and inequality in the civil areana. The Church does not possess this right, at least not without paying taxes. We no longer live in 'kingdoms' and we are no longer 'feifs'; we are called as Christians and as Catholics to think for ourselves and not simply follow what we are told to do like sheep. This was one of the great challenges - and gifts - given to us by Vatican II and Pope John XXIII. Personal responsibility for our Faith! Wow - a huge responsibility. It was so much easier to be told who to hate and why - wasn't it? So, a cafeteria? A line with reheated heaps of bad food plopped on a plastic tray? I think not. Jesus is the ultimate Feast, it is His Body and His Blood we consume at His table - and we all are invited, my friend, all. Even me and my gay brothers and sisters. To cast us out is to cast out Christ, too. That is the terrible trajedy of this pope and the Church in our time. If she has only one idea of whom Christ is than perhaps she will be sleeping when the Bridegroom arrives? In the meanwhile as an American I believe I still live in a decocracy where you may not relegate my civil rights to the back of the bus just because I make someone uncomfortable - and I will fight for my rights, and my families rights - just as others have fought tyrants throughout time. I love my faith, I believe in Jesus and His presence in the Eucharist, but I cannot and do not believe that Jesus has motivated the level of vehement hatred recently approved by His Church towards one small group of people. Can you?
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