Gay Catholics Push for Church Weddings

Aletelia ^ | July 29, 2015 | JOHN BURGER

[NYer]

When the Supreme Court ruling came down in late June, extending the right to marriage to members of the same sex in all 50 states, some observers felt that the Catholic Church was fairly immune to any requirements that it would have to allow same-sex weddings before her altars.

Now, though, calls for the Church to allow such nuptials are bubbling up. How far they will get is another question.

The issue was raised Tuesday by a report in the New York Times that featured “gay and transgender Catholics” who are making noises with the approaching visit to these shores of Pope Francis. And the noises are not exactly joyful.

“While some American conservatives are eager to see Pope Francis make use of his popularity on this trip to advance the fight against abortion and same-sex marriage, gay Catholics want him to acknowledge their rejection by the Church, and to welcome them as full members with equal access to sacraments like baptism and marriage,” the report said.

The article’s lede focused on an incident in which a young transgendered Catholic was put off by another member of the congregation who, perhaps indiscreetly, suggested that the person not go up to receive Communion.

While such an incident cannot be taken as emblematic of an entire Church’s collective treatment of “sexual minorities,” as some like to call homosexuals and persons who believe they were born with a body of the wrong sex, the Times found several people who believe otherwise. In fact, the paper said, “a large group of gay and transgender Catholics...are seeking a meeting with the Pope during his first visit to the United States, in September, pushing him to take a stand on the issues of sexuality and gender that are increasingly dividing Catholics and causing rancor in the Church.”

Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, said that many homosexual Catholics face constant torture in the Church, in situations ranging from denial for a child’s baptism or hearing something offensive in a homily. She wants to meet with Pope Francis when he comes, to share such “stories of pain and alienation,” which “do real harm to people.”

“It needs to end,” she said.

A July 5 press release issued by Dignity, which has been denied Catholic status by the Church because it advances viewpoints contrary to doctrine, said that members meeting for the organization’s national convention voted to begin advocating for “equal access to all of the sacraments of the Catholic Church for LGBT people and their families.”

“We can’t be fully equal if we are barred from any of our Church’s sacraments,” said Duddy-Burke. “Right now, we are officially banned from marriage and ordination, and often denied other sacraments, as well."

Earlier this month, the Episcopal Church in the United States voted to allow sacramental wedding ceremonies of same-sex couples. 

Dignity’s convention took place in the bright afterglow of the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which said any remaining state laws banning same-sex “marriage” are unconstitutional. At the same time, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed support for a congressional bill that would help protect the Church and other religious institutions under the new “law of the land.” The First Amendment Defense Act, introduced by Sen. Mike Lee, R-UT, and Rep. Raul Labrador, R-ID, would prohibit the federal government from discriminating against individuals and organizations based upon their religious beliefs or moral convictions that marriage is the union of one man and one woman or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage. For such individuals and organizations, the Act provides broad protections, including in the areas of federal contracts, grants, employment, and tax-exempt status.

The push for a meeting of same-sex-attracted Catholics with Pope Francis runs contrary to one of the main reasons for the Pontiff’s first American visit. The last event on his five-day schedule will be in Philadelphia: the closing Mass for the World Meeting of Families, a triennial event meant to strengthen the natural family founded on the marriage of a man and woman. The Church and many Catholics have been supporting such initiatives as a way to counter the growing acceptance of “alternative” relationships and families.

That’s not stopping some from pushing a different agenda, of course. The Times reports that about 14 families with gay or transgender members have registered to attend the World Meeting of Families. Deb Word, president of Fortunate Families, a support group for Catholic parents seeking full inclusion of their gay children in the church, said her group applied to have a table in the exhibit hall, but was rejected.
 

“We wanted to go and share resources on how you can safeguard your child’s long-term health by using loving acceptance in your home. It doesn’t sound like a scary message, does it?” said Ms. Word…. In Philadelphia, she will be wearing a small rainbow ribbon pin and carrying a bag of literature for Catholics she meets who express interest.

As the Times pointed out, though the Pope’s words during an in-flight interview, “Who am I to judge?” have been interpreted to mean that he is open to a new understanding of homosexuality in the Church, he has perhaps more often spoken out strongly in support of orthodoxy. On a visit to the Philippines in January, Pope Francis said that “the family is threatened by growing efforts” to “redefine the very institution of marriage,” the Times noted. He also criticized wealthy Western countries for imposing their ideas about gender on developing countries, calling it “ideological colonization.”

A month later, he was quoted in a book saying that “gender theory,” which holds that gender is a social construct, is one of the great modern dangers to humanity, like nuclear weapons.
 

[NYer]

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A couple points worth making:

Gay Catholics who follow Church teaching—just like all baptized Catholics—already have equal access to all the sacraments, with the notable exception of sacramental marriage between people of the same gender.  But that won’t change. It can’t change. Not gonna happen.

Elsewhere in the article, the reporter notes that the pope “has shown no indication that he intends to lead the church toward changing its teaching that gay people are ‘called to chastity’ and marriage is only for a man and a woman.” What goes unmentioned is that in Catholic teaching all people—gay and straight, married and single—are called to chastity. There are not different standards or expectations for gays from everyone else.

As the catechism notes: 

2337 Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being. Sexuality, in which man’s belonging to the bodily and biological world is expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman.

The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift.

2348 All the baptized are called to chastity. The Christian has “put on Christ,” the model for all chastity. All Christ’s faithful are called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of life. At the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his affective life in chastity.

2349 “People should cultivate [chastity] in the way that is suited to their state of life. Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy which enables them to give themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a remarkable manner. Others live in the way prescribed for all by the moral law, whether they are married or single.” Married people are called to live conjugal chastity; others practice chastity in continence:

There are three forms of the virtue of chastity: the first is that of spouses, the second that of widows, and the third that of virgins. We do not praise any one of them to the exclusion of the others. . . . This is what makes for the richness of the discipline of the Church.

2350 Those who are engaged to marry are called to live chastity in continence. They should see in this time of testing a discovery of mutual respect, an apprenticeship in fidelity, and the hope of receiving one another from God. They should reserve for marriage the expressions of affection that belong to married love. They will help each other grow in chastity.

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[NYer]

Ping!

[fhayek]

Wow. I never saw this one coming...

[Biggirl]

Thank-you and God Bless.

[Norm Lenhart]

Well if they would have followed the bible and cast out the evil it wouldn’t be a problem.

[jsanders2001]

Remember all the lawsuits filed against all the priests of the Catholic Church? Looks like they were all well founded.

[Defiant]

There is no such thing as a gay Catholic.

[sigzero]

“Right now, we are officially banned from marriage and ordination, and often denied other sacraments, as well.” - Yes, and you should be.

[I want the USA back]

We knew this was coming.

[Klemper]

Marriage=Holy Matrimony. You cannot engage in Holy Matrimony without God.

[Jewbacca]

A “gay Catholic” sounds a bit like a “Catholic Jew”* demanding a Bar Mitzvah.

* No I am not equating “Catholic” and “gay;” just using that as an absurd example of a person whose actions and beliefs reject the faith of which he claims to be a part.

[CdMGuy]

I suspect that we are close to the time that the Catholic Church withdraws from state certification of its clergy to perform marriages. We will end up with the European system whereby the couple appears before a civil official for a civil marriage service to satisfy state requirements and then get married in a Catholic Church to receive the Sacrament of Matrimony.

[Klemper]

If I was a cake-maker.... Holy Matrimony would be on every cake that I was forced to make.... and I would shove it up their prolapsed anus.

[madison10]

Just send them up to tbe satanic temple in Detroit, they’d be more than welcome.

[Amendment10]

With all due respect to RC Freepers, please consider the following.

The misguided Catholic Church is corrupting itself as a consequence of not obeying the Holy Bible with respect to the Holy Bible’s condemnation of same-sex sexual relationships, giving gays the boot. 1 Corinthians 15:33 comes to mind.

If reduced collection basket revenues are really a problem then the Church possibly has spending problems.

[kosciusko51]

Hey, why don't they just get hitched over at the Satanic Temple? It seems like it caters to their proclivities?

[laweeks]

Gay Catholics Push for Church Weddings

Gay Homosexual Catholics Push for Church Weddings.

Gay Catholics who follow Church teaching . . .

If they followed Christ's teachings, they'd be seeking Divine help to stop their disgusting behavior.

[caww]

... Gay Catholics want Pope Francis to acknowledge their rejection by the Church, and to welcome them as full members with equal access to sacraments like baptism and marriage,” the report said..... Francis expects this, it will be no surprise to him, just a matter of calming and assuring the membership to accept...and he's a master manipulator in that respect...

Most catholics will not leave their church for nothing.....so they'll just wait it out til the next Pope, if there ever is one, meanwhile worshiping in a church that's full of sin.....

Pope Francis opened this door wide to the enemy of men's souls....who's going to take the rest as well.......

[kosciusko51]

With all due respect, and as a Protestant, I disagree. They are going after the one of the most visible expressions of Christianity, and they will come after the rest of us, especially if the Catholic Church capitulates to these demands.

[detective]

“We can’t be fully equal if we are barred from any of our Church’s sacraments,” said Duddy-Burke. “Right now, we are officially banned from marriage and ordination, and often denied other sacraments, as well.””

Sounds like they are planning lawsuits demanding that they be allowed to be married etc. As parishioners we would be required to fund both the legal expenses and the payouts that would eventually be ordered.

Our parishes would be like the Christian bakeries who refuse to serve homosexual marriages. Our parishes would be sued over and over again until they are bankrupted.