Posted on 12/14/2005 10:18:51 AM PST by presidio9
True to Catholic tradition, Joe Mele marched a crucifix to the altar ahead of the priest this past Sunday, rang the Sanctus bell at the right times and pressed a wine-filled chalice to the lips of the faithful during Communion, solemnly intoning the words ``the blood of Christ.'' But when asked what he thought about the Vatican, which is expected to issue an edict today barring most gay seminarians, Mele, 58, arched a bushy eyebrow and wryly asked, ``Who?'' Hard feelings toward the Vatican run strong among congregants at the weekly services held by Dignity USA, a national organization for gay and lesbian Catholics that is not recognized by the Archdiocese of Miami, nor, at a national level, by the Roman Catholic Church. Mele is one of 40 or so members of the group's Fort Lauderdale chapter. Like them, he struggled with the Vatican's hard line against homosexuality, before reaching the heartfelt conclusion that he was entitled to practice his faith as a homosexual, regardless of what the church's highest earthly authority said. ''You have these old people, these cardinals, out of touch with the laity. The church is the people and the people are the church,'' said Richard Rogers, 68, who is heavily involved with Dignity Fort Lauderdale, and has been with the same male partner for 42 years. ''I was born a Catholic, and I will die a Catholic,'' he said. ``They're not going to chase me away from the Catholic Church.'' BORROWED CHAPEL For Dignity's Fort Lauderdale group at least, being both gay and faithfully Catholic means holding services in a borrowed chapel and hearing Mass from a rotating cast of sometimes underground priests. Mary Ross Agosta, Archdiocese of Miami spokeswoman, said the archdiocese is affiliated with a ministry called Courage, a support network for people who have same-sex sexual attractions but want to live ``chaste Christian lives.'' ''Any sexual activity outside the sacrament of marriage is considered a sin,'' Agosta said. The Vatican's new directive hints that chaste, formerly gay men could still become priests, but it bars from seminaries those who ''practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture.'' It also describes homosexual acts as ``grave sins.'' The edict was posted online by an Italian news agency last week, but the Vatican is expected to formally publish it today. While observers note the Vatican is merely restating a 44-year-old stance barring gay men from the priesthood, the document is widely believed to be a response to the church's recent spate of sexual abuse scandals. Dignity members believe the directive reveals how the Vatican wrongly conflates homosexuality with pedophilia, using gays as scapegoats instead of closely examining the roots of the abuse. ''The Vatican's running scared right now, and when people are scared, they point fingers at what they don't understand,'' said Maribel Pardo, 43, a middle school teacher and Dignity member who once spent six years in a monastery. ``If you keep your vows of celibacy, it doesn't matter what your orientation is.'' Yet it was precisely because of their sexual orientation that Dignity members left the traditional Roman Catholic church 19 years ago, after publicly rejecting a letter issued by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, that described homosexual acts as ''intrinsically evil.'' Sam Sinnett, Dignity USA's national president, said the group's mission was to reclaim Catholicism while healing many of its followers' scars. Even though many gays have fled Catholicism, the group's national membership grew by 85 percent to more than 3,600 in the past two years, he said. `DEEPLY WOUNDED' ''There are people deeply wounded and hurt by the virulent language of the Vatican and other bishops,'' Sinnett said. ``Part of what we do is to help overcome the incredible damage that the institutional church has done.'' Dignity Fort Lauderdale's weekly services are held Sunday nights in a small chapel tucked behind the non-denominational Sunshine Cathedral in a quiet part of town. Crucifixes, statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary adorn the altar, along with two pictures, one of the saints Sergio and Bacchus, the other of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, embracing. Masses are said by a rotating clergy of Franciscan and Independent Orthodox Christian priests, who embrace inclusion, and an occasional priest from the archdiocese, who must work with Dignity on the sly. The services are Catholic to a fault, yet this past Sunday, before a congregation of 17, a notable deviation from the mainstream came from Bishop Michael Hillis, who led the Mass. After reading the Gospel, Hillis, a Franciscan with the Reconciliation Catholic Church, which caters to disenfranchised Catholics, quickly launched into an attack on the Vatican. ''Many things are happening with our seminarians, and it involves all of us,'' Hillis said forcefully. ``I wish some people could get it through their thick skulls that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He did not die just for heterosexuals. He did not die just for homosexuals. He died for everyone.'' Later, a few congregants said they had tried out Judaism, Pentecostalism and the Baptist faith but found themselves strongly pulled back to Catholicism . Nearly all agreed they could only practice their religion by shutting out much of what the Vatican said. 'I hit bottom with my faith. I was angry that God made me the way I was, and asked `help me be straight,' '' said Mary Sullivan, 39, a Fort Lauderdale nurse. ``I had to heal that part of me that the church condemned. And I realized God made me this way, and God doesn't make junk.'' ''When I walked through those doors,'' Sullivan added, ``I felt I had come home.''
...patiently awaiting first "paragraphs are our friends" comment...
Paragraphs are our friends ;)
If they think it's bad now, just wait until they read the Bible.
A nun living in a monastery for six years?
Interesting.
I wonder if a monk who lived in a convent for six years will weigh in.
OK. Paragraphs are our friends. Whatever.
That being said, this is an important issue. What will the Vatican do about the "renegade" clergy that openly defy the Pope's orders. Maybe defrocking and excommunicating the ringleaders will make it clear that the Pope was not kidding.
Why don't you just use them then? Is it one of your joys in life to post huge blocks of text that are hard to read?
So, we are all saved no matter our Faith or our Works?? I think that repenting of our sins, and going forth to "sin no more" needs to be part of the equation.
Or, just do what feels good and see how it works for you.
Did God make Tookie, Hitler or Sister Theresa the way they are?
No. They chose the direction they would go in life, with many little steps and maybe a couple big decisions.
Hetero sexual men are "naturally" attracted to many women not their wife. Does that make adultery right, or at least "understandable" because that is the way they are?
It is "natural" to be tempted by 30 pieces of silver... it just depends on how big the pieces are. Does that make it excusable to accept a bribe?
Since you are new here, I'll let you know that cutting and pasting an article to the "Body of Thread" box is not, strictly speaking, an HTML exercise. But thanks.
"Judaism cannot make peace with homosexuality because homosexuality denies many of Judaism's most fundamental principles. It denies life, it denies God's expressed desire that men and women cohabit, and it denies the root structure that Judaism wishes for all mankind, the family."
- Dennis Prager
.... I suspect the same principles apply for a lot of Catholics, too.
Bump
Of course, in a sense, Christianity is a Jewish sect anyway.
I'm not new here, Einstein. However, you are indeed incompetent.
Next time, try using "View Source". All the work is already done for you. Even someone as HTML challenged as you should be able to successfully utilize that tool.
Touchy touchy.
By my standards, you ARE new here. Perhaps if you weren't, you would recognize that this occasional problem is specific to Miami Herald articles.
In any case, if paragraph breaks are essential to your own comprehension ability, you are always free to click on the hyperlink and read the story directly from the website. Thanks so much.
They clearly do NOT believe, otherwise they would accept the teaching.
If they want to invent their own personal Jesus, they should consider another means of accomplishing that besides trying to destroy the Catholic Church.
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