I was born, baptized, raised, and confirmed Catholic. I went to Catholic school for 12 years, 8 of which were at an all-boys' institution run by brethren. Until college, I could count the number of non-Catholics I knew on the fingers of one hand.
Growing up gay made this a challenge, especially since the local archdiocese's weekly paper, The Clarion Herald, was not what you could call LGBT-friendly. One of my most vivid memories from junior high was reading an editorial that argued suicide rates among gay teens were grossly inflated by activists in order to make us feel bad for them, that 'studies' had proved gay teens were no more suicide-prone than their 'normal' (sic) peers. It makes a hell of an impression on a gay teen to read something like that.
So I've always had a complicated relationship with the Catholic church, even though I've long since taken a different path (atheist). My friends, my family, and the entire context of my home life are wrapped up in Catholicism, and while we usually manage a truce on contentious issues, it's becoming increasingly difficult at the Church takes more extreme stands against the LGBT community and anyone who dares to support them.
I'm calling on Catholics here, and those who have Catholic friends and family, to take a stand against injustice.
Take this weekend's news out of New York, for example. Despite multiple sets of exemptions designed to protect religious groups from marriage equality, the Catholic church is striking back against anyone who voted Yes on the final bill. The Bishop of Brooklyn has called for an outright blacklist in retaliation, extending as far as school speakers:
In light of these disturbing developments and in protest for this decision, I have asked all Catholic schools to refuse any distinction or honors bestowed upon them this year by the governor or any member of the legislature who voted to support this legislation. Furthermore, I have asked all pastors and principals to not invite any state legislator to speak or be present at any parish or school celebration.
This despite the fact that some of the Senate's members, like Republican Mark Grisanti, argued that his civic responsibilities were separate from his religious beliefs. Too bad, Senator Grisanti: all that charity work means nothing when you've made a completely reasonable plea for separation of church and state on civic matters.
Take today's news out of San Diego, for example. It's not unknown for churches to deny funerals to members not-in-good-standing, but it seems like a gratuitous slap nowadays to cancel a gay man's funeral out of objection to his gayness. Whether it's the decision of the individual parish or of the local machine isn't yet known - so I'll bite my tongue at the moment - but if nothing else, it should trigger a few unpleasant memories about just how far the Church can take its anti-gay policies when it's so pressed. Case in point: Queerty posted a story last week commemorating the anniversary of the murder of 29 gay men who were gathered in a New Orleans bar, thirty-eight years ago. Read the whole post if you can, but it's almost impossible to read without bursting into tears:
MCC assistant pastor George “Mitch” Mitchell escaped but when he realized that his boyfriend Louis Broussard was still in the bar, he went back to save him—workers would later find their charred bodies holding each other among the charred wreckage.
What happened next may be even more infuriating. It became near-impossible for any of the victims to receive burial rites. The Catholic archdiocese's response was total silence, while none of the Catholic victims were granted Catholic burials - and the weight of evidence suggests this came on order from the archbishop himself (pdf):
Though the Archbishop made no public statement*, he apparently made some private ones. Anecdotal reports circulated at the time, and still circulate today, indicating that he had forbidden the priests in the archdiocese from conducting Catholic funeral services for the victims, or burying them in Catholic cemeteries. It is known that some of the Catholic victims of the fire were denied Catholic services, though it remains unclear whether individual priests made the decisions, or whether they were acting upon Archbishop Hannan’s orders.
* - read the whole essay for context: Hannan made a hobby of throwing himself into situations like this, and his refusal to comment was both highly unusual and insulting.
Catholics make up the overwhelming majority in New Orleans, but they weren't the only congregation involved. Two local religious leaders, Father Bill Richardson (Episcopalian) and Reverend Edward Kennedy (Methodist) risked - and received - public scorn for agreeing to hold services.
Ah, but that was a long time ago, for sure. Nowadays the Church has moved on from its policy of silence to become more actively engaged in homophobic policies, like disbanding its charity arms rather than suffer the possibility that gay people may need them, too. What can you say to an organization that discontinues family health benefits out of the fear that an LGBT person might receive them? It's scorched earth homophobia, and it's getting worse.
Understand this: there is no doctrine, implicit or explicit, that bans the Church from providing services to LGBTs, whether it disapproves of same-sex relationships or not. This is bullshit.
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I'm not saying Catholics are worse than any other congregation out there, or or that there aren't prominent Catholics who've been outspoken on the right side of history here. What I'm saying is we all need to bring this conversation to the congregation - Catholics need to be more outspoken against this kind of behavior by their ostensible leaders, and those of us who have close relationships with Catholics need to be more engaged with parishioners to encourage this kind of conversation. The Church hierarchy benefits from silence... Don't let them get away with it. If they're proposing policies that run counter to everything the Church supposedly stands for, they need to hear from you. They don't need to become LGBT supporters, but they do need to stop these needlessly vindictive policies that have no doctrinal justification.
When they're pointed in the right direction, the Church can be a powerful force for good. Catholics: I'm calling on you to hold them to that. Non-Catholics: I'm calling on us to engage with them.