Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine asked parishioners to donate to the Maine “marriage restoration” campaign. Officials said the donations were to help pay for television ads aimed at overturning a state law legislators passed last spring recognizing same-sex unions as “marriage.”
~Catholic News Agency, 9/14/09
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine accounted for 81% of in-state fund-raising to fight Equal Marriage.
~EqualityAmerica on Twitter, 11/4/09
…thank the people of Maine for protecting and reaffirming their support for marriage as it has been understood for millenia by civilizations and religions around the world…
While the Catholic Church will continue its commitment to work for the basic human rights to which all people are entitled, it remains devoted to preserving and strengthening the precious gift of marriage.
~Bishop Richard Malone, Diocese of Maine, Catholic News Agency
Dear Bishop Malone,
When I was a girl sitting in Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Albuquerque, my dad always let me drop the tithing envelope he prepared every Sunday into the basket. I watched my knock-knees bob as I swung my legs, waiting for the usher to get to our pew. Ours was always the same usher, lanky and worn and with a thin mustache. He would stretch with the basket-on-a-stick to reach me. In the envelope went, with pennies, quarters, and bills from other parishioners.
Dad also gave to the Maryknoll nuns, and each month I leafed through the small magazine that came, showing what Catholics did in the world to help the poor. I saw pictures of round-bellied toddlers in Africa and sad-looking orphans in Guatemala. We had bake sales outside our church, and the little Spanish-speaking mothers and grandmothers who’d lived in the neighborhood for generations came together to work for those in need.
I couldn’t imagine being a girl in a church today and having my father give me money to put into the basket. What does a parent say to the child in one of your churches?
“Oh, that twenty dollar bill? It’s going to pay for a television ad that will tell the world what a sin it will be if gays and lesbians get married like us.”
“But, Mama, why can’t they get married?”
“Because, marriage is our precious gift. God only gave it to heterosexual men and women.”
Almost a third of individuals in the US who were raised within the Catholic faith leave the Church, and those who leave outnumber those who join. This means that Catholicism in the U.S. is a religion in decline. Moreoever, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, among religions that experience a loss of members due to changes in affliations, Catholicism has experienced the greatest net loss.
And it’s not just the parishioners that you have failed to inspire. It is those who are supposed to do the inspiring. Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate statistics show that in 1965, there were 8,325 graduate-level seminarians in the U.S., almost a thousand ordinations, and more than 58,000 Catholic priests. By 2009, the number of seminarians is down to just over 3,300, only 472 ordinations, and just above 40,000 priests.
All over the nation, Catholic churches are closing or merging. There is a lack of Catholic chaplains in the military. The Vatican even announced last month its desire to bring on Anglican priests disgruntled over their church’s acceptance of female priests and openly gay bishops.
Is this what the Catholic Church has become—a haven for those who cannot tolerate equality? Don’t want to see women stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men? Join the Catholic Church! Don’t think that homosexuals are fit to be spiritual leaders? Join the Catholic Church! Want to keep loving and committed gays and lesbians away from the ritual of marriage? The Catholic Church wants YOU!
In my family, a priest was the best thing a boy could grow up to become. My father was altar boy in two masses each Sunday, and his cousin went into the seminary. But Father Tony, as we called Dad’s cousin, was gay. He left his parish not long after becoming a priest. Much later, stricken with AIDS, he was reinstated and allowed to give mass one last time before he died. That was two decades ago—during a kinder, gentler Catholicism.
You and your fellow leaders are the opposite of what I understood Jesus Christ to be, one who walked among those rejected by the rest of society, who advocated on their behalf, who protected the marginalized. Without havng children yourselves, you instruct us on family planning. You are celibate and unmarried, yet you claim to understand love, intimacy, and the precious gift of marriage? What conceit.
Instead of trying to protect this gift, why not work at bettering men who abuse women and make marriage untenable, or heterosexuals who step in and out of the ritual as if it were a coat? Maybe those denied the right to marry for so long will treat it as the precious gift you say it is.
My father still goes to church and still tithes. He is frail now, and sometimes he watches mass on TV. Most Sundays, my sister or brother take him. They walk him slowly to the spot he likes, in the middle of the church. Not so close as to appear overly eager, but not so far away as to seem laggardly. He left Our Lady of Guadalupe after 35 years in 2004, when the priest told him who to vote for. This latest parish has thus far not meddled in places it has no business being.
I used to be sad about the direction of the Catholic Church. But now I am ashamed and angry.
If you ever decide to send that letter, you can add my name. Amen, Sister!
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ybonesy, thanks for taking the risk of writing this piece. Your letter to Bishop Malone personalizes this controversial issue for you. And for us when we read it. For me, this is an issue that is very personal.
I didn’t know the story of your Dad’s cousin, Father Tony, or that he was gay. I remember you talking about your Dad leaving Our Lady of Guadalupe after 35 years in 2004, when the priest told him who to vote for. I thought he had a lot of courage to do that. He stood by his convictions. And so do you.
I was following the Maine vote this week. But not the Catholic fundraising or the priests asking their parishioners to vote against gay/lesbian marriage. What are politics doing in the places where we are supposed to be spiritually safe? Where people are supposed to show compassion and tolerance.
I know I’m naive asking that question. And I know all too well what it’s like to sit in church and feel excluded and uncomfortable because a major part of who you are is considered a sin. And I’m well aware that the Catholic church is not the only religion raging against gay/lesbian marriage.
Your post reminds me of a few years ago when I looked up my favorite teacher when I was growing up, my 8th grade junior high English teacher, Mrs. Juarez. Turns out she lives only a few miles from my mother’s house. Anyway, we had a great two hour talk and one of the things we talked about was her church. Just a few weeks prior, she had brought a homeless man in for a service. When he continued to attend church with her, the rest of the congregation was up in arms. They were afraid of him and told her they didn’t think she should bring him into their church.
She went back and told them that they were hypocrites for not holding the space for the homeless man. Wasn’t that what they were there for? To show compassion for the marginalized, the hungry, the poor? And now he wasn’t fit to enter the church?
And what about the Salem witch trials where women were persecuted by the church because they had branded them witches. I guess we will always experience the intolerance of some religions. That’s why so many churches have broken off to form more accepting branches.
Speaking for myself, I can only hope that equal rights for all around marriage are legalized and accepted in my lifetime. But I tell you, I’m doubtful. I even mentioned this when Liz and I were talking with friends around the dinner table the other night before the Maine vote. So many people run their lives based on fear of others. Not knowing they are already sitting right next to gays and lesbians in church every day. And probably don’t even know it.
And as I mentioned on Twitter yesterday, you don’t get to choose who you give equal rights to. We live in a democracy. Equal rights under the law for all.
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You can add my name as well. Well said, Ybonesy! I wonder why the church doesn’t lose its tax-exempt status for mingling in politics that way.
I’m one of those who left the Catholic church long ago. It felt strange being back inside the church for my mother’s funeral. Stranger still that I remembered the responses to the prayers, the smell of the incense, and the feel of the pews as if I’d just been there yesterday. Those of us from my little family (my husband, our oldest son, and I) were the only people who didn’t go up for communion and I was given the oddest looks from aunts and uncles who hadn’t seen me since I was a child and probably didn’t know that I am no longer a Catholic. Mom’s funeral was the second time this year I’d sat through communion at a Catholic mass. (Our youngest son married a good Catholic girl and they had a full-out Catholic mass at their wedding.)
I don’t mind being an outsider when it comes to the church. Even as a child I realized my beliefs were not those of the church and wouldn’t have gone through the sham of confirmation if I could have gotten out of it without majorly disobeying my father. Ah well, I gave the priests and nuns a good run for their money by asking questions they didn’t want asked.
I may be wrong but as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to think of religion (not spirituality, but religion) as the root of most evil.
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I always thought that Catholicism was a more tolerant religion, Robin. The Catholicism of my youth was, in fact, much more gente. There was the whole Liberation Theology movement, which I studied in graduate school. Priests from orders such as the Jesuits, who went to Latin America and worked with the poor to not just have food to eat and clothes to wear, but to help them fight for their rights.
When the Marriage Equality vote failed in California last year, it was the Church of Latter Day Saints who spearheaded that fight. I thought, at least the Catholics don’t do that.
But the Vatican has changed. It it out of touch. One of the reports I read said that the young men who are going into seminary school are more traditional than those who came in past.
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Oh, meant to say, Robin, I’m also amazed by how familiar the experience of mass is. All those Sundays sitting with my dad. My other siblings went, too, but as they got older and my mom had stopped going, it was just me and Dad in mass most times. I went to church with him about a year ago, and I almost cried, it was so nostalgic.
When I go to communion, I don’t take the host but I do take the blessing. But how can I take a blessing when I don’t trust the leaders of the church?
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Where there are Humans, there will always be apposing opinions…none will ever see eye to eye.
You’re line “Maybe those denied the right to marry for so long will treat it as the precious gift you say it is”. That yb, is the truest, most important statement of all.
I’m not a Catholic and I stopped going to “Church” when I was 17 and it was alluded to me that a friend of mine (who was African American) would not be welcomed by the elders. I marched down the center isle of fancy Sunday service in patched jeans, braided hair, tie dyed shirt and beads…and then I never came back. I do not tolerate exclusion. Never will. And my belief in God stayed true in my Heart without a building.
Put me on the list and send it.
H
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Beautifully written. Yes, I question their tax exempt status too!
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Many UUs are (as they sometimes call themselves) recovering Catholics. I don’t think of myself that way. I look back on it with nostalgia. And like Robin, a few years ago I went to the funeral of a childhood friend’s dad.
It was amazing how much I remembered about mass and the prayers. And then the feeling of… I don’t know… familiarity, comfort came back as I smelled the incense and heard the chants.
At the same time, because of what I’ve studied and read about the Catholic church and its adoption of many Pagan rituals, festivals and holidays, it seems so… ancient?… maybe. Archaic? Barbaric? I don’t know how to describe it.
Add my name to your letter as well YB. UUs have been on the tip of the spear for marriage equality for sometime.
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A deep bow to you, yb, for expressing your shame and anger so eloquently. Seeing your letter on red Ravine means much to me. Thank you.
I would like to ask some members of the Catholic Church, “What would Jesus do?” but I fear they do not know Jesus.
I asked Mary Karr last evening (in DC promoting her new memoir, Lit) how she reconciled her recent conversion to Catholicism with the outcome of the vote in Maine and she said: “I like the people in the pews more than I like the dogma. The Pope is the Catholic Church as much as George Bush is America. I don’t think anyone should let you become Catholic until you’re in menopause.” She saw faith as a practice, not as a weapon. Hopefully, there are more Catholics like her who believe Christ came to humble them rather than to empower them.
You are brave, yb. Today, I walk in your footsteps.
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One more point: Christian and/or Catholic fundamentalism plus fear raises money.
Shame on fundamentalists. If Jesus saw this he would never stop throwing up.
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Ybonesy – this was a moving testament of your belief that a place of worship and spiritual support should be a place which is an inclusive and safe haven for “all” of us and not one of divisiveness based on who is more worthy. The sacraments should be equally available to everyone. Difference is not to be feared and reviled, but understood and loved in the context of the variety of human beings “created by God in his image”. G
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It’s easy to make a broad, sweeping brush and dismiss all Catholics. If you were more aware of what is happening in congregations all over the United States, you would see it is a long, long table–very liberal to very conservative. The parish I attend is very inclusive, and we’re not alone.
Catholic-bashing is an easy way out, but it doesn’t address the breadth of what is happening in the church. Flannista seems to understand that; it’s the people, not the Pope… like it’s we Americans, not George Bush.
Maine made this decision. Not Catholics. Stop blaming a church you don’t attend anymore.
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Chris — it is NOT easy for ybonesy to make a broad, sweeping brush and dismiss all Catholics. Further, I do not see that this is what she is doing. In nearly every syllable of her post, I sense sorrow. I sense that she has been struggling with the Catholic church for a long time. I also know her heart. She is not someone who makes thoughtless judgments. She does not bash anyone, including Catholics. She is naming her truth and standing up for her beloveds. The long, long table of Jesus Christ has room for both of you.
If you sense that yb is indeed “bashing,” why bash in response? Now is the time to simply listen. Hear her anger. Hear her shame. Hear her sorrow. Do not clench your fists, but open your palms. Receive her words. God is not threatened by yb’s frustration. You needn’t be either. Ask our redeeming God to show all of us mercy and healing so ALL of us can sit at the long, long table of Jesus Christ.
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This post is hardly ‘bashing’.
And just for the record, George Bush isn’t our president anymore.
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Great letter, yb.
My understanding of the polling on this is that the young “get it” and overwhelmingly are not bigoted, while the older generations still bear the prejudices they were taught.
Given time, these elections will swing the American way. hich is to say we will more fully recognize the rights *attempted* when framing the Constitution.
But for now, I guess we have to note that not all real progress is as fast as electing a good man (who happens to be a minority) president in the wake of a bad man.
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I sometimes think that God, in creating men (and women), somewhat overestimated his ability.
Oscar Wilde
😉
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Great quote, Heather.
What wonderful comments that have come in. This was a very hard post to write, much harder to publish. I honestly feel like I have lost someone, a family member. Maybe the loss has been a long time coming, but this is about a central piece of my childhood, connected with my family and my community. I don’t know the Catholic Church anymore. Maybe I can know a parish, a particular priest, but I don’t know the institution itself.
My lithmus test on whether this is too far or not is my dad. I read it to him, asked him what he thought. He gets it. Today is his 86th birthday, by the way. I took him over lunch to get his H1N1 vaccination. We read the piece while waiting the ten minutes afterwards in the doctor’s office. Thank goodness no one was there but us; I was blubbering like a fool.
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Flannista, wow, so Mary Karr became a Catholic? Well, she has a good perspective on it, I think. I’ve talked with one red Ravine reader who also converted as an adult, and she pointed out in a previous post that it might be harder to overlook the faults of the Church when you’ve grown up with it. Whatever the reason, it is hard for me to find a place there.
I do have to ask you, Chris, and I hope you can hear this and not feel at all attacked, but if you are in an inclusive parish, doesn’t something rise up when you see intolerance not just in a parish but in an entire diocese? Don’t you want to speak out for the wrongs you see?
I do. I just can’t sit there while someone down at the other end of the table spews bigotry. I’ve never been able to just let it lie, to just accept it. My father is more moderate than I am. His designated spot in the church, in the middle, says a lot about his patience, his demeanor. That’s probably why he can still belong to the Church while I can’t.
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Preach it, sista.
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yb, I also can’t believe the vote in Maine & how the Catholic church was so involved. If you do send the letter please add me too. Unbelievable…Great post & letter. Kudos to you! D
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YB – I find it ironic that while I am reading your post, on the news is a story about a nun who was murdered. Another nun, who was her friend and “co-worker” stated that she cannot be judgmental about the murderer, it is up to God to do that. How is it that murderers are not judged by intergral members of the catholic church yet millions of men and women, who are peaceful, loving human beings who want only to give, love and provide are judged so harshly.
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PS – I have personally experienced much evil in a church that I have attended. I know people who are agnostic who are kind and who give and give and give to people in need in their communities. Religion does not necessarily preclude Right.
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Wow, Neece, that is so strange to see on the one hand, compassion almost to a point where it’s unfathomable, and then there’s this other side over here.
Do you ever miss your old church? I know, that’s probably a naive question, but I’m curious if you miss the community you must have at some point found there.
Oh, Julian, wanted to mention if I haven’t already that there is a UU church near here. I am going to an event there later this month.
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yb, tried sleeping, but too much going on here & at my parents home lately that I forgot to turn off my TV tonight. I kept hearing unusual noises in the house until I realized what I had forgotten. But, this thing in Maine is not just a Catholic thing. It’s nationwide. Look what happened in CA. I am so fired up over this that I could actually cry. Whatever happened to humans being human?
I know I’ve mentioned before that my Dad stopped attending church in 2004 when on the Sunday before the election, his minister addressed the congregation & basically told them to vote for G.W. Bush or they were sinners. What has this world come to?
What ever happened to segregation between church & state?
I truly hope you check out the UU church. I have. D
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YB, I love you for writing this letter! Thank you! It is eloquent, angry, sad, and rational all at the same time. In a way, it lightens the sadness I’ve been feeling about this latest incident of intolerance. The day after the Maine vote, I had a good talk with my son, Nic, who is just now, at 21, exploring his sexual self, open to loving whomever he loves, regardless of gender. I think his generation will turn around much of the current anti-gay legislation. And attitudes. Many of these kids, including my son, have grown up with gay friends and family without the issue of their gayness being an issue. It’s a no-brainer for them that gay people – all people – are entitled to the same rights.
Yes, I know. There will always be hate-groups. Just as there will always be ignorance of all kinds. Education helps. The expression of outrage, as in your letter, YB, helps, too.
(Someone said to me yesterday that she thought the money spent to “defend marriage” would be better spent on marital therapy for those people whose marriages so badly need defending.)
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Well done!
Well done!
Well done!
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yb, the same letter could be written to all the evangelical/fundamentalist Christian organizations who worked to deny the right to marry to same-sex couples in Maine.
Ironically, the marriage between a man and a woman only means that one is male and the other female, not that they are heterosexual. Gay men and lesbian women have married members of the opposite sex all through the early part of this century. It was a way to pass.
The same-sex marriage laws allows two people of the same sex whether they are homosexual or not to marry each other. In Great Britain, two sisters filed to marry each other to protect inheritance rights when one of them died.
The “religious” opponents of same-sex marriage work against it, not to make marriage sacred, but to keep their hatred of homosexuals alive…and to make lots of money from donations. No better way to make money than to raise it to fight evil. Shame on all of them.
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yb, of course I meant separation, not segregation. I was half asleep. Sorry! D
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YB – I have one friend from that church. I really didn’t fit in try as I might. I’m not saying it was the congregation, I think it was me trying to be something I was not. It just seemed to me that the tithe was the most important aspect of this particular church. It didn’t feel real or right.
I still believe in God. I still feel God. I even believe in angels and Divine intervention. But I don’t believe in religion; it always feels to me that there is a control factor involved and it is not about saving my soul. There are good people everywhere, some of them go to church – more power to them. I don’t go to church – more power to me. What ever happened to live and let live.
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ybonesy, I had wanted to come back to this post all week. Took the time to reread all the comments this morning. Some good points. A heartfelt issue. It seems to me that when you grow up steeped in a certain religion, along with your entire family, you have earned the right to have an opinion on it. For you, that is Catholicism. We speak to what we know
I have a lot of friends who call themselves recovering Catholics. They grew up Catholic and have strong opinions on the church. I have friends who joined the Catholic church as adults, too. And their opinions are sometimes very different. There is room for all voices.
About equal rights and gay/lesbian marriage, I wanted to come back and show gratitude to members of my blood family for supporting me. I had a wedding in the 1980’s to a woman I had partnered with for quite some time (we are still good friends, and she and her current partner are friends of Liz and mine). It was one of the most beautiful days of my life. We had it on the Spring Equinox at a friend’s house on Sunfish Lake, outside in a mowed circle of meadow.
About 200 people came. My mother Amelia and brother (R3) flew in from Pennsylvania. My brother spoke at the wedding. My mother made the corsages and pinned them on to us. We had a preacher who married us. We wrote our own vows. We mixed traditional and non-traditional customs. My partner’s parents were there, too. They had the reception in the community room of their condo. It looked out over Minneapolis.
My point is to say that not legalizing gay marriage does not keep gays and lesbians from marrying. It happens every day. But the fact that it is not recognized legally is discrimination. It keeps us from gaining from the benefits that married couples access.
Laws generally favor marriage. Tax laws give married couples breaks that single people do not receive. Married couples have the option of going on to their spouse’s healthcare benefits if they lose their own. And what about what happens to the partner’s assets upon death? Right now, if a gay or lesbian partner dies, their assets go to their blood family (unless they have a will).
There is also the problem of who has durable power of attorney in medical and death situations. If it’s not specified by a living will or patient advocate designation who can be in the room or make hard medical decisions, the rights go to the next of kin (which can be a family member who never supported the gay/lesbian couple to begin with).
Besides the fact that it’s the right thing to do, that everyone deserves equal rights under the law, the legal inheritance, medical, and death implications are deep. And I’ve seen documentaries where older gays and lesbians lose everything when their partner dies. Partners they have spent their whole lives with.
There is a book that Liz and I bought called A Legal Guide for Lesbian & Gay Couples. It’s a NOLO book that’s really helpful in spelling out what needs to be done to protect your rights in a relationship. For those who can legally marry, these things are all spelled out as soon as you tie the knot. Those who can legally marry take these things for granted. They consider them their rights under marriage. For gays and lesbians, it’s not that simple. The issues are complicated. And far reaching into a person’s life. Continued discrimination is just not an option.
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I’ve stood with a foot in several camps: fundamentalism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Universalist, agnostic. I’ve done a lot of exploring. As a result, I’ve gotten to know people in all these traditions. What makes them tick. Where these deep-seated beliefs come from. There are people in every tradition (every!) whose motives are not good. But most people are trying to get it right.
The problem is, unfortunately, that if some people follow their religious convictions, those who oppose them will point out how wrong they are, how bigoted, how backward. The people who claim to be the most liberal and all-inclusive don’t seem to want to include those who disagree with them. Do it our way.
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I have been thinking a great deal about these posts in the past few days. As a relatively new Catholic, I am sad that so many are disillusioned, disappointed and discouraged about the RC church. I share the frustration with issues related to abortion, marriage, and LGBT unions, women in ministry — not to mention the issue of church-promoted political promotions. I would like more division between church and state!
As I think about it, I find that virtually all of the meaningful experiences I’ve had, e.g., family, marriage, friends, education, church, community organizations, work, creativity, etc. have both positive and negative aspects that push and pull, test and challenge me. For the most part, I have found the RC church extremely service oriented. I am moved by the care of needly, elderly, imprisoned, migrants, mentally challenged, victims, etc. While I disagree about a woman’s right to choose, I am impressed by the continuity of Cardinal Bernadine’s seamless respect for life and Pax Christi’s courageous peace efforts.
When I went through the year-long study to become a Catholic, I expressed my concerns about these issues to Fr. John. He told me they were mostly issues related to current culture, and as in the past, things change with time. Without so much as saying I did not have to sign off on everything, he urged me to focus on the Creed. I am growing in the spiritual atmosphere of community, service, ritual and sacred space, and continue to pray for inspiration, understanding, guidance and the courage to speak out about what I am led to believe is wrong. AMEN.
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Thank you for your considered and considerate response, Annelise. Although I am in these days feeling conflict over my own relationship to the Catholic Church, I am happy to hear that you have found a spiritual place there.
I talked to a very good friend who is also Catholic. She and I have been talking about this topic over the weekend. She was angry, too, although her anger has dissipated and today she said when she went to mass that she’s decided the worst thing to do when she sees something she disagrees with in the Church is to leave it. In other words, she needs to stay and help fight for change.
I thought that was a courageous response on her part, and I admire her for doing so. I’m also heartened to know that you have joined, for I admire you very much. I feel some peace in knowing that people like you will help be a part of change in the Church.
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Pat, thanks for stopping in. I would agree that there are people in every religion who move toward the extremes and who have a hard time accepting beliefs outside of their own. Especially those on each end struggle with one another. The middle is always so much more sane.
QM, great comment. It is chock full of information and personal experience. The NOLO book sounds essential. I am grateful that many companies provide domestic partner benefits to their employees, gay and straight, who are not married but live together and are committed to one another. I think I might have said before, no one group has a monopoly on talent, and so companies must do what they can to appeal to talent. That means providing generous benefits for everyone, even when the law doesn’t require it. But it’s too bad that there isn’t a legal requirement.
The Pew report that I linked to, btw, provides information on people’s perceptions toward civil unions versus marriage. A greater percent (I think it was about 57%) of people support gay civil unions (i.e., recognized by the court) versus marriage (recognized by the church), for which the percent drops below 50% supporting.
If Maine had voted to accept Gay Marriage (which legislators had passed in May) it would have been the first state where popular vote and not legislation had put Gay Marriage in place. That would have been a huge win.
I would like to see gays and lesbians being able to have a civil union, if they want, or a marriage, if that is what they want.
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Thanks also, QM, for sharing the story about your wedding. As I have gotten to know your family via this blog, what strikes me is how loving they are. What a wonderful group of people. Amelia was and is a special person to have instilled those values.
I appreciate all the other comments, too, that I haven’t been able to address individually, Neece, your additional info, and Lea, Jude, Bob, diddy. Good point, Bob, about the lack of specificity re: man and woman. Hmmm…that’s sure a religious loophole, isn’t it. 😉
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Really well written, and I agree on every point. This letter should be circulated. It really breaks it down very eloquently.
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“My father still goes to church and still tithes. He is frail now, and sometimes he watches mass on TV. Most Sundays, my sister or brother take him. They walk him slowly to the spot he likes, in the middle of the church.”
I stayed in US for a year, and my interaction with the simple folks of small towns in Oregon re-affirmed my faith in god, although I am a Hindu. This beautiful article reminds me of so many things – of the warmth of relationships, of faith and belief and tolerance.
Keep writing!
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Hypocrisy makes me crazy.. thanks for writing this, yb.
As you may know, this is the subject of my film IN GOOD CONSCIENCE, a doc about an American nun’s battle with the Vatican over her ministry to gay & lesbian Catholics. ingoodconscience.com
It was just named to the American Library Association’s 2009 Top Ten List of Religion/Spirituality Videos!
I was driven to make the film by the things you wrote about in your post…
I also just read yesterday that a Bishop in Rhode Island is banning a Kennedy from receiving communion because of his support of choice when it comes to abortion. Preposterous.
I propose the Bishop be denied communion because of the Vatican’s support of pedophile priests (knowingly putting children in danger by moving sex offenders from one parish to the next). He and the rest of the hierarchy should also be denied communion for continuing to treat women and gay people as second class citizens.
Their ignorance and arrogance is astounding to me.
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Congratulations, Barbara, on your documentary rising to the top. I’ve wanted to see that doc ever since I learned about it back in Taos. I imagine I can get it on Netflix, yes?
You know, in researching this post, I also got the stats on the pedophile priests–both the raw numbers and the amount of money spent by the Catholic Church. Both are staggering. In the end I didn’t come at it from that angle, but I have to say, the hypocrisy does burn even hotter given this malignancy that resides within the Church.
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[…] could never be! If beauty rises from the love we carry I see no reason why we should not marry let the rest of the world fight over what it all means, I know our love is everything it seems. I want to live with you all the […]
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