The past week or two have seen some big developments, and a great deal of heated commentary - too much to respond to every detail and argument. Instead, just some headlines, and the briefest commentary on the main points. The…
Monthly Archives: February 2011
Breaking the silence
I ended my last post by asking: will our silence [forced as it so often is] be judged as complicity in the Church’s deceptive ways? It’s a question that has been troubling me for quite some time now, not only…
The Transformation of Christian Responses to Homoerotic Love
You’d never guess it if your only knowledge of the churches and homosexuality came from Focus on the Family, NOM or California Catholic Daily in the US, or from Christian Voice or the rule-book Catholic blogs in the UK, or…
“The Gift of Gay” - The Priest Who Came Out, aged 90!
Father Matthew Kelty, OCSO, was a monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where he was the last confessor to Thomas Merton. He also came out as gay at the age of 90. The full obituary is worth reading at Religion…
Irish Archbishop Agrees: Catholic Church Needs Fundamental, Cultural Change
When people think of the crisis facing the Irish church since public awareness exploded over the sexual abuse scandals, they generally think only of the abuse itself. However, the real crisis goes much deeper. The abuse problems brought the crisis…
Surprise: Traditionalist Catholics Have Not Converted the Vatican
In 2009, Pope Benedict surprised, delighted and horrified different sections of the Catholic church with his announcement of the lifting of excommunication orders on four bishops of the traditionalist Society of Pius X. In launching an attempt at dialogue, he…
Joseph O’Leary, on Catholic Theology and “Redefining” Marriage
Fr Joseph O’Leary has a useful short post at his blog, on the eruption of opposition by the English bishops to the (very modest) proposed amendments to the UK civil partnership provisions. He makes the point I have done before,…
“Practicing Safer Texts”: The Bible and Sexuality, Homosexuality
As gay men, we all know about the importance of practicing safe sex. When it comes to the Bible and sexuality, especially homosexuality, Ken Stone says we must practice safe texts, too. I regret that I have not yet had a…
Muslim Gay Marriage, UK
Popular speech accepts that “Catholics” oppose homosexuality because that is the publicly expressed view from the Vatican, but completely overlooks evidence from research that most real - life Catholics in fact do not see homosexuality as a moral issue and…
Confused English Bishops, and the Catholic “Redefinition” of Marriage.
A firestorm has erupted among some British church people and commentators over government proposals to amend the civil partnership regulations, allowing the ceremonies to be conducted on religious premises, and using religious words, symbols or music. I have avoided commenting…
