The things that tend to hit the headlines concerning the Catholic Church and “homosexuals”, are the high profile political campaigns by some bishops against marriage and family equality on the one hand, and the disordered teaching on genital sex, on…
Monthly Archives: November 2011
Department of the Bizarre: Priest told to leave partner, after 46 years!
At first sight, this may seem to be simply a quirky news item, fun but of limited consequence. To read it so, would be a mistake, for it is symptomatic of a much wider problem in the Catholic Church (and…
Austrian Bishops Respond to Catholic “Rebellion”: Continuing Dialogue Promised
Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna has responded to the Austrian rebels with a promise of dialogue, not discipline: jaw-jaw before war-war: but has firmly rejected calls to “disobedience”. Last week the Austrian branch of “We are Church” issued a statement of…
Catholic Bishops, Gay Marriage: “the Outer Fringes of Crazy Town”
Catholic mothers, like all others, delight in their offsprings’ weddings - and those of other family members. They are not alone. Weddings are the occasions of major family gatherings, where we gather to celebrate with them, cement the family bonds…
$1 million gift for Catholic University GLBTQ Center
Respect for all, equality and inclusion are fundamental Catholic values - and this applies to queer Catholics, as to everyone else. Catholic educational institutions have been slow to give practical effect to these principles for their own students, but this…
“Occupy the Church”: Austria’s Catholic Rebellion Gathers Strength.
Two recent reports from Austria show clearly that the Catholic rebellion is gathering strength: survey research shows that two thirds of the country’s priests support calls for urgent reform, and that lay Catholics have announced plans to ignore Church rules…
Thoughts on “The Loud Few, and the Loving Many”
At America blog, Michael O’Loughlin reflects on two stories from the US that I have carried in the past few days - the bizarre claim by Daniel Avila that homosexual orientation has a demonic origin, contrasted with the welcome and…
“Equally Blessed” Petition to US bishops on Bullying
Catholic teaching on persons with same-sex attraction is clear: we are to be treated with dignity, respect and understanding, and we are to oppose any violence or malice, in speech or action. Shamefully, these words opposing violence or malice are…
Anthony Alfano: Openly gay student president at Catholic university
Here’s a refreshing sign of the times: De Paul university is the USA’s largest Catholic university - and has a student president who is openly gay. Anthony Alfano’s story is instructive for all those who still see a contradiction or…
A Silver Lining to Avila’s Nonsense on “Satanic” Origins of Same-sex Orientation.
The extraordinary fiasco over comments by an advisor to the US bishops’ anti-gay-marriage initiative would be the stuff of high comedy, if it were not so tragic. (Indeed, much of the commentary from the secular LGBT blogosphere has been hilarity at…
