In the Western church, it is the Catholic tradition that is most closely associated with honouring the saints, but other denominations do too (not always using the same terminology). The Church of England, the Episcopal Church, and others in the…
Monthly Archives: April 2012
Catholic Schools Told to Oppose Gay Marriage – Pupils say ‘No Way’
Over 350 Catholic secondary schools in England and Wales have been asked by the Catholic Education Service to ‘draw the attention’ of pupils to the Coalition for Marriage’s anti gay marriage equality petition, and to the letter sent to parishes…
Celebrating Our Relationships
One of the dangers in focussing too much in the controversies over same - sex marriage, whether in church or as civil marriage, is that of ignoring or marginalising other forms of relationship - such as civil partnerships. In our workshop…
Anglican Bishop: Opposition to Marriage Equality a “Disaster for the Church”.
Speaking to a major London conference on combating faith-based homophobia, Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury described the widespread opposition by some church leaders as a disgrace. Delivering the opening keynote address to the conference organized by the Cutting Edge Consortium, on “Faith, Homophobia, Transphobia & Human Rights”, he said…
Catholics and “Right to Life”: Capital Punishment on November Ballot
Catholic teaching stands squarely on the side of the right to life - but it is unfortunate that this has so often been distorted and simplistically misrepresented as unequivocal opposition to abortion, in all circumstance. In California, Catholics will have…
English Bishops: God’s Grace in Gay Marriage
In marked contrast to some religious leaders who are whipping up opposition to marriage equality in the name of religion, a group of English bishops and other church leaders have taken precisely the opposite approach: in a letter to The…
Paul Oestreicher: “Was Jesus gay? Probably”
Paul Oestreicher is not the first person to suggest that Jesus was probably gay, nor will he be the last. What I found particularly interesting in this reflection was the timing, based on a Good Friday sermon which explicitly linked Christ’s…
Equality Forum Religious Colloquy to Explore LGBT Catholic Activism
Landing in my inbox yesterday, was an email from Equality Forum, with news of this year’s LGBT civil rights summit, to be held in Philadelphia next month (May 3 - 6). Among several specialist panels, one on religion specifically features…
Israeli Jewish group to allow gay rabbis
A Jewish movement in Israel has voted to allow gays to become rabbis. The middle-eastern country’s Schechter Rabbinical Seminary, which is part of the Conservative Jewish seminary, says it will begin ordaining gays and lesbians in Jerusalem in the fall.…
In Canada, Surgery No Longer a Precondition for Transition
Gender transition is a lengthy, complex process, fraught with legal, social and financial difficulties. A Canadian ruling that proof of genital surgery is not a precondition for the legal recognition of one’s new gender, removes one important difficulty, for those…
