Gay marriage: Archbishop warns of ‘damaging consequences’ for society

The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Revd Vincent Nichols, warned of “damaging consequences” if the institution of marriage is no longer limited to couples of different genders.

He also insisted that the possibility of having children should be central to the meaning of marriage and emphasised that Catholic teaching on marriage chimed with that of other major religions.

The Archbishop’s comments came at an annual mass in Westminster Cathedral to celebrate marriage.

More than 500 couples all celebrating major wedding anniversaries – with a combined total of 31,850 years of marriage between them – were invited to the blessing and renew to their commitment.

This year the event fell during the public consultation on the Government’s plans to allow gay couples to marry, something to which the Archbishop has publicly voiced opposition.

 - Telegraph.

To this, I can only respond with a simple question: “How? ”

By any conventional standards, the institution of marriage is already in deep trouble – with no help at all from gay marriage, which is not yet legally possible.

I offer once more this extract from a report by the Office of  National Statistics:

In 2010 nearly half of all babies were born outside marriage/civil partnership (46.8 per cent) compared with 46.2 per cent in 2009 and 39.5 per cent in 2000. This continues the long-term rise in the percentage of births outside marriage/civil partnership which is consistent with increases in the number of couples cohabiting rather than entering into marriage or civil partnership.

That’s born outside marriage. The proportion conceived outside marriage is much higher, well over half, at a time when gay marriage was not legal. Gay marriage cannot be blamed.

Other couples are not bothering to marry at all.

The provisional number of marriages registered in England and Wales in 2009 was 231,490. This currently represents the lowest numbers of marriages in England and Wales since 1895.

The provisional number of marriages registered in England and Wales in 2009 was 231,490. This currently represents the lowest numbers of marriages in England and Wales since 1895

The number of married families with dependent children declined from 4.8 million in 2001, to 4.5 million in 2011. Married families without children increased marginally, from 7.4 to 7.6 million. During the same period, the number of cohabiting couples with children increased from 0.8 to 1.1 million,  and without children from 1.4 to 1.8 million. Lone parent families with children rose from 1.7 to 2.0 million. To express this differently, in 2011 just 60% of all families with children were headed by married couples, down from 65% ten years previously.

This decline was not caused by gay marriage.

Of this 60% of families with children headed by married couples, how many were both the children’s biological parents? I don’t have figures immediately to hand, but we do know a substantial proportion are not: a significant proportion are children with one or more step- parents, or adoptive parents, or foster parents (and a small proportion are same -sex couples in civil partnerships).

In 2010 there were 11.1 new divorces  in England and Wales for every thousand married couples. Half of all couples divorcing in 2010 had at least one child aged under 16 living in the family.  Conversely, about a quarter of all people marrying in that year were remarrying after divorce – and a somewhat higher percentage of all marriages included at least one partner who had been previously married.

This too, cannot be blamed on gay marriage.

Then there’s the matter of adoption. Every year, something like 3000 children are placed with adoptive parents, because for one or other reason their biological parents are unable to provide proper care.

This is not the fault of gay marriage.

The institution of marriage  in the United Kingdom is already in a poor state, even though gay marriage has never been a legal option. Is there any reason to believe that extending marriage will make the situation even worse? I cannot see it. The evidence from the jurisdictions where marriage equality already exists, points in precisely the opposite direction. In the USA, where the patchwork of marriage laws provide a useful barometer by which to measure the results, an interesting pattern emerges. Comparative data shows clearly that in general, those states with the greatest restrictions on marriage equality are also those with the highest rates of divorce and teen pregnancy. Those with the greatest tolerance for gay marriage or civil unions, are also those where all marriage is in the best shape. In Massachusetts, where gay marriage has been around longer than elsewhere and has become widely accepted, public health research has shown clear health benefits to same – sex married couples, with resultant benefits to their children.

Extending marriage does not weaken it – it strengthens it, by showing respect for the value of public demonstration of commitment in private relationships.

But Archbishop Nichols did not simply say that gay marriage would weaken the institution. “He also insisted that the possibility of having children should be central to the meaning of marriage”.

That’s fair enough, in terms of Catholic teaching, but ignores two important points. The proposed marriage equality legislation applies only to civil marriage, and absolutely does not apply to sacramental marriage, in church. In opposing the legislation, he is extending the Church view of marriage into the secular sphere. If he is so concerned that church teaching on the importance of children should be  extended to all marriage, is he also demanding that all couples wishing to marriage should be required to promise to make babies, and to build that into secular law?

Of course not. Once again, there is a gross, discriminatory asymmetry in the Church response to same – sex and opposite – sex couples.

The other point he ignores, is that some children are being raised by same – sex couples. Just like other children, they too would benefit if their parents too, could marry. Examination of the facts of marriage and children leads me to the diametrically opposite conclusion of Archbishop Nichols.

We need gay marriage – for the sake of the children.

 (I’m under severe pressure this week, and have simply not had time to dig out all the supporting stats and references I would have liked. I hope to add more later — but that will not happen just yet)

Related articles

• Did Gay Marriages Ruin Straight Ones? (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)
• Gay marriage: “Torn asunder from reality” (Guardian Editorial) (queeringthechurch.com)

Just one of the many problems detailed in the leaked documents, was evidence of massive malpractice at the Vatican Bank. These allegations have been around for decades, but I’m not aware of any serious attempt by Church authorities to respond to them with any real seriousness. But together with the announcement of the leaks arrest, came news that the head of the Bank had been forced out.

Surprise!

Pope shocked at Babel-like confusion in the Vatican

The Commander of the Vatican Gendarmerie was hard at work Sunday. The Vatican leak inquiry did not end with the arrest of the Pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele so the papal police offices are busy sifting through the “investigative material” that will help find the potential accomplices and individuals behind the leaks. There are no immediate plans for arrests but not one of the Curia’s members believed the Pope’s butler is the only one responsible. “The affair is not over yet. This is just the beginning,” they said. Behind the Vatican walls there is a growing belief that “Paoletto’s” arrest was not the finishing line but a starting point.

Meanwhile, the Pope’s butler seems to be changing his tune during questioning. “Paoletto” seems to be following the advice of his lawyer, Carlo Fusco and abandoning the silence strategy adopted at the beginning. He is now answering questions regarding the serious charges being made against him, as the investigation moves from the preliminary phase led by the Promoter of Justice Nicola Picardi, to a formal phase led by the investigative magistrate of the Vatican Tribunal, Pier Antonio Bonnet. Investigators are keeping a list of potential moles under observation. About fifteen individuals are suspected of tampering with the top secret material that was leaked to mass media and reveals feuds and scandals going on within the Vatican.

The Pope’s butler is still being held on charges of aggravated burglary and could soon be joined by other disloyal servants of the Holy See. The positions of a number of individuals are being assessed but the definitive culprits have not yet been found.Authorities are now examining the possibility of other Vatican office employees and prelates being involved. The involvement of prelates is a plausible possibility given the fact that the investigative commissionthat was set up by the Pope to shed light on the Vatican document leak case is made up of cardinals and they are the only ones authorised to investigate on an equal level.

 - full report at  Vatican Insider.

There are obvious parallels to be drawn with the ongoing scandals around the scandals of clerical sexual abuse. For years, the Church simply denied that there problems, then insisted that they were of minor importance, then claimed that they were dealing properly with all allegations. As government commissions and criminal trials in Ireland,  the US and elsewhere have since clearly demonstrated,  Church claims of appropriate response to allegations are a gross exaggeration. The only really serious response has come when the real facts have been forced into the open by secular authorities.

There are no secular authorities that can force greater transparency within the Vatican so-called state. For this reason, internal agents who are bringing the sordid facts to light should be honoured and celebrated – not prosecuted.

Related articles

• Further Notes on the Vatileaks-Vatican Bank Situation (bilgrimage.blogspot.com)
• ‘Vatileaks’ scandal widens as pope’s butler vows to help investigators (guardian.co.uk)
• Pentecost Message To Pope Benedict: Clean Up The Mess You Call The Vatican (enlightenedcatholicism-colkoch.blogspot.com)
• Cardinal among plotters in Vatican scandal? (worldnews.msnbc.msn.com)
• Vatican in chaos after Pope’s butler arrested for leaks, bank president ousted (tyragan.wordpress.com)

 One of the best examples I have come across, is from South Africa, in the parish of the Holy Trinity, Braamfontein, Johannesburg (which just happens to have been my own home parish, from decades ago when I was a university student, and more recently, when my partner and I were regular and active parishioners for something like ten years – including four years serving openly as a couple on the parish council).

 But if that, and the present strong LGBT ministry, lead you to the conclusion that this another of those obvious candidates for queer support in a gay enclave of Johannesburg, thing again. Far from some kind of gay ghetto, the immediate neighbourhood on one side is an office precinct of the CBD, and on the other a university campus. As this is not a primarily residential university, with most students commuting, the neighbourhood is pretty quiet over weekends – and with the high levels of crime Johannesburg’s CBD, night – life not too attractive.

What the neighbourhood does contain, is a large population of homeless people – and it is here that the LGBT ministry had its origins. For decades, the parish has had a significant ministry to the homeless, with a feeding scheme, and a range of spin-off activities. When I was there, these included voter training and registration in preparation for the country’s first democratic election. Later, there developed an HIV / Aids ministry (this is Africa, remember) , serving both the homeless and the student populations.  This was the origin of the LGBT ministry, as I learned this week. The parish priest, Fr Russell Pollitt, is at present visiting the UK, and last week I met him over an enjoyable pub lunch, when he shared with me some of the history and present operation of the group.

Some time ago, he had reminded the Parish Pastoral Council that their main purpose was pastoral – his expectation was that they should help him to identify the pastoral needs of the parish. One young man, who was already involved in the HIV/Aids work, came to him later, and said he thought there was a need to branch out into ministry to the lesbian and gay population. Group members are mostly Black, some from the rest of Africa, where coming out presents very real physical danger, and even outright rejection by their families. Although it functions as a group, the emphasis is to avoid forming a gay ghetto: the intention is integration within the parish.  As with other recognized parish groups, one  member serves as a representative on the parish council. At least some of the events arranged by the group are open to the full parish.  For example, the group hosted a screening of “For The Bible Tells Me So“. Some parishioners, opposed to the principle of explicitly LGBT ministry, attended expecting to hold the traditional line – but ended by saying,  ”I’ll have to rethink my opinions” on the Biblical message.

The parish boundaries include part of the route for Johannesburg’s annual gay pride march. Group members joined the march, wearing t-shirts identifying themselves as from the parish, and carrying a cross. They invited Fr Pollitt to join them – and he did so.

In his book “Setting the Table” on models of ministry for LGBT Catholics, Fr James Schexnayder, starting from completely orthodox statements on pastoral care by the Vatican and Bishops’ Conferences, concludes that ministry is most effective when lesbian and gay people are active and visible in the parish community, at all levels and in all aspects. This is precisely what Holy Trinity have achieved.  Yet, in discussing his achievements, Fr Pollitt said to me his concern was to work out what more he could do!

Some of the “more” he is doing, is promoting ministry beyond his own parish. His work is well known among his fellow priests of his deanery and diocese – some of whom are strongly supportive, and others equally strongly opposed. Good work has a way of spreading, so perhaps  there will be other parishes in Johannesburg that will be motivated to begin something similar. He has also  written on the subject, for “The Southern Cross”  (South African’s only Catholic weekly newspaper). Here are some extracts:

Is it time for a pastoral response to homosexuality in South Africa?

I am appalled to read, yet again, in our newspapers about the “corrective” rape and murder of a thirteen year old girl because she was a lesbian. “Corrective rape” is the rape of lesbians which intends “correcting” them – i.e. making them heterosexual. This idea is bizarre, it is as ludicrous as “sleeping with a virgin to cure HIV”. This is the second time in as many months that this has taken place in our country. Last month a twenty-four year old was stoned to death on Gauteng’s East Rand because she was lesbian. A few years ago the country was shocked at the widespread xenophobic attacks which left many people dead; we ought to be shocked again, and disgusted, at the current wave of homophobic attacks. Committed to the dignity of persons and absolute right to life we, the Church, cannot but condemn these barbaric killings. However, we might also ask what responsibility religion (including Christianity) has in creating an underlying intolerance of homosexual people which can contribute to such appalling actions.

In my role as a pastor I have often been confronted with fundamentalist views and interpretations of the Scriptures and Church teachings. A whole argument is sometimes built around a single phrase or line – be that in Sacred Scripture or the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is interesting to note that, just last week, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged the Church to read the Scriptures as a whole and be careful about taking single phrases or expressions as the be all and end all. Ignorance of what the Church really teaches is a serious disability and I fear that Christian (and Catholic) fundamentalist approaches (with a good dollop of ignorance) can contribute to the kind of homophobic attacks we have witnessed in this country……

Much has been done for marginalised and vulnerable groups, like HIV/AIDS, in the South African Church. Others, like gay people, have not had the same care. I was reflecting recently after a meeting with students how far we have come in awareness and talking about HIV/AIDS. Two HIV positive people came to address the students and answered any questions they had. They spoke openly about their lives and the journey they had traveled. I could not imagine two people telling a group of strangers about their HIV status (and how they got there) ten years ago. It was taboo, people lived in fear and revealing your positive HIV status was simply not an option. ……. I cannot but help wonder if it is because of the clear and strong statements (made by amongst others the Church) about HIV and the work that is being done that have brought about a significant shift in awareness and greater openness in talking about HIV. ……. It’s a ministry we can be proud of. Granted, we have not arrived and still have much to do but much is already being done and a shift has taken place.

The Church, at her best, has the capacity to change minds and hearts and in so doing truly be a sign of hope and joy. Are we willing to bring hope and joy to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters by responding as the Good Shepherd would?

-full article at Southern Cross

Finally, here’s the parish’s  own description of the LGBT ministry, taken from tits website:

What Is Life Like If You Or Someone In Your Family Is Gay Or Lesbian In Their Sexual Orientation?

“As a group that has suffered more than its share of oppression and contempt , the homosexual community has a particular claim on the concern of the Church.” - Catholic Social Welfare Commission, 1979.

At Holy Trinity we seek to be welcoming and inclusive to all and have a particular concern for those who, in any way, feel that they are on the margins of the Church.

Being welcomed and being invited to participate in their local faith community is the foundation of spiritual support that the Church offers to all baptised  persons.

As a parish, what can we do? We can take a number of steps to ensure that individuals and families feel welcome. To begin:

• take time to inform ourselves of what the Church and read good Catholic writings on the subject
• be aware of how marginalised some individuals (and families) feel because of their (or a family member’s) homosexual orientation
• avoid stereotyping and condemning. It is so easy for us to do this and very painful to anyone who is stereotyped or condemned
• remember that homophobic jokes and asides can be cruel and hurtful; a careless words can mean another experience of rejection and pain. Reject homophobic jokes and refuse to be party to them in social circles and places of work
• help educate others, especially children, so as to stop homophobic attitudes and prejudice. Young people must know that these are not Christian attitudes and therefore not acceptable. Lead by example!
• assist in anyway you can to be welcoming to others, especially those who are near to our community. This helps us grow into a welcoming, friendly and sensitive community

“Church policies should explicitly reject unjust discrimination and harassment of any persons, including those with a homosexual inclination.  Procedures should be in place to handle complaints.” – Ministry to Persons with Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. November 14, 2006.

Books:

• Schexnayder, James A: Setting the Table

DVD:

• For The Bible Tells Me So
• Through My Eyes

Related articles

• The Pentecost Celebration of Diversity, and the Holy Spirit.
• Queer Self- Ministry: Transforming the Churches
• Remembering Fr. Howard Hall, Pioneer of Catholic LGBT Ministry
• Lay Catholics Stand Up for Gay Marriage
• What Gay Catholics Have Done: Parish Ministry
• Equality Forum Religious Colloquy to Explore LGBT Catholic Activism
• Italian Cardinals Support IDAHO Prayer Vigils

• ALL ARE WELCOME: St. Nicholas Parish Celebrates 10 Years of LGBT Ministry (newwaysministryblog.wordpress.com)

When I was a parishioner at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Johannesburg, a Pentecost tradition was to decorate the church with 12 large red banners, one on each of the 12 pillars of the church, in 12 different languages: absolutely appropriate for a feast day renowned for its gift of tongues, and absolutely appropriate also, for a parish which is characterised by its own racial and linguistic diversity.  South Africa has 11 official languages of its own, the White population includes a significant minority of Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, Greek, German and other European descent, and Johannesburg in particular now has a large population of migrants from north of the Limpopo – Zimbabwe, Congo, Nigeria and the rest of Africa, with its own plethora of languages. With its central city location and adjacent university campus, the parish reflects the full range of Johannesburg’s population diversity. Seeing this reflected in the church Pentecost decoration was always an inspiring, uplifting experience.

Diversity, however, is more than a matter of ethnicity and language. It also includes age diversity (reflecting in this parish by an age range including university students, young families  through to pensioners), wealth and social status – and sexual diversity. Fittingly, this parish now includes in its activities an impressive, explicit LGBT ministry, about which I will be posting more tomorrow. For now, I simply want to reflect on the importance of recognizing that the Pentecost celebration is one of inclusion, for all.

This is made clear in this extract from today’s second reading:

As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

“Whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons“, by extension could easily be read to include “whether straight or gay, cis- or transgendered“. All surely, must mean “all, without exception” – or it means nothing.

Inspiring as it is today to note and celebrate diversity, there’s an even more important message in Pentecost – this is the day that we observe the action of the Holy Spirit, entering and inspiring every one of us – all languages and races, all social classes, all sexual orientations and gender types – and all castes within the church, laity as well as religious sisters, priests and bishops. The priest celebrating Mass this morning in my local parish observed that Pentecost should  be viewed as the birthday of the Church, the day when responsibility was passed by the Holy Spirit to the gathered assembly of Christians, and were told by Christ to set aside their fear, to leave the safety of the locked rooms, to go out into the world and preach the good news.

“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you.”

The message, remember, was passed on to all who were assembled, without disctinction of clerical caste, or any other mark of distinction,. The implications are clear.

For LGBT Christians, we too must not be afraid to stake our claim to full participation and inclusion in the affairs and activities of the Christian community. Guided by the Holy Spirit, we are to preach the good news – and that includes preaching the authentic Gospel of inclusion to those who have distorted Christ’s message to one of prejudice and exclusion.

For Catholics, Pentecost is an important reminder that the Holy Spirit came down upon all – and not only on the ordained priesthood. The rest of us also have the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which we should use to resist any attempts by the oligarchs to abuse their positions of power as a means of control, imposing their will instead of listening, as they should, to the voice of the faithful.

A Gay Pentecost, in Art.

At Jesus in Love blog, Kittredge Cherry has continued her fine series of the “Gay Passion in Art”, based on the sequence of paintings byDouglas Blanchard, with a reflection on his image for Pentecost. Here’s her opening passage. For the full series, and a larger image of the painting, co to Jesus in Love blog.

“There appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” — Acts 2:3-4 (RSV)

A winged woman literally lights up a crowd in “The Holy Spirit Arrives” from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a series of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard. This is a modern version of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came like tongues of fire to the disciples of Jesus. Pentecost is a major church holiday celebrated today (May 27) this year. It is also known as Whitsunday.

In Blanchard’s painting the Holy Spirit herself looks like a flame in her golden gown. She floats above the crowd at an intersection where darkened city streets meet at odd angles. The dusky sky and unlit buildings strike a mysterious mood, making miracles possible. The Holy Spirit carries flares in both hands. Tongues of fire literally flame up from the heads of the people on the streets. Many are arm in arm, forming a circle. Filled with the spirit, they make strange alliances. A soldier, a gangbanger, and a businessman wrap their arms around each other. An old woman and a young woman embrace. The person in the wheelchair appears to be the same hothead who demanded the death of Jesus in 10. Jesus Before the People. Looming behind them is a large building under construction.

via Jesus in Love Blog

Related articles

• Pentecost: The Holy Spirit Arrives (Gay Passion of Christ series) (jesusinlove.blogspot.com)
• Gospel Leadership (The Wild Reed)

Into this gap, in the UK and Ireland, steps Positive Catholics, which is for all Christians living with HIV.

Other faiths

Jewish Action and Training for sexual health, (JAT)  serves the Jewish community living with and affected by HIV in the UK.

Resources and support for people of other faith communities affected by HIV in Britain, like Muslims, is much more limited. However Naz have produced a leaflet HIV, AIDS and Islam.

Christian and Catholic Peer support

Positive Catholics is a peer support network of women and men, who are living with HIV and have a Christian faith. Within the Roman Catholic tradition, they offer peer ministry of support and fellowship for each other. All who identify as Christian who are living with HIV in the UK and Ireland are welcome.

Positive Catholics are women and men, young and old, gay and straight, married and single, recently diagnosed and those who have lived with HIV for many years.

Welcome for all

Positive Catholics members are people originally from Africa, Latin America and Europe, as well as from the UK and Ireland. Members include Christians active in church life and Catholics who have been ‘away’ from the Church for many years. Some feel secure in their faith and identity as Catholics and Christians, while others struggle with faith. Some feel very at home in the church, some others have an uneasy relationship with the wider Church.

All kinds of Christians can be gay, including Evangelicals - and some live with HIV - at Manchester Gay Pride

They welcome all people living with HIV who share a Christian faith, and all who wish to explore living with HIV from a Christian perspective.

The Christian Way with HIV Together

Positive Catholics say

• We are united as equals through baptism – we are children of God – sisters and brothers in Christ
• We are bound together through love – younger and older, female and male, gay and straight, rich and poor – all are welcome
• We share together the gifts we have – gifts of time and listening, companionship and care – each one according to their ability
• We seek to follow Jesus who is our Lord and Saviour, our friend and companion
• We look to each other to provide a loving Christian community within which we can find strength and healing
• Through prayer and by God’s grace we take our place in our families, the churches and the world, as disciples of Jesus

Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. (Isaiah 49: 15)

Manchester, Birmingham and London meetings

Positive Catholics have three active groups. These meet in London, Birmingham and Manchester. In London and Manchester they meet monthly, while the Birmingham group meets less frequently.

Meetings share food, prayer and conversation.

Services in Lent and Advent

Positive Catholics hold special services for members and friends during Lent and Advent.

Personal contact encouraged

They encourage members to keep in touch with each other for on-going support and friendship and their website has a password-protected message board for members.

Retreat weekends, near Bath and Reading

They hold several popular retreats every year. The next weekend away is in mid June, Friday 15^th to Sunday 17^th June. Their following one is Friday 3^rd to Sunday 5^th August, with another in late September.

During these weekends they take time out from our ordinary lives, to pray together, share stories and experiences, relax and reflect upon our lives as people living with HIV and seeking the presence of God in the midst of it all. We also manage to get in some quiet walks in the countryside and some jokes and conversation down the local pub.

A Roman Catholic Priest has been our ‘Chaplain’ since the beginning and has many years experience of ministry with people living with HIV. We are also accompanied by other priests, religious sisters and friends when they are able.

These weekends are held at the Benedictines’ Downside Abbey (top), near Bath, Somerset  and the Benedictines’ Douai Abbey (above), near Reading, Berkshire  .

Financial support may be available if this is required for people to attend.

Positive Catholics views on HIV

HIV Quilt at a Soho Mass

Can God cure me?
As Christians we believe that God can cure anyone. We place ourselves in the hands of God. We believe that God can heal us. However, our God is a God of surprises. God’s ways are not our ways and the healing we receive is not always the healing we expect.

We experience healing through prayer, and companionship, and love, and especially through HIV medicines. These ways are provide for us by a generous God. God knows better than we do those areas of our life where we need to experience a healing touch. We pray for God’s healing in our lives, so that we are strengthened and sustained as people living with HIV.

Are you feeling afraid?
We pray for you, and wish to express our solidarity and love in Jesus’ name. We pray that God will strengthen you and heal you, and bring you peace. We encourage you to remember that Jesus is with you, and know always that God, who is our Father and Mother, loves you beyond measure. May the Holy Spirit comfort and guide you especially in those times when God seems distant. We ask you also to pray for us.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt 11: 29-30)

Is God punishing me?
HIV and AIDS are not punishments from God. Yet often we ask this question. It is understandable that sometimes we think we are being punished. Illness, poverty, discrimination and stigma are the companions of HIV and AIDS. What have I done to deserve this, we ask. We judge ourselves and others, and we let stigma and rejection pierce our hearts and make us fearful. This is to make the mistake of thinking that God is just like us. This is to doubt God, and to misunderstand God. God does not blame us for our sufferings. God loves each one of us completely as we are. God does not want you to suffer. Thank God for everything, even through your tears. God will turn your suffering into joy. Ask God to heal and strengthen us.

Who amongst you, if your child asks for bread, would give them a stone? (Matt: 9).

This is what God wants
God gently invites us to witness to the glory of God through our lives on the margins of the church and of society. Jesus is with you. God holds you gently by the hand.

“This is what the Lord says – Seek me and live” (Amos 5:4)

What is good has been explained to you; this is what the Lord asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with your God.”
(Micah 6:6-8)

 

weblinks 

Contact Positive Catholics info@positivecatholics.com

Reading and resources 

Theology

Faith and HIV in Action: Training Toolkit evaluation from the UK’s National African HIV Prevention Programme

Faith in the community – from HIV Treatment Update, October 2009, published by NAM, aidsmap.com in the UK
Religious faith is important to many Africans in the UK. Kerri Wells looks at the role religion plays in the lives of HIV-positive African people and the way faith leaders can channel strong health promotion messages. 

Prayer or Medicines for HIV?

Mildmay, the international HIV charity based in London, have a leaflet that may be useful for some Christians with HIV concerned about taking HIV treatments.

It deals with prayer, HIV treatments, and praying for healing. It quotes from the bible to show that using HIV treatments completely fits in with Christian belief.

‘It doesn’t show lack of faith when we use medicines. Medicines are not different from everything else in creation: God gave them to us to use.’

“For everything that God created was good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” 1 Timothy 4 v4. New International Bible

Prayer or Medicines for HIV  leaflet

Worship – HIV resources and materials

Positive Rites is a 90+ page booklet of worship resources, designed for World AIDS Day (1st December). It also contains some of the services used in past years at Southwark Anglican Cathedral, CAFOD/Caritas events throughout the world.
£3.00 each, or £5.00 (for two, incl. p/p) from Catholics for AIDS Prevention & Support (CAPS), PO Box 24632, London E9 6XF – 020 8986 0807 – e-mail 

These websites have HIV and worship materials you can download:

Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) -
Christian Aid
Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance
The Balm in Gilead
The African American Lectionary

This website, Catholic Relief Services College, has academic resources for Catholics and others interested in HIV and the church’s response, including a series of 7 videos.

Related articles

• HIV Prevention Drugs Set to Sidestep Vatican’s Condoms Ban(queeringthechurch.com)

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• Clergy fight HIV in ‘faith-friendly’ way(futurity.org)

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“Was it, the BACP panel asked, her belief that homosexuality was wrong, sinful or unnatural? “Oh yes,” she replied. “There’s no question about that . . . but there’s a way out.”

“Mrs Pilkington had allowed her personal preconceived views about gay lifestyle and sexual orientation to affect her professional relationship in a way that was prejudicial,” concluded the BACP’s investigation report.

Retrain and report, or you’re struck off

She was ordered to complete extensive training and professional development. If she does not file a report in six to 12 months, satisfying the board that she has complied, she will have her BACP membership fully revoked: she will be struck off.

But anyone can offer ‘gay cures’

But no-one can stop her, or anyone else, from offering ‘gay cures’. There’s no government registration, regulation, or minimum standard, and anyone can call themselves a “counselor” or a “psychotherapist”. The BACP may have barred her, but she could carry on. She just can’t claim to be a member of BACP.

Christian 'anti-gay' therapist Lesley Pilkington who lost her appeal

Prayers for conversion and suggesting childhood abuse were all part of ‘conversion therapy’
Patrick Strudwick, an award winning journalist who was investigating therapists who claim to be able to ‘treat’ homosexuality, made a formal complaint. Mr Strudwick, who is gay, received two counseling sessions from Mrs Pilkington in 2009, in which she used the techniques of ‘conversion therapy’ (also known as ‘reparative therapy’) in an attempt to turn him heterosexual. The treatment, which also involved praying to God to make Mr. Strudwick straight, of course, failed.

Suggesting sexual abuse as a child

Mrs Pilkington also suggested that he had been sexually abused as a child which, she believes, led to his homosexuality .

“There was no sexual abuse?” she pressed. “No.” “I think there is something there . . . you’ve allowed things to be done to you.” She then prayed: “Father, we give you permission to bring to the surface some of the things that have happened over the years.” He asked who could have committed this abuse – a member of his family? “Yes, very likely,” she replied.

Unanimous rejection of her appeal
The BACP said that

‘the appeal panel is unanimous that Mrs. Pilkington failed to exercise reasonable care and skill and was thus negligent.’

The panel also said it was ‘entirely wrong’ for Mrs Pilkington to suggest that Mr Strudwick had been sexually abused as a child, and that this ‘falls below the standard to be expected of a reasonably competent practitioner.’

Suspension and must submit report to show change of practice

The BACP have suspended Mrs Pilkington’s accreditation, and have ordered her to submit a report between 4 and 12 months from now, in which she will have to demonstrate that she has changed her practice to meet the BACP’s requirements.

Mr Strudwick said that

‘I am delighted that the BACP has upheld their original decision. Mrs Pilkington’s therapeutic practices have been held up to scrutiny and found to be fundamentally flawed.’ He also said that ‘this case sets a vital precedent. I urge anyone involved in this harmful practice to take note of this case and desist. Love needs no cure.’

Pavan Dhaliwal, the British Humanist Association’s Head of Public Affairs, commented,

‘treatments which attempt to “cure” homosexuality are morally objectionable because they carry the implication that homosexuality is a disease. They also lack any foundation in scientific fact, having been condemned by the UK Council for Psychotherapy, the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, as well as in the recent judgement by the BACP. These so-called treatments can also be extremely harmful, especially when they are applied to vulnerable individuals.’

Dr Robert Spitzer apologises for backing “gay cure therapy”

Claims to be able to ‘cure’ homosexuality now lie completely discredited. Dr Robert Spitzer in the US was highly influential in modern psychiatry, and won notoriety when he claimed his 2001 study proved that homosexuality could be cured. This study is always quoted by “ex-gay”, “gay cure”, and “pray away the gay” Christian fundamentalists.

But Spitzer recently formally changed his view, and admitted that his study was ‘fatally flawed’. And a couple of weeks ago, the 80 year old who now has Parkinson’s disease, worked to clear his conscience by making a formal apology to the gay community, in the New York Times.

Church of England Bishops and Christian Concern urged to retract support for “gay cures”

The British Humanist Association has called on all who have supported anti-gay ‘conversion therapies’, such as the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, the former Bishop of Rochester Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, and the lobby group Christian Concern (all of whom supported Lesley Pilkington) to retract their views.

Mrs Pilkington was also supported by the fundamentalist Christian Legal Centre and the evangelical ‘religious liberty’ barrister, Paul Diamond, who has lost most of the Christian cases he has represented. The high court described Diamond as using “extravagant rhetoric” in more than one case. The court also dismissed his written assertions as a “travesty of the reality”.

Christian backing for Mrs Pilkington’s “gay cure”

Clerics, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury and the former Bishop of Rochester, wrote to the BACP to support Mrs Pilkington.

Christian Concern’s articles on Mrs Pilkington’s case

‘Gay cures’ still on offer

Even if Pilkington is later struck off completely for failing to convince the BACP she has changed her professional practice, she would still be able to carry on practising and offer ‘gay cures’. Anyone can claim to be a therapist in Britain because there is no state regulation: “psychotherapist” and “counsellor” are not protected job titles. The BACP is a self-regulating, independent body. No one has to be a member. Thus you can’t stop a bad therapist seeing clients, any more than you can stop a fortune-teller from reading tea leaves or tarot cards.

Patrick Strudwick is continuing his campaign. He has also complained about a Belfast psychiatrist, Dr Paul Miller. Miller claims to have “resolved” his own conflicted sexuality and is now married with children. Miller told Strudwick that homosexuality “represents a pathology”. Strudwick complained to the General Medical Council, (because the Royal College of Psychiatrists can’t discipline its members), because their Good Psychiatric Practice manual says

“A psychiatrist must provide care that does not discriminate and is sensitive to issues of sexual orientation.”

His complaint was rejected, but he has appealed.

More information

Patrick Strudwick’s report in the Independent

Patrick Strudwick’s report in the Guardian, written after Lesley Pilkington was found guilty of professional malpractice

British Humanist Association’s first article on the complaint against Mrs Pilkington

British Humanist Association’s report on the rejection of her appeal

‘Ex-gay’ watch blog – the Pilkington case with video interview on Channel 4 News

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

The UK Council for Psychotherapy condemns ‘reparative therapy’ and welcomes ban on homophobic advert

Doctors at the British Medical Association declare that gay conversion therapies are harmful

The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ statement on sexual orientation [pdf]

Apology to gay community for ‘gay cures’, from Dr Robert Spitzer in New York Times

Guardian report on Dr Robert Spitzer’s retraction of his previous claim that ‘reparative therapy’ can ‘cure’ homosexuality

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 The young man began to cry. I asked him why he was so unhappy. He said it was because his family would not accept him. I asked why they would not accept him. He answered, “Because I am gay. They are very Catholic.” I started to cry, too.

 Three times in 25 years of ministry I have sat across the room from young men who have attempted suicide because they were gay or feared they were gay. Several other times, especially when I was in campus ministry at The Catholic University of America, I talked with young people despondent over their gay sexual identity.

 I have talked with people who cut or disfigured themselves because they had such a deep self-loathing because they were gay. According to a study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was released last year, gay and lesbian youth are much more likely than their heterosexual peers to have thought about suicide or to have attempted suicide. Why do they commit suicide?

 Some are bullied at school. Some feel rejected by their peers, their parents and their families. Sometimes they feel rejected by their religion and their pastors. Some feel they are unacceptable to the God who made them. That is a great wrong

and a great tragedy.

 What can people in pastoral ministry say to them?

 First, I think we should say we love them. And so does God.

 Second, we can offer them prayer.

 Twenty years ago, I was asked to represent Catholic University at the reading of names of people who had died of AIDS at the presentation of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in Washington, D.C. Each of us was given 20 or so names to read. We were told by the organizers not to add anything or to give any speeches.

 When I got to the microphone, I read my list of names just as I was told. But at the end of the list, something moved me to want to pray for them. It did not seem adequate to merely say their name.

 So I quickly said our traditional prayer for the dead. “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls, and all the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace.”

 As I came down from the podium on the National Mall, an elderly couple approached me. They were crying. They said I had read their son’s name. They told me their pastor had refused their son a burial when he had died of AIDS because he was publicly gay. They said that I was the first priest who ever prayed for their son in public and were grateful. I embraced them.

 How could any pastor of souls refuse consolation to the dying and a prayer for the dead? They are part of the spiritual works of mercy. That is our reason for being. If we are not in the business of showing love to God’s children, we don’t have a reason to be in business. I thought of that elderly couple as I sat across the room from the young man who had tears flowing down in his face.

 No one should feel excluded from God’s love. No one should ever be driven to despair. Ever.

- from Catholic San Francisco

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So here’s the world’s anthropological expert on sex, gender and archaeology, Rosemary Joyce, Professor of anthropology at University of California, Berkeley, who is definitely on the side of the LGBT angels. She rips apart Santorum’s claim that ‘“marriage” has been a relationship between one man and one woman since “the beginning of human history’, in two blog posts.

What human relationships were there around 24,000 - 22,000 years ago when the 'Venus' of Willendorf and this German device were created?

Start with her first response to his orthodox Catholic defend-traditional-marriage views at Psychology Today, What Makes Us Human:

Coupling and Culture – What has marriage been “since the beginning of human history?”

Sometimes, though, it is hard to uphold this: trying to challenge the way that politicians, in particular, attempt to ground their policy arguments in claims about what is natural for humans can seem impossible.

And you do it knowing that the politicians involved, and their followers, are going to continue to insist that they actually are entitled to their own “facts.”

So this post is not for Rick Santorum, the latest to claim that marriage is

something that has existed since the beginning of human history as an institution where men and women come together for the purposes of forming a natural relationship as God made it to be…

Two people who may like each other or may love each other who are same-sex, is that a special relationship? Yes it is, but it is not the same relationship that benefits society like a marriage between a man and a woman.

This post is, instead, for anyone who, reading that quote, might disagree with it but think that, even taking away the poisonous argument that only procreative couples “benefit society,” Santorum has history on his side.

He does not.

Read the rest of Coupling and Culture – What has marriage been “since the beginning of human history?”

Now read her second take on Sanctorum’s Catholic traditional marriage nonsense, at her own blog, Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives where she discusses and explores the polygamy that so frequently appears in the Bible but is so completely ignored by proponents of “traditional marriage”, using her world-class anthropological expertise.

Debatable Terms: “Marriage”

Traditional Marriage worldwide: Polygamy

Traditional Marriage worldwide: Polygyny

In response to a provocation from a politician with a loose hold on historical facts, yesterday I posted (on What Makes Us Human) a deconstruction of his claim that “marriage” had been a relationship between one man and one woman since “the beginning of human history”.

…..

I think the post worked for its purpose.

But it has gotten me into a side exchange with a critic who has accused me of giving ammunition to opponents of gay marriage in the US today by mentioning that polygamy was a valid form of marriage in “human history” aka the documentary record in Mesopotamia and the Levant, and the ethnographic record pretty much all over the place.

Reflecting on the sidebar conversation, I realize that one of the problems with the original post– one I decided to sidestep on purpose– is that it doesn’t tackle head-on the question that has, up till now, made it impossible for me to write anything like this: what is “marriage”?

Read the rest of  Debatable Terms: “Marriage”

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A “free vote” means each Tory and Lib Dem MP will decide for themselves, as a matter of personal conscience,  political conviction, or based on the weight of the mail bags for and against from their constituents.

Tory party sources told the BBC last night that they were still confident that the bill would be passed.

Over recent days there have been some rumblings of Tory discontent, mainly from the right wing, and some ministers, like the right winger Owen Paterson, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and children’s minister, Tim Loughton, started publicly saying they would oppose the bill, or were demanding a free vote because they saw it as a matter of ‘conscience’.

On the other hand, the right wing Catholic MP Iain Duncan Smith recently surprised many people when he said he would support equal marriage.

Just yesterday, two Tory MPs, the Justice Minister Crispin Blunt, and the PM’s Parliamentary Private Secretary, Desmond Swayne, recorded messages of support for the @Out4Marriage campaign, and PinkNews expects to publish a supporting video from a senior cabinet minister today.

It’s still very early days yet, the consultation is still open and the draft bill hasn’t even been published. Most Labour, Lib Dem and the majority of Tory MPs are likely to vote for equal marriage, which should be enough to see it passed in the Commons. At the Coalition4EqualMarriage site, the tally of MPs likely votes so far is 171 in favour, 47 against, with 432 unknown or neutral.

Check to see if your MP will vote for or against equal marriage

Not sure who your MP is? Use your post code to find out.

You can

• sign the petition,
• email your MP asking her / him to support equal marriage, and
• respond to the public consultation,

all at the Coalition for Equal Marriage.

C4M petition fakery?

Over 530,000 people are supposed to have signed the Coalition for Marriage petition, opposing equal marriage, and a journalist at PinkNews investigated this claim last month and cast significant doubt on this claim. He showed, for example, that you could invent fake email addresses and still sign the petition. It is estimated that many of the 530,000 signatures are likely to be fake votes. The same technical problem affects the equal marriage petition (with about 57,000 votes).

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The Parable of the Good Faggot

Fr Geoff Farrow has a post on Delivery “Salvation”, in which he describes an encounter with two young men who came to his door attempting to deliver some salvation, in the form of a pep talk on heaven and hell. We are all familiar with the scenario. How many of us though, have the presence of mind to reply as he did, by quoting from the Gospel of Luke:

Jesus was asked about the afterlife in the Luke 10: 23-37. “Rabbi, what must I do to inherit everlasting life?” The question, by a lawyer, was prompted because there were 614 laws that an observant Jewish person was expected to keep. To break one law, was to break them all. In the rabbinic tradition of questioning/discussion this question was posited, “What does God expect of me?” “What is essential, or central?”

This question is applicable to contemporary people as well, regardless of one’s religion (or lack thereof), “What must I do to achieve my full potential, to be truly whole and at peace?”

In the rabbinic tradition, Jesus answers the lawyer’s question with two other questions. “What is written in the law [Torah/Bible]?” In addition, “How do you read it?” Incidentally, that second question is of critical importance, because our motive in reading any spiritual text, will determine its spiritual value/harm in our life.

The lawyer responded by citing a passage from Deuteronomy 6: 4-5 “Hear, Oh Israel!” that is prayed by observant Jewish people to this day, as Christians pray the “Our Father.” And Leviticus 19: 18, “love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus approves the lawyer’s quotes and says, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you shall live.”

Luke notes that the lawyer, “because he wished to justify himself” asked, “and who is my neighbor?” Jesus then tells the story of the Good Samaritan.

Interestingly, Samaritans were regard as being beyond any hope of eternal life since they had comingled Judaism with pagan beliefs and practices. Their theological beliefs and religious practices were seen as flawed, heretical and impious. Jesus deliberately selects a suspect minority group who were believed beyond hope of eternal life to illustrate what God expects from us. I suppose that if Jesus told this parable in the USA today, it would  be the story of the Good Faggot.

 

He does not elaborate further on this idea of recasting the familiar Good Samaritan as a Good Faggot, but there is no need. It has been done before, for example by Richard Cleaver, in the introduction to his book “Know My Name“. I summarise his telling here:

Cleaver imagines a modern traveller from Jerusalem to Jericho, who is attacked by muggers and left for dead in the gutter. A bishop comes past  in his Cadillac, which had been given to him by a car dealer, one of the most generous financial supporters of the diocese. Seeing the half-dead body at the roadside, he first thought it was just a pile of litter. Realizing it was a human body, he considered stopping, but decided against: he saw that the body was naked, and feared that taking a naked man into his car might cause a scandal. So, he drove on, consoling himself that these kinds of social services were better left to the professionals.

He then describes another traveller passing by, a prominent Catholic layman. He too thought of helping the man by the wayside, but then considered the implications. If the man was already dead, it was too late for help, and he would find himself caught up in endless bureaucratic red tape. If he was not dead and recovered, there was a danger that the injured man might find a reason to sue him for any mishap en route to the hospital. There was also the problem of the man’s nakedness -  what had happened to his clothes? There was an assumption that the man obviously was not a man of god to be in that state, or must have done something to bring about his own misfortune. So he, too, went on his way.

Then a third traveller came past, a gay man returning home from his head office in Jerusalem, where he had just been fired, because someone had discovered he was gay, after his lover had beaten to death in a gay-bashing. When he saw the injured man, he immediately stopped, and was reminded of his lover’s beating and death. Realising the man was still just about alive, he applied what first aid he could, loaded him into the car and drove him to the nearest hospital.

“Later, the newspapers got hold of the story and came to interview him.  The bishop read the story and called a press conference, at which he announced that the diocese was giving its Good Samaritan Award to the man who had helped the mugging victim he himself had driven past.

At the award banquet, held at the episcopal palace, the bishop stood with this arm around the good Samaritan and gave a little homily about showing mercy to the neighbour in distress. This act, he concluded, showed a true Christian spirit. He turned to the man and shook his hand, adding, “God will bless you abundantly for this.”

“Oh, I didn’t do it for religious reasons. It just seemed to me like the human thing to do. I haven’t been to church since my priest refused me absolution when I confessed I was in love with the redheaded guy who was captain of the football team.” The gay man smiled at the cameras.

The bishop was trying to figure out how to deal with the question he knew was coming next.”

Cleaver, Richard: Know My Name: A Gay Liberation Theology

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