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Advoacy News - The voice the Vatican could not silence May 20, 2004 The
voice the Vatican could not silence Barbara Rick's (Out of the Blue Films) new documentary In Good Conscience: Sister Jeannine Gramick's Journey of Faith is touring the film and documentary circuit, bringing to new audiences a story of courage and shame. This film is about an American nun who is challenging the Vatican over its treatment of gay and lesbian Catholics. Gramick refused to be silenced when the Pope issued an ultimatum: denounce homosexuality or lose everything. We wrote about Sister Gramick in our book Just Married: Gay Marriage and the Expansion of Human Rights. As co-founder, with Father Robert Nugent, of the Washington-based New Ways Ministry, the pair worked with the gay and lesbian community and their families and friends. This was in violation of orders from the Vatican that stipulated gays should be targeted with "special concern and pastoral attention ... lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is morally acceptably option. It is not." Gramick did not stress that homosexuality was immoral and her work with Nugent began to have success in the community, which in turn attracted the attention of the Vagtican's enforcers, the former office of the Inquisition, Cardinal Ratzinger's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. From Just Married: The
church's investigations of Nugent and Gramick began in 1977, but the pair continued
in their outreach to gays even after a commission was formed in the United States
in 1988 to examine their statements regarding homosexuality. As the investigation
dragged on through the years, Cardinal Ratzinger himself eventually stepped in
to defend doctrial faith against the acceptance of homosexuality.The cardinal
was particularly interested in two of the pair's books, Building Bridges: Gay
and Lesbian Reality and the Catholic Church (Twenty-Third Publications, 1992)
and Voices of Hope: A Collection of Positive Catholic Writings on Gay and Lesbian
Issues (Center for Homophobia Education, 1995). On
July 14, 1999, Cardinal Ratzinger, with the pope's blessing, held true to the
spirit of the Halloween
letter and published a "Notification" prohibiting Father Nugent
and Sister Gramick from doing any further pastoral work with gays. Nevertheless,
the pair continued to lobby others to join them in their effort to reconcile homosexuals
with their church and communities. "I believe that the Holy Spirit is trying
to teach all of us, including the Church, through this experience;' Sister Gramick
said in a statement shortly after she was stripped of her ministry. "I ask
theologians, canon lawyers, biblical scholars, and other thinkers and writers
to reflect on, discuss, and write about the issues and principles related to this
case. For too long, the investigation, including its process and substance, has
been shrouded in secrecy and darkness. It is now time to bring the problems involved
to openness and light." The
pope and his enforcer Cardinal Ratzinger didn't agree. The Vatican imposed harsher
measures in 2000, and a press release from the School Sisters of Notre Dame, Gramick's
order, explained: "We had asked her to 'let the land lie fallow' in relation
to her former ministry among gay and lesbian persons, and to redirect her gifts
and energies toward a different ministry." The Vatican stopped short of charging
the pair with heresy and excommunicating them, but their action was just as draconian
and nearly as severe: the pair was silenced. In a May 24, 2000, press release,
Father Robert Nugent concluded, "I am now prohibited from speaking or writing
in the public forum about the Notification itself, about the ecclesiastical processes
that led to it, or about the issue of homosexuality." The
next day, Sister Gramick's press release was defiant. "I feel pained that
the Vatican and my community leaders now ask me to silence myself. After finding
my voice to tell my story, I choose not to collaborate in my own oppression by
restricting a basic human right. To me this is a matter of conscience." Sister Gramick became an inspiration for us on our journey towards same-sex marriage. We answered her call "to reflect on, discuss, and write about the issues" and hope you will too. Out
of the Blue Films What you can do
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