Spiritual
Abuse by the Catholic Church Sex-obsessed
bishops of bigotry on the attack
"I
was angrier with the Catholic Church than Joe was. Growing up in Europe, I had
seen the church squares where they had burned their victims during the Inquisition.
I knew that Pope Pius XII had cooperated with Hitler during the Second World War,
ensuring that Catholic churches would keep their congregations in line. One of
his predecessors, Pius IX, now up for sainthood, had declared the papal office
infallible. From the throne of the Bishop of Rome flowed a litany of atrocities
in the name of absolute truth: a millennium of killing Muslims, participation
in the slave trade, the mass murders of Czech Protestants in the fifteenth century,
and the persecution of Galileo and other so-called heretics, to name but a few
of the more infamous ... Most recently, in 2001, [the Vatican] acknowledged that
priests had sexually abused Catholic nuns, church workers, and others in more
than twenty countries." From Just Married:
Gay Marriage and the Expansion of Human Rights, Kevin Bourassa and Joe
Varnell (Doubleday/University of Wisconsin Press, 2002)
Following
our victory in court and the federal government's
decision to legislate same-sex marriage, Canadian Catholic Bishops renewed a call
to their faithful, urging them to speak out against equality for gay and lesbian
couples who seek their Canadian Charter right to marriage.
"The
bishops of Ontario are opposed to this federal initiative," the Ontario Conference
of Catholic Bishops announced in a June 25 statement that was read out in churches.
"In the coming months we will be asking you to join us in defending marriage
as it has existed for millennia. Marriage and the family are fundamental institutions
which contribute to the common good in terms of the formation of children, loyalty,
faithfulness and responsibility in our society."
Apparently,
the sex-obsessed Catholic bishops do not wish gays and lesbians to partake in
this common good.
"Intercourse
with the possibility of fertility is impossible for two people of the same sex,"
Archbishop Gervais said in his June 25 statement. "This may be called other
things, but it is not marriage."
In a contortion of logic, Bishop Jacques Berthelet (President of the
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops) wrote to the Prime Minister (June 19)
saying that, "Enlarging and thereby altering the definition of marriage in
order to include same-sex partners discriminates against heterosexual marriage
and the family, which are thus deprived of their social and legal recognition
as the fundamental and irreplaceable basis of society."
All
of this follows the Pope's "longest and strongest" (365 gay.com) statement
against same-sex marriage that he made during an open air mass in Reijeka, Croatia
on June 8. His entire sermon was devoted to attacking gay families.
We
were both raised as Catholics and we both left the Church in our teens when we
realized we were not welcome. Because of the hatred in the Catholic Church, we
were spiritual orphans for a couple of decades until we found a welcoming faith
community with the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto. It is painful, therefore,
to find, that although we have left the Catholic Church, we are still being persecuted
by the Bishops of bigotry. We thought they have enough to focus on in cleaning
up their own sanctuary, what with continuous sexual scandal, dropping attendance,
increasing irrelevance, marginalization of women, and difficulty in recruiting
new priests.
It's
easier, perhaps, to fire up the faithful and distract them from the ongoing problems
of the Catholic Church by turning them against gays and lesbians. Better that,
than be faced with congregations asking difficult questions about the ordination
of women, celibacy in the priesthood, and the sexual abuse of their children by
priests and the cover-up of that abuse by the church hierarchy.
Spiritual
abuse
Instead,
the bishops have turned to spiritual abuse, creating two classes of victims.
The
Catholic Church abuses the spirituality of its faithful when they use their religion
to turn their congregants against gays and lesbians. Parents are turned against
their own children, and told a terrible lie in Catholic doctrine: gays and lesbians
are "intrinsically evil". Catholic politicians are ordered to obey church
command and base secular laws on church dogma, something many Liberal backbenchers
in Canada seem willing to do. The Catholic faithful are indoctrinated with hateful
statements about gays and
lesbians. Their trust in Church leadership turns them away from true Christian
love.
The
second group of victims are people outside of the Catholic Church who are none-the-less
impacted by the actions of the Catholic bishops. Gays and lesbians everywhere
have felt that wrath of the Pope and his henchmen, whether through school bullying,
political policies in action, or more tangible, physical violence. Believers or
not, the Bishops attempt to impose their beliefs on all. While we respect the
rights of the Catholic Bishops to express their beliefs, they must be stopped
from imposing their homophobia on the rest of society, and Catholics, we hope,
will work to achieve change from within.
How
you can end the Bishops' abuse
If
you are a Catholic who believes in conscience, you can begin by writing
to politicians in support of equality, and writing to your Bishop, demanding
an end of their campaign against homosexuals. If you do not receive a satisfactory
response, escalate. Talk to other congregants, friends, and family. Write letters
to the media denouncing the actions of the Bishops. And write letters to more
Bishops!
Canadians
are beginning to respond to the outrages committed by their Bishops. Yesterday
we received a letter addressed to Bishop Plouffe, President of the Ontario
Conference of Catholic Bishops.
David and Marianne Nichols asked their Bishop, "When will the homophobia
stop? This [marriage] legislation is allowing
churches to have the right to decide whether they will perform the ceremony. Why
is the Catholic church trying to stop the legislation? The only reason can be
that the church is discriminating against children of God, many of whom are members
of the Body of Christ."
There's
more you can do. When the collection plate is passed, don't give your usual tithes,
offering, or special gifts. Put a note
to your priest in the collection plate instead, making it clear that you love
your Church but that you can no longer support the untruth and injustice that
flows out of the anti-gay teaching and actions of the Bishops. Sign your note
proudly, or not, according to your comfort. Then give the donation that you would
have given to the Catholic Church to another gay-positive church or organization.
It isn't enough to leave your church or just stop giving. That is a missed opportunity
to do justice.
d
lesbians. Their trust in Church leadership turns them away from true Christian
love.
