For You, and For All

I started writing this blog last week, and decided to just let it go. Tonight however, I feel that I just can’t let it go, and that in fact I have an obligation, as a Priest, to speak up and say something.

 In the last two weeks a few things have happened in the news.
- The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Newark told the faithful that they should not receive communion if they do not agree with the Roman Catholic “teaching about marriage” (being between a man and a woman).
- The Roman Catholic Bishop in San Francisco expressed his thoughts on gays receiving Communion, and then gave a hypocritical homily about “building up the kingdom of God”...while the Episcopal Bishop of the same Diocese was essentially dis-invited to the event due to his opposing opinion.
- The Pope reportedly thinks that gays are “underdeveloped”- a statement that I will not even begin to remotely comment on.

 Today however, I was pushed over the edge, when I read about how a Bishop in Minneapolis responded to a letter from a woman whose son is gay. The Archbishop said;

 “Those who do not [believe the teaching of the Church on this matter] cannot consider themselves to be Catholic and ought not to participate in the sacramental life of the Church.

Indeed, some may find this a hard saying but many of Jesus’ teachings were likewise received as such. I urge you to reconsider the position that you expressed in your letter. Your eternal salvation may well depend upon a conversation of heart on this topic.” 

 A new day has dawned in the Religion vs LGBT debate, particularly the Roman Catholic Church vs LGBT debate. This is no longer a matter of the Church defending her view of marriage, now it is going so far as to say; that a mother who supports her gay son may not find salvation, just for being gay you shouldn't receive communion, and if you vote in favor of gay marriage you shouldn't participate in the Sacramental life of the Church.

 What the hell is going on??

 When I still practiced my Catholic faith in the Roman expression, I took solace in the fact that the Church only felt that gay “actions” were morally wrong (not just being gay). That was acceptable for many people, I think; after all, the Church feels the same way about heterosexual sex outside of marriage. “They just don’t like sex in general” I always thought, but given my background I understood the gist of these teachings. Sex has a value that is under appreciated in society, and it is an expression of intimacy that is being abused by acts that take place outside of love and commitment. I could accept that.

 For a long time I had no issue with the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on gay marriage. I told customers at the bar many times, whenever the discussion came up in fact; gays don’t want to march down the isle of a Cathedral and get married, they want the legal right to do it in a courtroom, what’s wrong with that. The Church defended their religious views, and the nation could battle over the politics…done deal.

 Now however this has been elevated to a new level. Now this activism that is sparking up in the Roman Church says something that should concern all people who identify as any kind of Catholic; gay or straight, Roman or Independent, democrat or republican.

 It affects everyone, gay and straight, because now it has been said that your participation in the Sacramental life of the Church (and indeed Salvation itself) is dependent upon your opinion of this issue. You don’t even have to be gay anymore; now you can just care about someone who is gay, or support someone who is gay, or vote for a candidate who supports gay marriage. To that mother, who the Archbishop said should worry about her eternal salvation if she continued to support her gay son; I would say just the opposite. There is a special place in heaven for parents of gay children, who are dealing with a revelation about their kids that they don’t understand. They are worried about their kids, and all they know about homosexuality is what the media has fed them, and what they hear from the pulpit. A parent who puts all that aside and wants to stand by their children is admirable, blessed, and should be applauded; especially considering 24% of kids (at least in Rhode Island), who “come out” at home find themselves homeless. Whose salvation is at risk there? Who is going to take the responsibility for that statistic?

 The Church is no longer standing by her teaching; they are instead turning into bigots. This is no longer about standing up for doctrine, it’s about giving themselves to fear; fear of something they don’t understand, something they don’t want to understand. Am I saying that if you don’t agree with same sex marriage you are a bigot? No, not at all. What I am saying is that these statements no longer are supportive of “the human dignity of the homosexual person”, that the Roman Church purports herself to protect – and when you defile the human dignity of another, based on a specific characteristic, you are in fact a bigot.

 It doesn't build, my (or anyone else’s) human dignity, to sit and listen to someone say that people can’t go to communion (even if they themselves are straight and happily married), if they hold a private opinion about legislation pertaining to my rights. It doesn't build human dignity to know that a woman is told she shouldn't receive communion if she supports her gay son.

 Why do I care? I’m not a Roman Catholic, so I shouldn't be effected…but I am still a Catholic. I am still, like it or not, united to that Church through the Eucharist; the Sacrament that has become a prize to be won, instead of a gift that has been given.

 I care because as a Priest and as someone who works in the Human Services/Social Work field, I have given my life to the building up of human dignity…and these statements are a direct attack on that dignity.

 I care because I think of the gay Priests out there, who serve under the Roman expression of our faith…and I feel for them. I feel for the ones who are gay, and faithful to their promises, and by virtue of all of these statements are only beaten into the ground. As I have said before, if this weren't a matter of bigotry…if the Church was truly simply defending their position on marriage…if the Church was true to their own teaching, then a gay Roman Catholic Priest who is true to his promise of celibacy should be able to be totally “out” as a homosexual.

I care because there are Roman Priests, who don’t care; who would rather live double lives then stand up for one side or the other.

 I care because it is about The Eucharist.

 The Eucharist is more than a welcoming hug, a sign of acceptance. The Eucharist is what unites us, and what makes us all Catholic - not our stance on homosexuality...to say otherwise is an offense to the Eucharist. The sacrifice of the Mass is the Sacrifice of the Cross; it’s Jesus Christ, giving His body for our Salvation. On the cross He handed His body over to sinful human kind and it was destroyed in a violent death; in the Eucharist He hands it over to sinful human kind so that we can become one with Him…so that we can be fed by Him…so that He can be with us at every moment of everyday, and grow in a personal and intimate relationship with Him. Saint Therese of Lisieux once said, when talking about the Eucharist; “It is not to remain in a golden ciborium that He comes down each day from Heaven, but rather to find another Heaven, the Heaven of our soul in which He takes delight.”

 Who is anyone of us, priest, Pope, or otherwise, to rob Jesus Christ of His delight?

 Someone asked me this week, “so your Church is like a Catholic Church?” No – it is a Catholic church, and I am not ashamed of it – but we are not a Roman Catholic Church – and I am not ashamed of that either! We are Independent Catholics…we are Old Catholics, and we make no excuses about it; and I give thanks to God daily that I have found a place where the Eucharist is what it is supposed to be…what it was given to us to be…and not where it is simply treated like an “I voted” sticker we receive when leaving the polls. Wherever you go to Mass, whoever you are, and whoever you love; take comfort in knowing that the primary concern of Jesus Christ, is you; you and your relationship with Him…because that's the only reason He came to us in the first place.