The latest laugh!

From the National 'Catholic' Reporter, today's issue:

At least 300 Catholics and supporters braved cold temperatures and gusty winds to gather outside the Cathedral of St. Paul Dec. 2 in a vigil of solidarity with gay and lesbian Catholics and their families.

So far, so righteous.

The event included a “die-in”...

They've got to be kidding...

...on cathedral steps and brief remarks by speakers including Mary Lynn Murphy, president of Catholic Rainbow Parents, and Mel White of SoulForce, a nonprofit activist organization that confronts homophobia by addressing religious bigotry.

... then again...

White told the group they were the latest in a long line of dissenters such as Galileo and Franz Jägerstätter, “who loved the church enough to stand up and say, ‘You’re wrong.’ ”

Aaaaaand - hey, presto - instant elevation to the moral highground.

The group also delivered an open letter to Coadjutor Archbishop John Nienstedt, who is to succeed Archbishop Harry Flynn as head of the archdiocese in the spring. The letter responded to Nienstedt’s Nov. 15 column in the archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Spirit. Nienstedt had written that people who support homosexual activity, such as parents who support their adult children’s gay or lesbian partnerships or family relationships, may be considered to “formally cooperate in a grave evil” or be “guilty of mortal sin.” He also distanced himself from the U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter to parents of gay children, “Always Our Children.” Nienstedt said that document “is not a normative teaching statement of the bishops’ conference.”

At least one true sentence in this article.

The open letter characterizes Nienstedt’s column as hurtful and unacceptable and derived from flawed research on human sexuality.

Shame on him! Who does this bishop think he is, anyways? Resorting to Sacred Scripture and Church Tradition instead of listening to the all-knowing scientist and psycho-analysts. Tsk!

Michael Bayly of the Progressive Catholic Voice, a grass-roots group...

Oh, come on! One more of these and I'm down for the count.

...that organized the event, said they hoped to “show there are Catholics who disagree not only with what Nienstedt has said but how he arrived at his teachings. We want a voice in the formulation of church teachings especially with regard to human sexuality. In Catholic tradition, the laity should have a role in developing teachings.”

Maybe in your 'Catholic' tradition.

Mary Turbak, a parishioner at St. Pascal Baylon, said she doesn’t have a gay or lesbian child but she was there to support friends. “We’re here because we’re against what Nienstedt said, that you’re living in sin if you’re supporting your children. Isn’t it the people in the church that matter, or is it a bunch of rules?”

Precisely because it is the people that matter, Bishop Nienstedt said what he said, Nimrodette!

How about we confront clerophobia, dissent and sin by adressing the bigotry of the one's who try to make us believe we are still living in 1968 (and look how well that turned out)? Too daring? Too P-un-C? Too avantgarde?

I love it. Almost every issue I find the NCR drawing the conclusion that because "the world" or "modern times" or "scientist" or "psychologists" or "that women, who really doesn't need a child in her life right now" or "my gay friend's mom" say so, the Church has to do so. Is anybody ever gonna tell them?