Vatican: Gays Don't Need Protection Laws

Hey Bill 12-03 Boston, If you come back and read this: (This "Comments" feature--Thanks Advocate!-- bout triples my reading time, so I just saw your question): Any anti-Catholic issues triggered in you (personal issues for you to deal with) are likely equaled by this friend's conflicts over practicing/ identifying both gay and Catholic. Could take years for him to build the trust to deal openly w/ it, and his "family" may never support him. Make your contacts respectful of his health, leave him room to work it out w/ his friend (s, of which you could be one) and the family you all build by effort and communication. Hope this helps.

It's late, I'm tired, I'm busy, I'm out of the loop... so: just what have the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence been up to lately?

Thank goodness for the Independent Catholic movement. All are included in the Eucharist, straight, gay, trans, wherever people find themselves. Jesus' message was LOVE, pure and simple. In His compassion He loved everyone and as our example so should we if we are going to accept His message. For those who hate someone because of a label, I pray for you with LOVE and compassion that you will begin to awaken.

By being humane to the Catholic church and all communities of faith, the rest of us are vulnerable to aggressive actions brought forward by them. This is likely always going to be a fight. That's okay - I would rather get bloodied in an all out battle with a known enemy than get knifed in the back from a friend. But what concerns me is that, like so many other religious institutions headed up by so-called "spiritual leaders," the Catholic Church is holding it's flock spiritually hostage to this ideology. There isn't a decent human being in the world who cannot possibly come into personal conflict and crisis when they try to reconcile their faith in their deity with their church's political ideology of exclusion, demonization, and vitriol couched as the loving words of a god! I pray for good people of faith who have such a battle waging in the soul...I pray that they hold to what they know to be good and reject what they are TOLD is bad!

Please let Dave from Charlotte be an example of how not fight the opposition. To condem an entire group/race while ridiculing someone for doing the same, is fighting ignorance with ignorance. To imply that some other group/race is beneath you is utterly disgusting. Also to imply that all gays are white men and apparently all non white, non male homosexual are beasts is equally disgusting. If you cannot accept the fact that there are gays of all colors and nationalities(even in Africa) you cannot expect acceptance from others. I've been to Africa 3 times in my life and found nothing uncivilized about the countries I've visited. Maybe one should take a trip before one makes such claims.

Other than pandering to the Catholic vote, why does the U.S. even have an ambassador to the Vatican? It's not as though they're a real country anyway.

What can anyone say that would shed more light than the church's own words on its obscene, ludicrous hypocrisy?

Who are actively speaking against the sin are hiding their own sins. The world need Vatican release the list of thousands ands thousands their paedophile priests to human consciences to aware of for our children. Recently, Vatican did not kick the German Priest, who raped the boy in the dormitories as other boys watched, but only downgraded him to brother. Why? Because he is a German as Pope? Why Vatican don't speak loudly all over the world agaisnt their paedophile priests ? But only against gay? Gay do not rape boys as they did for decades after decades.... Why, Why,Why...?

By the same token I don't believe that Catholics, or any religion, don't need protection laws or any special treatment or privileges. For example, the way that high-ranking clergy have managed to escape prosecution for conspiracy to cover up sex crimes committed by priests is an inappropriate extension of special rights to the Church. The Vatican is packed with bigots, I get that. But it's statements like this, when LGBT people are commonly the victims of everything from legalized murder to socially-sanctioned discrimination, is nothing less than an outright declaration of contempt and hatred as well as extraordinary elitism.

I have been a Roman Catholic since birth. I know the practice they have about Catholics reproducing like bunny rabbits. That seems the only reason they want only straights to marry. However, artificial insemination is forbidden. I am in my later years now but if I were a young person again I would not choose to join this church. I went to Confession last week and the examination of conscience mentioned voting with one's conscience. When I went to talk to the priest I introduced myself as a "disorderd" person (by the Pope's definition) and I said that I did vote my conscience and I voted NO on Prop 8. I told the priest that I have difficulty with the Church infusing politics into the religion. I hope I at least gave him something to think about from a Gay Catholic's perspective. I was not pressured to change my beliefs or philosophy. Maybe more of our Gay Catholics should try talking to their Priests and give them the opportunity to understand who we really are as persons.