Reply #236: I have said some of that [View All]

[imenja]

What I can't do is show your information to a parish priest because I have none. I am a lapsed Catholic who seldom attends mass. I do not know the priest where I live now and he does not know me.

I just made in another post the very point you express about terrible circumstances suffered by some gay youth, yet I noted that my own experience in the Church has been different. I, however, have always attended progressive Churches and schools. My eighth grade teacher, a nun, was a champion for gay rights. When she died, the church overflowed with gay men and women who valued greatly her contributions. There is obviously a tremendous variety in how the religion is practiced, as the experience of the young boy in the OP demonstrates.

I already asked to be informed of legislation I can influence, which you know. If you have a mailing list, I would appreciate being included on that, as I communicated to you several hours ago. What I do not control is the Pope, no matter how much you and I wish that were possible. As I said to you last night, I can and will pray that God reveals to the Holy Father the inviolability of human rights. Prayer is the best means of affecting his views, because he takes his cues from the Holy Ghost, not the faithful, and especially not the heretical like myself. I will further add the prohibition against birth control, the position that most disturbs me because of what it means for the loss of life from AIDs deaths. Tens of Thousands of Africans die every year because of unprotected sex. That the Church seeks to prohibit condoms in this context is reprehensible. The irony is, that in Catholic school I myself attended sex education classes where we were instructed in condom use. The Church is a paradox in many respects. Its deficiencies go far beyond it's views on homosexuality. If the practice of Catholicism followed the teachings of the Holy See, I venture to say there would be very few Catholics left in the world.

You know that I have already said most of this in previous posts. This is now the fourth time I have asked to be included on an email list to inform me of pending legislation. That request has been ignored. I can only do what is humanly possible. I am not divine, I am not a Bishop, and I am a woman. Worse yet I am a divorced woman. If I abided by Church teachings, I would never again be able to take the Eucharist. The church does not forbid gay men from receiving the Eucharist, but it does prohibit divorced people. Fortunately, most churches ignore such prohibitions, as they ignore most of what we find reprehensible in the Vatican's statements. It is impossible for me to affect Church teachings. You can be furious at me all day for saying so, but it is a simple fact. Do you actually think the Church would continue to exclude women from the priesthood if we could influence its teachings? Do you think it would denounce as sinful birth control, premarital sex, and masturbation when there is probably not a single Catholic in the US and few in the world who obey those teachings?

What I can do is work to influence politicians and make my voice heard to particular clergy who act in ways that act contrary to equal rights. This, however, I made clear many hours ago.

Now if the OP had begun the thread as a call to what Catholics could do, that would have been far more helpful. If you want action on an issue, I suggest posting a thread encouraging that action rather than simply denouncing the well-known shortcomings of the Church.