Taking the Catholic Church to Task in Maine for Anti-LGBT Fundraising

by Michael Jones · 2009-09-06 08:27:00 UTC
Topics:

Catholic Church

Maine's Catholic Church is spiritually bankrupt.  That seems to be the only conclusion reachable after the Diocese of Maine announced that next week, they will take up another "special collection" to help pass a ballot measure that will discriminate against gays and lesbians in Maine.  Yup, more money coming from the Catholic Church to bash gays.  And yet, the Catholic Church in Maine continues to shut down churches -- five of them, most recently -- because they can't financially support them.

The Bishop of Portland, Maine announced this week that he's encouraging all Catholic churches in Maine to hold a special collection for "Stand for Marriage Maine," the anti-LGBT organization seeking to pass a law this November that will openly discriminate against gay and lesbian Mainers and take away marriage equality rights.  This collection should be illegal.  There's no way the Catholic Church should be able to hold this kind of political collection, be able to give thousands upon thousands of dollars for an anti-LGBT organization, and not have to report who the donors are.  It's an anonymous collection meant to shield the identity of haters, and it's bogus.

The Catholic Church in Maine is a tax-exempt institution.  If it's going to take up special collections for ballot measures that discriminate and then not report who the donors are, the Church should, plain and simple, be stripped of its tax-exempt status.  Because as Louise at Pam's House Blend notes, there's no way that the Catholic Church should be able to give non-traceable money to a political cause and NOT have it be called money laundering.  It should be illegal.

This Church needs to get a clue.  Isn't there that line from the Bible, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  Sounds like the Maine Catholic Church is doing a lot of persecuting lately of, fundraising to discriminate against gays and lesbians.  Perhaps they ought to go back and read that book that supposedly forms the foundation of their faith.

Because right now, all I see when I look at the Maine Catholic Church is spiritual bankruptcy and hypocrisy.  Closing churches because of a lack of money, while fundraising to steal rights away from gays and lesbians;  looking to shield the identity of bigots; and calling gays and lesbians a threat to the public good.  Talk about an unhealthy organization.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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