Toward a Welcoming Catholic Viewpoint on LGBT Rights

by Michael Jones · 2009-10-22 08:21:00 UTC
Topics:

Gay Catholic

It's nice to be reminded that not all of the Roman Catholic Church is opposed to the inclusion and acceptance of LGBT people. That reminder today comes from a Catholic nun who has spent much of the past two decades saying that the Biblical thing to do is to welcome LGBT people into the Church.

Sister Jeannine Gramick, the founder of the LGBT-friendly New Ways Ministry, has a piece up on the Human Rights Campaign's Back Story, taking the Catholic Church to task for making such a big deal about welcoming anti-gay Anglicans who are tired of the social justice directions that the worldwide Anglican church is moving in.

"I believe we should be leading our communities toward a welcoming view, rather than creating a false sanctuary for those who fear a broader view," writes Sr. Gramick of Pope Benedict XVI's decision to appeal to elements of the Anglican Church that oppose gay rights and women's rights. "Some might say that leading the way toward expanded rights for gay individuals and increased roles for women means abandoning the Church’s core principles.  For many, including myself, the increased inclusion of women and lesbian/gay persons in our Church is not a desertion, but a fulfillment, of the Church’s core principles because the Gospel mandates us to welcome all to the table."

Sr. Gramick hits at a core tension that seems to be emerging in the American Catholic Church. While the U.S. Catholic Bishops and the Vatican continue to find ways to support discrimination against LGBT people -- be it in the form of donating money to ballot measures or issuing public statements that compare gay people to the threat of climate change -- most American Catholics don't find gay rights all that polarizing. Groups of Catholics for Marriage Equality are forming everywhere between Maine and California, and in many places (Rhode Island, for instance), the majority of Catholics actually favor gay rights measures like marriage equality.

Sr. Gramick delivers the message that not everyone in the Church is homophobic, and it's an important message to get out there, lest the more conservative elements dominate the religious marketplace of ideas.

(Photo courtesy of Ihar's photostream on Flickr.)

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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