James Martin on the Church and Gays and Lesbians

James Martin, S.J. -- who is always worth a read -- has written an especially worthwhile piece ("Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity") on how the Church deals with, and often fails to respect, people who are GLBTQ.  Martin's piece appears in the current edition of America magazine.

A quick quote to motivate you to click over and dig further into Martin's essay.

What would it mean for the church to listen to the experiences of gays and lesbians?  First, it would mean willingly and honestly listening to what it is like to grow up as a homosexual child and adolescent.  It would mean paying attention to the voices of young people who feel persecuted or who are bullied.  It would mean taking seriously the heightened threat of suicides among gay and lesbian youth, which is, after all, a “life issue.”

Also this:

Some Catholic leaders lead off with the “thou shalt nots” and never get to the “thou shalts.”  If all gays and lesbians hear about is the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage (to the exclusion of anything else about gays and lesbians), then it’s perhaps not surprising that many would report feeling rejected.  This way of proceeding has always struck me as surprising.  It would be as if the first thing that a priest said to a group of married Catholic couples at a retreat was not “Welcome,” but “No extramarital sex!” Or if a group of Catholic business leaders was greeted at a luncheon by a bishop who said, “No unfair wages!”  Or if a group of Catholic physicians was told at the beginning of a conference, “No abortions!”  Gay people sometimes feel as if the “thou shalt nots” are the entirety of the church’s teaching on who they are.  Because sometimes that’s all they hear. 

I like to imagine that folks like James Martin are the future leadership of the church in North America.  Not betting lots of money on that -- but hoping, yes, I'm willing to hope.

Martin Sheen -- Interviewed by the NCR

Great interview of Martin Sheen in the National Catholic Reporter.  A superb actor, sincere Christian, and good father and citizen.  Not to mention a damn good TV president...

Tim Russert: A Catholic and a Good Man

Greg Kandra, at the Deacon's Bench blog on Patheos, has a couple nice tributes to Tim Russert, who died three years ago this week.  Every Sunday morning when my son was a baby, I would hold him and he and I would watch MTP together--bottle for him, coffee for me, dogs at our feet.  Then the child discovered cartoons.

May Tim Russert rest in the eternal peace and loving embrace of God, merciful creator and lover of all souls.  May God have mercy on each of us at the hour of our death.

The Church is Not Principally About Exclusion & Judgment: Good News from Mexico

Bishop Raul Vera Lopez, of the diocese of Saltillo in Mexico, preached a homily on March 27 in which he told gays and lesbians (as well as the rest of the world), "The church is your home....[because] Jesus founded the church to bring in those on the outside, for those suffering exclusion and rejection...so that they find the love of God."

Right there, the good bishop pinpointed the church's core mission, a mission that often gets lost when canon lawyers and those in the hierarchy campaign (in effect) for a spot in the Roman Curia:  the church's chief job is to celebrate and embrace the love that God has for every human being, and to open the door for individuals to come into relationship more and more deeply with God's love.  That's what Christianity is supposed to be about.  Too often, sadly, that's not what happens.

Bishop Lopez (who also supports the legalization of civil unions for same-sex couples in Mexico) provides hope not just for people who are GLBTQ, but also for all Catholic Christians who are waiting for signs of progress in the church.  I'm convinced that--no matter the short-term conservatism of Benedict XVI and the men he appoints--Bishop Lopez respresents the direction we'll see the church moving in over the next fifty years or so.  There is cause for hope.  

[Hat tip to Deacon Greg Kandra for linking to the article from U.S. Catholic.]

Modern Day Martyrs

Greg Kundra, over at the Deacon's Bench, remembers the rapes and murders of four women in El Salvador thirty years ago today.  All four were providing aid to, and advocating on behalf of, the poor.  They were killed by death squads associated with the El Salvadoran government.  (Those are the same government death squads that the Reagan administration would help fund, directly or indirectly, starting in 1981, along with the contras in Nicaragua.)  Their deaths occurred less than a year after the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, another advocate for the poor, who was shot while saying Mass.

The martyrs were:

• Sr. Maura Clark (Maryknoll)
• Sr. Ita Ford (Maryknoll)
• Sr. Dorothy Kazel (Ursuline)
• Ms. Jean Donovan (laywoman, age 27)

May those four women, and all those who died in El Salvador's civil war, rest in peace.

Two Archbishops: What a Difference!

Those of us in the greater St. Louis area survived the wanna-be papacy of Archbishop Raymond Burke (who reigned in St. Louis for four years before moving on to head the Vatican's version of the Supreme Court in Rome).  Burke loved being formal, glum, and aloof; he loved every last trapping of clerical dress available to an archbishop; he wanted more and more of the Mass to be full of Latin, a language that few of the people in the pews (not to mention most priests) understand.  Here's a picture of Archbp. Burke.

Raymond Burke (he's the one sitting down)

Next, here's a picture of a newly designated Archbishop, Gustavo Garcia-Siller, who is headed to the San Antonio archdiocese (after a few years as an auxiliary bishop in Chicago).  Garcia-Stiller celebrates Mass in Spanish and English, depending on the predominant language in the parish he's visiting.  He evidently likes mixing with everyday parishioners.  According to Rocco's Whispers in the Loggia, Garcia-Siller wears a small cross on a shoestring around his neck (because, one guesses, walking with Jesus need not involve glaring, outward signs that point to one's power or prestige).

Guess which archbishop impresses me more!  Guess which one would make me more likely, if I were not a Catholic, to want to check out the Catholic church in hopes of finding a path to the God who chose to be born in a manger!