Homosexuality & the Clergy

Speaking crude English, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said the Church could work on being more welcoming to homosexuals: �We gotta do better to see that our defense is not reduced to an attack on gay people. And I admit we haven�t been too good about that.�

But, he added, �We try our hardest to make sure we�re not anti-anybody.� Then, repeating himself, �and I admit we haven�t been too good.�

What message did Dolan want to send to �gays�? It was quite clear: �The first thing I�d say to them is �I love you too, and God loves you, and we want your happiness.�� For that reason, he said, homosexuals are �entitled to friendship.�

But not marriage, he continued, since marriage is a union between a man and a woman �where children can come about naturally.� Therefore, he did not expect that the Church would reverse its position on same-sex marriage.

Dolan admitted he was not sure how Catholic leaders should conduct better outreach to homosexuals: �I don�t know. We�re still trying. We�re trying our best to do it. We got to listen to people. Jesus died on the cross for them as much as he did for me.�

He made his remarks on two morning talk shows on Easter Sunday (ABC This Week and CBS Face the Nation), just days after the Supreme Court heard arguments in two same-sex �marriage� cases. Coincidental timing? I think not. It seems the Cardinal is making the position of the American Bishops as weak as possible in order not to clash with the probable decision of the Supreme Court in favor of �homosexual-marriage.�

Homosexuals are �entitled to friendship�

That Dolan�s remarks are revolutionary is undeniable. Instead of speaking against the sin of homosexuality that wreaks its disaster on individuals, families and society, we find the president of the USCCB preaching still more tolerance for homosexuals: The Church should be more open, more lenient toward homosexuals. She would need to provide a better �outreach� to them.

In his talk shows, Card. Dolan makes no condemnations or mention of the grave sin of sodomy, which the Church defines as one of the four sins against nature that call Divine Wrath to fall over the guilty. True charity, true love of a man, is to deter him from error, to condemn the sin, to take the strongest measures possible to prevent a man from falling into Hell for all eternity.

No, instead he spouts the modern pagan drivel about loving indiscriminately any person. What is more, Dolan admits the homosexual lifestyle as a legitimate choice when he affirms that �gays are entitled to friendship.�

What does he mean by this �friendship� if it is not the admission of civil unions? It is clear to me that at the very moment Dolan pretends to oppose �homosexual marriage,� he delivers his support for homosexual civil unions. This position could not be more hypocritical, since it is �gay marriage� minus the name.

According to Catholic doctrine, a person cannot entertain any unruly inclination or tendency � especially toward a vice contrary to nature. If someone makes a concession even in his mind toward this tendency, he sins. He also sins if he outwardly expresses a homosexual tendency. The act of sodomy constitutes a mortal sin that cries out to Heaven and clamors to God for vengeance. (1)

Therefore, we have the official representative of the American Catholic Bishops tacitly denying Catholic doctrine and doing all he can to legitimate the vice of Sodom in our country. Instead of preaching the word of salvation to Catholics, the Cardinal is preaching the word that sows confusion and leads to eternal perdition. This is what he did Easter Sunday.

�Nothing short of an Easter miracle�

While the Catholic media was strangely silent about the remarks of the New York Cardinal, the homosexuals were quick to celebrate. Francisco DeBernardo, director of the New Ways Ministry, which openly advocates for the homosexual lifestyle, called Dolan�s remarks �nothing short of an Easter miracle.�

�This is the first time that the Cardinal has made such a positive statement about God�s love for lesbian and gay people,� DeBernardo said. �Such a statement is a refreshing change from the usual harsh rhetoric that the Church Hierarchy uses when discussing LGBT issues.� (2)

Who planted this seed?

Catholics have been hearing about respect for the rights of homosexuals, loving the person, etc. for a long time. How many years have passed since the normal Catholic in the pew has heard a sermon on the terrible sin of sodomy?

As far back as 1986, subtle changes began to soften the doctrine of the Church on this topic. As Atila Guimaraes shows in his book Vatican II, Homosexuality & Pedophilia, it was in 1986 that Card. Joseph Ratzinger signed a Letter to Bishops on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons. Its teaching, approved by John Paul II, began to work this change in the minds of Catholics.

In that document Ratzinger introduced an emphasis on the right of the homosexual to be treated with dignity as a human person. He also issued a strong condemnation of anyone who makes a homosexual the object of violent malice in speech or action. This marked the moment the conciliar Church began her campaign against the discrimination of homosexuals. (3)

By 2003, Card. Ratzinger had issued another document, again approved by John Paul II, dealing with the legal recognition of unions between homosexuals. Once more, a new step of tolerance appeared as the faithful were warned against applying the strong condemnations in Scripture to homosexuals. He alleged that homosexuality can be just an �anomaly,� not necessarily a moral vice.

That document strongly commanded that men and women with homosexual tendencies �must be accepted with respect compassion and sensitivity.� Further, �every sign of unjust discrimination must be avoided.� Thenceforth this has been the Vatican�s constant and invariable tolerant approach toward homosexuals since the end of the Council. (4)

So, we see that the comments of Card.Dolan are not actually novel, just the logical consequence of the post-conciliar stance of the progressivist religious authorities on opening the doors to homosexuals.

The boldness of Dolan�s remarks, however, is tantamount to a tacit approval of same-sex civil unions, as long as they do not use the term �marriage.�

Under the papacy of Francis we are witnessing a new phase of the revolution in the Church.The American Bishops are keeping step, advancing the pace of tolerance for homosexuality to keep up with the secular world.

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