DUBLIN (AP) — "One of the Catholic Church's leading advocates for gays told a Vatican-sponsored conference Thursday that LGBT Catholics deserve to be loved, listened to and welcomed by the church and not ostracized and condemned.
The Rev. James Martin received a standing ovation after his presentation on welcoming LGBT Catholics at the church's World Meeting of Families, which Pope Francis will be closing out this weekend.
Martin told the audience that LGBT Catholics "have often been treated like lepers by the church" despite Christ's example of welcoming and loving all those on the margins of society.
"By not welcoming, by excluding LGBT Catholics, the church is falling short of its call to being God's family," Martin said. He specifically urged Catholics to not focus on gays and their sexual morality while giving the sex lives and marital status of straight Catholics a pass.
Martin didn't refer to the new scandals and took no questions, sticking instead to what Catholics can do in their own parishes to make sure gays and their families feel welcomed and loved. He urged them to remember gays are Catholic, that they don't choose their orientation and have gifts to offer the church.
Catholic teaching calls for gays to be treated with dignity and respect, but considers homosexual acts "intrinsically disordered."
"Many if not most LGBT Catholics have been deeply wounded by our church," Martin said. "Apologize to them."
He stressed that he was speaking to church ministers, especially. "You can apologize. It doesn't solve everything, but it's a start."
2 comments:
I agree wholeheartedly that the LGTB community should be part of the church. I. Also agree that women should be priests, regardless of. Sexual orientation & why I support your Facebook page, even though I am not a Catholic. That’s not the point I am making in my message on the attached post. Why would anyone, gay or not, WANT to be a servant to God as priest or priestess by proxy when there is so much betrayal & sickness associated w the role? I’m not saying your organization should not be trying to effect change. I am concerned that the celibacy tradition is somehow being used as as an excuse as to why priests molest children. Pope Francis has said to accept Gays while not addressing the fundamental issue of pedophilia, which has absolutely nothing to do w being gay & demeans every orientation! It’s as ludicrous as saying that Jesus was a man so only men can become priests. That statement is a clear debasement of Jesus’s charector, as if he would support this doctrine when molestation seems to have been associated w it since long ago. Do you throw the baby out with the bath water? Maybe, until the issues beneath &associated w molestation are addressed.
I agree wholeheartedly that the LGTB community should be part of the church. I. Also agree that women should be priests, regardless of. Sexual orientation & why I support your Facebook page, even though I am not a Catholic. That’s not the point I am making in my message on the attached post. Why would anyone, gay or not, WANT to be a servant to God as priest or priestess by proxy when there is so much betrayal & sickness associated w the role? I’m not saying your organization should not be trying to effect change. I am concerned that the celibacy tradition is somehow being used as as an excuse as to why priests molest children. Pope Francis has said to accept Gays while not addressing the fundamental issue of pedophilia, which has absolutely nothing to do w being gay & demeans every orientation! It’s as ludicrous as saying that Jesus was a man so only men can become priests. That statement is a clear debasement of Jesus’s charector, as if he would support this doctrine when molestation seems to have been associated w it since long ago. Do you throw the baby out with the bath water? Maybe, until the issues beneath &associated w molestation are addressed.
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