In the recent past, individual bishops, bishops’ conferences and the Vatican have assumed a tone of such violence and abusiveness toward these sons and daughters of the Church, we can no longer remain silent. Has any other group of people within the Body of Christ been so assaulted and violated by such mean-spirited language? Examples from the most recent Vatican document show all too clearly the demonization of these children of God, referring to homosexuality as a “troubling moral and social phenomenon,” “a serious depravity,” “the spread of the phenomenon,” “approval or legalization of evil,” “grave detriment to the common good,” “harmful to the proper development of human society,” “intrinsically disordered.” Does anyone consider this vile and toxic language invitational?

The excerpt above is from a document titled An Open letter to the Hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church Regarding the Pastoral Care of Gay and Lesbian Persons. This document, which challenged some aspects of the Church’s teaching on homosexuality, originated in Chicago and was then circulated in the Rochester diocese by Father Joseph Marcoux, Father Robert Kennedy and Father Gary Tyman. At the time they were all affiliated with the Catholic Gay & Lesbian Family Ministry. Thirty five local priests eventually signed the document. It was circulated without the knowledge of Bishop Clark. The names of all 35 priests can be found by following the link to the document.

Karen Rinefierd, coordinator for Rochester’s Young Adult, Adult and Family Faith Formation, gave a detailed description of the process through which homosexual issues can be introduced into religious education programs. Explaining how best to discuss the topic of homosexual sex she said, “my experience is that in any gathered group or parish setting, more people will be open and willing to learn-you will often find waves of hysteria you will have to go through-even after you’re finished…’I can’t deal with the idea of two men kissing’… ‘My children, I can’t think of them doing that.’ Your job, which is very difficult, is to be a model. Use words comfortably. Highlight the good. Talk about great, wonderful, healthy experiences.” From the May/June ‘99 issue of St. Catherine Review reporting on the 1998 NACDLGM Conference in Rochester. Karen Rinefierd is currently the Planning Group liaison in the Office of Pastoral Planning, DOR.

Ex-priest Marvin Mich, professor of moral theology at Rochester’s St. Bernard’s Institute and a nationally known pioneer working in Catholic circles to facilitate the adoption of children by homosexual couples, spoke of the work he has done for Catholic Charities (CC). Mich claims to have persuaded CC staffers to understand the importance of following state nondiscrimination laws, rather than Church teaching, in the placement of adoptees in the home of same-sex couples. After summarily dismissing Catholic moral teaching , Mich explained that he prefers the statement from the Episcopal Church which declared: “To the degree that the study of Christian ethics is uninformed by the best knowledge our culture affords us, from the sciences and the humanities, our theology then is a disastrously flawed ethical system, even a useless, pretentious, or blasphemous one.” From the From the May/June ‘99 issue of St. Catherine Review reporting on the 1998 NACDLGM Conference in Rochester. Marvin Mich is currently employed by the Catholic Family Center in Rochester.