DUBLIN — 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.
That Martin was even invited to speak in Dublin was significant given he has had talks canceled in the United States because of pressure from conservative groups who oppose his ministry and advocacy.
In recent weeks, a petition was launched by conservatives demanding Dublin organizers cancel his speech. The calls only increased following revelations of sexual misconduct by a disgraced U.S. cardinal involving seminarians.
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.”
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This story has been corrected to show the presentation was Thursday, not Wednesday.
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Winfield reported from Rome.
Hierarchy is not the problem. Homosexuality is not the problem. Celibacy is not the problem. Clericalism is just one symptom of the problem. Ecclesiastical PATRIARCHY is the problem!
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and we keep traveling on that road as long as the church hierarchy is an ecclesiastical patriarchy.
The sexual abuse crisis is a symptom of gender imbalance and the consequent abuse of power rooted in original sin (Genesis 3:16). Evidence is mounting that gender imbalance in the church hierarchy exacerbates the abuse of power, including sexual abuse of minors and women.
The best way to mitigate this tragedy is to discard the patriarchal “binary” as enshrined in the code of canon law (#1024) and ordain women to the priesthood and the episcopate. Contrary to what the Vatican has been saying for decades, there is no dogmatic impediment.
For the redemption, and the sacramental economy, the masculinity of Jesus is as incidental as the color of his eyes. Jesus is the bread of life, not the male of life. What matters is that God became flesh, not male. The substance of the Eucharist is flesh, not accidentals such as XX or XY chromosomes.
Before the redemption, under the Old Law, it made sense for Jesus to call 12 males to represent the patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel. After the redemption, under the New Law, it no longer makes sense because male sacrifice is no better than female sacrifice. Would Jesus today call 12 males to represent the patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1577, is a doctrinal fabrication to rationalize the patriarchal priesthood and defend what is no longer defensible. Section 1598 plainly states that the exclusively male priesthood is a choice (first sentence, note the word “only”) and who can make the choice (second sentence, note the word “alone”).
Patriarchy is a disordered attachment to the supremacy of masculinity. If the entire ecclesiastical patriarchy re signs, and is replaced by another ecclesiastical patriarchy, in a few years we are going to be back to where we are now.
As long as this systemic issue is not resolved, any institutional pretension of reform is an exercise in futility. It is time for the Vatican to stop messing around and allow Christ to call women to the priesthood and the episcopate.