Catechism Question #175 - Why did Jesus prefer the company of sinners to the righteous?
Good Catholic Student: “Jesus preferred to be with sinners because…
- They listened to him
- They asked him questions
- They came to him to ask for healing for themselves and others
- They were unsure but wanted to believe
- They were a lot more interesting than non-sinners.”
Carol Curoe and her father, Robert, hope that their book about their personal struggle to reconcile her being a lesbian with his staunch Catholic faith will be a conduit for healing for other families. The book, “Are There Closets in Heaven? A Catholic Father and Lesbian Daughter Share Their Story” was published in fall 2007.
A November 2, 2007 article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune described how the Curoes were “uninvited” to appear at St. Francis Cabrini Church to discuss the book. The event was moved to another location after a few conservative bloggers encouraged their readers to flood the Archdiocese of Minneapolis with complaints.
Carol sees the book as a tribute to her parents, especially her father. She knows how difficult it was for him to support her while adhering to the teachings of the church. His approach: Whenever an issue arose, he would step back and try to see it from his daughter’s perspective.
Carol and her partner have two sons who are being raised Catholic because “it feels right.” When she was growing up, “being Catholic was the reference point for our lives” she said. But she also acknowledges a philosophical difference from public statements of the hierarchy. “I have to acknowledge that the leaders at the top of my church don’t think it’s OK for our sons to have two moms. And I want my sons to know so that they’re not surprised when they run into people who feel that way.”
The Curoes have received a mountain of mail from people who have found strength and hope in the book. “Not just gays. And not just Catholics,” Carol said. “We’ve heard from Jews who married outside their religion and women who got pregnant before they were married. This is just my story, but it resonates with anyone who experienced a split between child and parent.”
The Curoes is a wonderful story how, despite differences, their relationship was the most important thing. “They focused on keeping the lines of communication open,” said Carol of her parents. “In the end it was all about keeping relationships strong.”
Contrast the attitude of the Curoes on family love and communication with the “Faithful Rebel”, one of the bloggers who urged them to be banned from speaking in a Catholic parish:
“This whole thing is a disgrace. Such an event has no business taking place in a Catholic Church. Ms. Curoe opposes Catholic teaching, and she admits openly that she attends a Catholic Church only because it accepts her degenerate lifestyle…”
“Ms. Curoe advocates that the Church actually accept her sin. She wants the Church to encourage her to violate its teachings and the teachings of Scripture. The issue, of course, is not about whether or not the Church should love homosexual persons. That is a given. The question is about whether or not the Church should accept her sin and allow her to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ while openly proclaiming her allegiance, not to the teachings of Jesus Christ, but to the fulfillment of her own disordered passions. That is what is not possible.”
After reading his rant I thought - if I were a young Catholic woman, which one of these men would I want as a father? The man who would sit down and talk with me and listen, even if he didn’t agree or condone my life or actions–like Mr. Curoe. Or a man like Faithful Rebel, who would deliver a pious lecture for his benefit, and then kick me out on the street.
Which one has the better family values?
All across the political spectrum censorship among Catholics is alive and well.
In January, students and faculty at Rome’s La Sapienza University caused Pope Benedict to cancel an academic address he was scheduled to deliver. The protesters claimed that Benedict was an enemy of science and reason, citing a 1990 (!) speech he gave in which he quoted a controversial historian of science who argued that “the church’s verdict against Galileo was rational and just.”
Conservative Catholics were quick to point out the irony of censorship by those who think of themselves as guardians of rationality and open debate.
Certainly another irony is the sting Pope Benedict must have felt when he was barred from an opportunity to air his views-something he has done to numerous scholars over the years in his position as the Perfect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In February, Commonweal published a column describing how Edward K. Braxton, Bishop of Belleville, Kentucky, denied Luke Timothy Johnson of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University the opportunity to speak at the Newman Center of Southern Illinois University. Dr. Johnson is one of Commonweal’s most popular speakers, and one of the most highly regarded scripture scholars in the nation.
”The reason is quite simple,” said Bishop Braxton. “I do not wish Catholic institutions or organizations to invite speakers into the diocese who have written articles or given lectures that oppose, deny, reject, undermine, or call into question the authentic teachings of the magisterium of the Catholic Church.”
I suspect Dr. Johnson’s position that the church should reconsider its teaching on homosexuality had a lot to do with the bishop’s decision.
In light of these two incidents we are left with this question: Is the best way to strength the boundaries of Catholic identity by marginalizing or prohibiting anyone from speaking who questions magisterial teaching? Or, is a degree of pluralism a sign of spiritual vitality and genuine faith in an intellectually confident church?
A theological seminar for Roman Catholic bishops that had been scheduled for the University of Notre Dame will be moved off campus because of a planned performance of the play “The Vagina Monologues.”
The Catholic bishops made the decision because they disagree with the university administration’s decision to allow a student performance of the controversial play.
The Eve Ensler play, based on discussions with 200 girls and women about their feelings for their anatomy, includes sections about homosexuality, orgasms and rape.
The play, usually performed around Valentine’s Day, is being put on by students from about 20 Catholic schools this year, including DePaul and Georgetown Universities and Boston College. But several schools–including Providence College– have banned it saying it sends the wrong message.
“A Catholic university that sponsors a production of The Vagina Monologues would be running at odds with its Catholic mission by promoting and providing time, space and money…to a production that is so deeply anti-thetical to the way Catholics think about sex,” said the Rev. Brian Shanley, Providence College’s president.Regina Bannan, an assistant professor of womens studies at Temple University who has researched Catholic women, said the play helps spark important dialogue about women’s sexuality. “It takes a woman from an object position to a subject position, where the woman is actually expressing her own ideas about sexual experiences, ” she said.
“If the church hasn’t learned anything the last three years about stifling discussion about sexuality, that’s a shame,” she added, referring to the priestly sex abuse crisis.
One of the students who had seen the play did not believe it threatened the university’s need to maintain its Catholic character.
“I feel like part of a university atmosphere is openness about topics without feeling like there’s a boundary between expressing your Catholicism and talking about sexuality and the human body.”
Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration, criticized immigration laws in a February 7, 2008 statement sent after both houses of Congress approved an economic and stimulus package that included language to prohibit undocumented immigrants from receiving tax rebates.
“The decision to prohibit undocumented immigrants from receiving tax rebates in the stimulus bill highlights the injustice in our immigration system,” he wrote. “It proves that these workers pay into the tax system and support the economy. It also reveals the hypocrisy of our laws. With one hand our government attempts to deport these workers, but with the other it holds tight the taxes they pay into the system. This perpetuates an underclass of workers without full rights.”
“We should not accept the fruits of the labor of these workers at the same time we refuse to provide them the protection of our laws. As a democratic and free nation protective of human rights, we cannot have it both ways. Congress must mend a broken system and show the courage to enact comprehensive immigration reform.”
The Rev. Marcial Maciel, a Mexican priest who founded the Legion of Christ religious order and was disciplined by Pope Benedict XVI after a sexual abuse investigation, died January 30, 2008 in Houston. He was 87.
Mariel was born in Mexico in 1920. He founded the Legion of Christ in Mexico City in 1941, and it is one of the fastest growing orders in the Catholic Church, with more than 700 priests and 2,500 seminarians in 20 countries.
It was well-regarded by the late Pope John Paul II in particular because of its conservative views, loyalty to church teaching, and its success in recruiting young men for the priesthood.
He was also “the greatest fund-raiser in the modern church, using his order…and its lay wing, Regun Christi, to attract wealthy supporters” said Jason Berry, who is producing a documentary on the sex abuse claims based on a book he co-authored, “Vows of Silence.”
Maciel’s reputation began to tarnish in 1997, when nine former members of the order accused Maciel of abusing them when they were boys, aged 10-16, in seminaries in Spain and Italy.
Maciel and the Legion vigorously denied the allegations and accused the men of forming a conspiracy to defame him. He appeared to have the Vatican’s full support until 2005.
That is when church officials, under the direction of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, reopened a canon law investigation that had been inexplicably squelched in 1999. Within days, Maciel announced he was retiring as head of the Legion, but denied it had anything to do with the accusations against him.
The accusers–two Americans, five Mexicans and two Spanish citizens–had tried for years to call their accusations to the attention of John Paul II but were unsuccessful. In fact, the Pope appointed Maciel as his personal representative to a high-level meeting on the Americas, signaling his full support of the priest, shortly after the allegations were publicized in 1997.
After John Paul’s death, however, Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, moved to sanction Maciel. He was arguably the highest ranking priest to be censured in the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church.
“It’s a very hard time for me to speak. At this moment I am still trying to get my emotions under control,” said Juan Vaca of Holbrook, NY, one of Maciel’s nine accusers, when he heard the news of his death. “I am a believer in God’s mercy, so I think God is taking care of this situation, but at the same time I am still expecting some justice and truth to prevail on this earth.”
A Catholic university in Texas is coming under fire from pro-life advocates for hosting a rally for pro-choice Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s campaign has set up a rally at Greehey Auditorium on the campus of St. Mary’s University.
Word of the rally reached San Antonio Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, who told WOAI radio that the university is wrong to give Clinton a platform to air views that going against church teaching on abortion. “Our Catholic institutions must promote the clear understanding of our deep moral convictions on an issue like abortion, an act that the Church calls “‘an unspeakable crime’ and a non negotiable issue,’” he told the radio station.
St. Mary’s University president Charles Cotrell released at statement defending the decision to hold the rally: “As a Catholic tax-exempt university, St. Mary’s does not endorse political candidates or their positions on issues and acknowledges the fundamental differences between those of the presidential candidates and those of the Catholic Church,” he said.
After reading the online article, I sent the following email to the head of communications at St. Mary’s University:
Thank you for holding firm to have presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as a speaker. Catholic institutions should not be used by clergy and others motivated by political agendas to promote their selective use of church teaching.
I am still looking for the day when a bishop denies a speaking engagement or event to a politician because he or she votes large tax breaks to oil and agri-business instead of promoting food stamps and school meals, health care and education for poor children; backs the death penalty; and wars deemed unjust and unnecessary. These are “culture of life” issues, too, with plenty of “innocent lives” at stake.
My question to Bishop Gomez - why would you think Hillary Clinton would pick a Catholic university to focus on abortion….unless, of course, some political operative in the audience is primed to attack her on this issue? Isn’t it possible she’s planning to speak about other areas related to Catholic Social Teaching…like the preferential option for the poor, dignity for working people and immigrants, and health care?
Catholic Insight, an orthodox apologist magazine, is being investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission for offensive speech.
Rob Wells, a gay activist associated with the Pride Centre of Edmonton, filed a nine-point complaint against Catholic Insight. Wells alleges that the magazine made “negative generalizations” about homosexuals; portrayed them as preying upon children, as dangerous and “devoid of any redeeming qualities and…innately evil”.
Father Alphonse de Valk, the founder and editor, disagrees with the accusations. “Wells took three pages of quotes out of context,” he told Zenit, the Vatican news agency. The Basilian priest added that Catholic Insight “bases itself on the Church’s teaching and applies it to various circumstances in our time. ” He went on to say some of the statements that allegedly promoted hatred and contempt against homosexuals were taken from recent Vatican prouncements. (!!)
I think Fr. de Valk should team up with Fr. Bryce Sibley, the former blogger on A Saintly Salmagundi. Fr. Sibley stopped by for a pastoral visit to CCL in April 2004 to tell us we were all going to hell. I guess his heavenly patron, Mary, Exterminatrix of Heresies, told it him it would the be right thing to do.
Fr. Marek Bozek of St. Stanislaus Parish, St. Louis, Missouri, attended the ordination of two women in November 2007 with the Roman Catholic Womenpriest movement. 600 other Catholic laity, clery and women religious also attended.
In a letter to Call to Action, Fr. Bozek explained why he attended the ordination ceremony: “I only have one answer - I could not tolerate the abuse of my sisters any longer. I could not remain indifferent to the injustice being done to all those women graced by with the priestly vocation.”
Archbishop Burke called Fr. Bozek to a disciplinary hearing on February 5, 2008. During that meeting the Archbishop did not agree to the reconcilliation offer that Fr. Borzek proposed. Another meeting has been scheduled for March 5.
Information on the meeting between Fr. Bozek and Archbishop Burke is featured on the Archdiocese of St. Louis home page. It includes a videotaped statement by the Archbishop and a FAQ. Read the prequel here.
Fr. Bozek is a brave and caring pastor, and an idealistic young priest. We don’t want to lose him. As an authority on Canon law, Archbishop Burke may be able to find a little wiggle room to craft a peaceful resolution. I hope he’s more of a Brehon than a stubborn Irish cleric.
Nihil Obstat will examine statements, letters, news, wit and rumors by church leaders and concerned Catholics on gay/lesbian issues, women’s ordination, dissent, accountability and politics. This proudly “Modernist” review will feature plenty of coverage and comment on sharp minds and nitwits of all stripes.