Common Sense (And Plain Ol' Catholicism) Slowly Return To North Carolina
I couldn't even imagine this happening just a few short years ago in THIS diocese
Here's some of the article from the News & Observer (Raleigh, NC); (Emphasis mine)
Push is on for same-sex celibacy
Raleigh diocese directs ministry at gays, lesbians
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh is starting a new ministry to gays and lesbians. Yet those who have embraced that identity may not like it.
The ministry is called Courage, and its aim, in the words of its executive director, is to "assist men and women who are afflicted with the thorn of same-sex attraction." A 29-year-old international ministry with about 90 U.S. chapters, the Courage Apostolate will serve as a kind of support group -- like Alcoholics Anonymous -- for men and women who want to remain celibate.
The move is part of a more aggressive push by the dioceses of Raleigh and Charlotte to march in step with the Vatican on the issue of homosexuality. On Feb. 24, the bishops of both dioceses will hold a news conference at the legislature to announce their support for an amendment to the state's constitution defining marriage as a union of a man and a woman. The effort is intended to quash the possibility of same-sex marriage, should a court find North Carolina's law prohibiting gay unions unconstitutional.
Though retired Raleigh Bishop F. Joseph Gossman chose not to wade into this thorny thicket, his successor, Bishop Michael Burbidge, is more eager to conform to the Vatican line.
The late Pope John Paul II endorsed the work of Courage. More recently, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the implacable opposition of the church to homosexuality. The Vatican refused to back a United Nations resolution urging the banning of criminal penalties against homosexuality. Last year the Vatican urged seminaries to enlist the aid of psychologists in screening candidates for homosexuality and other "psychic disturbances."
I couldn't even imagine this happening just a few short years ago in THIS diocese
Here's some of the article from the News & Observer (Raleigh, NC); (Emphasis mine)
Raleigh diocese directs ministry at gays, lesbians
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh is starting a new ministry to gays and lesbians. Yet those who have embraced that identity may not like it.
The ministry is called Courage, and its aim, in the words of its executive director, is to "assist men and women who are afflicted with the thorn of same-sex attraction." A 29-year-old international ministry with about 90 U.S. chapters, the Courage Apostolate will serve as a kind of support group -- like Alcoholics Anonymous -- for men and women who want to remain celibate.
The move is part of a more aggressive push by the dioceses of Raleigh and Charlotte to march in step with the Vatican on the issue of homosexuality. On Feb. 24, the bishops of both dioceses will hold a news conference at the legislature to announce their support for an amendment to the state's constitution defining marriage as a union of a man and a woman. The effort is intended to quash the possibility of same-sex marriage, should a court find North Carolina's law prohibiting gay unions unconstitutional.
Though retired Raleigh Bishop F. Joseph Gossman chose not to wade into this thorny thicket, his successor, Bishop Michael Burbidge, is more eager to conform to the Vatican line.
The late Pope John Paul II endorsed the work of Courage. More recently, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the implacable opposition of the church to homosexuality. The Vatican refused to back a United Nations resolution urging the banning of criminal penalties against homosexuality. Last year the Vatican urged seminaries to enlist the aid of psychologists in screening candidates for homosexuality and other "psychic disturbances."
posted by Kevin Whiteman at
6:06 AM
5 Comments:
Notice that the reporter from the News and Disturber refers to the Diocese decision as moving to "march in step" with that ominous and mean old Vatican. Could someone please tell me how this reporter doesn't know that Bishop Burbidge and Bishop Jugis may be influenced more by their respective desires to fill the roles as true shepherds? Why isn't the explanation for this action that Bishop Burbidge and Bishop Jugis are actually faithful Catholics and are working to help others live in Truth?
Oh no! Bishops teaching Catholicism in their own dioceses? Calling things by their rightful names? How dare they?
/sarc off
God bless this dedicated man and his holy path. Amen.
The Courage ministry had an exhibitor/vendor booth at the Arlington (VA) county fair last summer. The word is definitely getting out. Although the people from Courage didn't seem to be drawing the same crowds that the Gay Pride (or possibly Integrity) group was getting. I too wish the Courage ministry every blessing on their long and difficult road.
I believe that any time this comes up in a press conference, the answer needs to be that the Catholic Church once had a large number of gay priests. It might even be good to have the statistic. The result of that experiment which went against Church teaching and thus was a form of dissent, was XXX number of boys between the age of X and X that were abused by homosexuals and cost the Church XXXXXX number of dollars. The Church has learned a valuable lessen from this in that the teaching of the Church is indeed correct and that the pracitce of homosexuality is a grave sin. Also from experience, there appears to be no treatment that would allow the Church to risk putting children at risk ever again in the future. Being a Priest is not some Civil Right but a call from God. In fact, we think that any organization that places a practicing homosexual around children should also be held to the same standards as the Catholic Church as been if there is any incident with that employee or member. This must be done to protect children.
Courage was started in New York at the request of Cardinal O'Connor. 1 of its founders was Fr, Benedict Groeschel. It's aim is to uphold Catholic teaching while helping people to live chastely.
There was 1 thing in this article that didn't surprize me, that the author lumped Courage in with all the other ministries that are actually not Catholic but claim to be while dissenting from Catholic teaching.
Nor did it surprize me that it dissed Courage when it described it as viewing "homosexuality as a problem to be overcome." as well as some other things it said.
The Press was forced to cover this, but it made sure it did so in a way that subtly showed its anti-Catholic (orthodox that is) bias.
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