Catholic Church Now Accepts Gays

Catholic clergy singled out, historian says
Protestant sex scandals as common, get less play. Other differences cited

By Richard N. Ostling / Associated Press
Friday, April 5, 2002

The flood of sex abuse allegations against priests this year has focused attention on the Roman Catholic Church, but Protestant denominations have also faced sex scandals involving clergy over the years ...

... Penn State historian Philip Jenkins argued in his 1996 book Pedophiles and Priests that secular and Catholic media exaggerate the extent of Catholic cases involving minors, while downplaying Protestant abuse. For instance, the Rev. Robert Eckert of Grand Rapids, a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was sent to prison in 2000 for sexual involvement with a 15-year-old girl who worked as his baby sitter -- but the case received relatively little attention.

Jenkins, an Episcopalian, thinks a 1992 survey from the Chicago Archdiocese is more representative of the true picture in Catholicism.
Among 2,252 priests serving over four decades, 39 priests (1.7 percent) apparently abused minors. Only one abuser could be termed a pedophile under the strict, clinical definition of the word -- meaning the victim was prepubescent. "I am prepared to be convinced the Catholics have a bigger problem" than Protestants, Jenkins said, but nobody has good data, partly because Protestant groups are too numerous. "I certainly haven't seen anything, and I'm looking hard."

Minneapolis psychologist Gary Schoener agreed. "There are no real scientific data" on Protestants, he said. Since 1974, his Walk-In Counseling Center has been consulted on more than 2,000 cases of clergy sexual misconduct of all types, two-thirds of them with Protestants ...

Can you tell me what bothers you about the gay church?

Religion is not something flexible which u can "wear" according the size of ur ass-To think up different reasons to protect ur sins.

Hi NoNe.

Welcome to A2K.

I'm glad that you accept the fact that gays are around, and always have been. I'm also really glad that you realize that every adult should be able to marry whomever they choose.

But, where do we part ways from there?

How we got to people eating **** and hamburgers in the street just baffles me.

But, I'm glad you're here.

Can you tell me what bothers you about the gay church?

That if Jesus was alive, He would've Cried if he had seen what people have done to the House of his Father, and turned into the evil something. U guys who think that it is ok, Suck.

Priest Denies Gays' Supporters Communion

By JOSHUA FREED, Associated Press Writer
Mon May 16, 9:59 AM ET



A Roman Catholic priest denied communion to more than 100 people Sunday, saying they could not receive the sacrament because they wore rainbow-colored sashes to church to show support for gay Catholics.

Before offering communion, the Rev. Michael Sklucazek told the congregation at the Cathedral of St. Paul that anyone wearing a sash could come forward for a blessing but would not receive wine and bread.

A group called the Rainbow Sash Alliance has encouraged supporters to wear the multicolored fabric bands since 2001 on each Pentecost Sunday, the day Catholics believe the Holy Spirit came to give power to Christians soon after Jesus ascended to heaven. But Sunday's service was the first time they had been denied communion at the altar.

Archbishop Harry Flynn told the group earlier this month that they would not receive communion because the sashes had become a protest against church teaching.

Sister Gabriel Herbers said she wore a sash to show sympathy for the gay and lesbian community. Their sexual orientation "is a gift from God just as much as my gift of being a female is," she said.

Ann McComas-Bussa did not wear a sash, but she and her husband and three children all wore rainbow-colored ribbons and were denied communion. "As a Catholic, I just need to stand in solidarity with those that are being oppressed," she said.

While other parishioners sat or kneeled after going to the altar, sash-wearers remained standing with their hands cupped as a symbol they still wanted the sacrament. Their silent protest lasted about five minutes, until the congregation rose to hear the announcements and the benediction before being dismissed.

The Rainbow Sash Alliance says that by wearing the sash, members "publicly claim our place at Christ's table, sacramentally expressing the truth in our lives, and calling the church to embrace a new day of integrity and freedom."

Organizer Brian McNeill wrote to Flynn last month, explaining that the sashes are a symbol "to celebrate the gift of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender sexuality."

Flynn wrote back to say the sashes are "more and more perceived as a protest against church teaching," declaring that it has never been acceptable "to use the reception of communion as an act of protest."

Parishioner Larry Pavlicek was not sympathetic. As a divorced man, he said he has to live with the church's teaching that he cannot remarry and cannot have sex outside of marriage.

"If you're going to be a Catholic, either live with it or call yourself something different," he said. "They're trying to change something that has been taught by the church for 2,000 years."

Archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath said Flynn made the decision to deny communion after a cardinal asked U.S. bishops to adopt a consistent policy on the sashes. Catholics in Chicago and other cities such as Melbourne, Australia, have also worn sashes. Some have been denied communion, others have not.

Last year, some conservative groups in St. Paul kneeled in church aisles to block sash-wearers from receiving communion.

i can't quite understand why most "churches" find it necessary to put up elaborate buildings in the name of jesus and god; do they approve ?

i believe there are some christian groups, the quakers and mennonites come to mind, that can practice christian religion without any elaborate trappings.