The True Sin

As a Catholic, I must say I'm more than a little angry, and disappointed in our current Pope. Apparently the man thinks that going on a witch hunt for gay and lesbian clergy is a Christian calling. It's obvious to me that this is his solution to the pedophile priest scandals. There's only two problems with this "great" idea. One, all clergy take a vow of celibacy, so if a priest or nun keep their vows then why does it matter if they're gay or straight? Supposedly, the sin is in acting on homosexual feelings-or at least that's what the church has taught up until now!! The truth is that homophobes-like our current Pope don't need a reasonable argument to persecute gay people, they do it out of very unreasonable hate, fear and in this particular case political convenience (but, what should we expect from a former Hitler youth?!) Two, being a homosexual and being a pedophile are not one in the same. In fact most pedophiles are heterosexual. Being attracted to the same sex does not make you attracted to children!!

So what will the Popes' decision to oust gay clergy actually accomplish? Well, an already woefully undermanned Church, that has been begging for new priests and nuns for years, will succeed in stretching it's human resources even further toward the breaking point. It will also succeed in cutting itself off from many devoted young Catholics who may have wished to serve their church faithfully and celibately, but are now appalled and grieved to learn that it doesn't matter if their willing to give their lives to God, if they've ever had a homosexual feeling they are not wanted or needed in the church of their Fathers.

On a personal note, as far as I'm concerned this is the straw that broke the Catholic lesbians back. I've never been a perfect Catholic, having struggled as an adult to embrace a religion that has never completely embraced me, but I have continued to believe and follow Catholicism to the best of my ability. I don't think at this point that I will be able to do that anymore. My church rejects me and all the other Catholics, who happened to be born gay, no matter if we act on homosexual feelings or not. I do not believe this is Gods' word or will. Obviously I have no way of knowing for sure, but I suspect that there are many other "gay" Catholics out there who after years of struggling to follow the Churchs' laws will come to the same conclusion I have; God made us, and the Catholic Church rejecting us is the true sin.