9 Catholics Who Need to Listen to the Pope

[rug]

While Pope Francis's attitude toward LGBT people may be a little more laissez-faire, some of his followers aren't getting the message.

By Michelle Garcia
December 16 2013 2:25 PM ET

Timothy Dolan

In contrast to the words of Pope Francis — who said "Who am I to judge?" — Cardinal Timothy Dolan maintains that the Roman Catholic Church hasn't revised anything about its opposition to homosexuality. Earlier this year, Dolan, who is the archbishop of New York and the nation’s highest-ranking cardinal, told a group of reporters that the pope was “articulating … the traditional teachings of the church,” and clarified that the church still believes “homosexual acts” are a sin. This may be a case of two seemingly opposing ideas both being true simultaneously. The pope's statement did signal a real change, but it also isn't a departure from Catholic teaching. Meanwhile, Dolan has spoken out quite often about his antigay views — which also contradicts the pope's advice that "it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time." During the Democratic National Convention last year, he famously prayed that national acceptance of marriage equality would decline, and he was a leading crusader against the passage of same-sex marriage in New York. But he doesn't seem to connect his own role with the view that the Catholic Church is antigay. Most recently, Dolan blamed the church's antigay image on bad marketing.

Knights of Columbus

If the pope would prefer that less emphasis be put on fighting marriage equality, then the Knights of Columbus will have to make some changes. One of the largest international Catholic organizations, it has financed numerous campaigns against marriage equality, including spending more than $1.4 million in California to pass Proposition 8. It's not that the pope favors legalizing same-sex marriage (he doesn't). but would the pope now prefer huge sums of money like that to be spent on the poor instead? Would he be bothered to know that Knights of Columbus has the unfortunate distinction of being the largest financial supporter of California's now-defunct constitutional ban on same-sex marriage? The group has also contributed millions to the antigay organization National Organization for Marriage and state campaigns against marriage equality in Minnesota, Washington, Maine, and Maryland. Carl Anderson, the leader of Knights of Columbus, bemoaned how the media calls attention to his group's agenda in a recent article in the National Review. He claimed that there is “a disproportionate focus on Church teaching about sexuality and abortion.” In this article, he also claimed that the pope’s words on accepting gay people were essentially taken out of context.

U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops

This nonprofit comprised of active and retired leaders of the Catholic Church is a powerful lobbying group that most recently opposed passage in the Senate of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would stop employers from firing people just for being gay. The council went so far as to invoke Pope Francis in its letter to senators, misusing his words as if suggesting the pope also supports firing someone for what the council calls "homosexual conduct." For his part, Speaker John Boehner, who is Catholic, refuses to let the House of Representatives vote on ENDA. Meanwhile, the council also recently endorsed the Marriage and Religious Freedom Act, which is being described as a license for religious institutions to discriminate against same-sex couples when doing business. The council is also a longtime collaborator with the National Organization for Marriage, which has recently extended its agenda to demonize trans people, especially kids in schools.

The President of the Catholic League

Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, has been vocal against reproductive rights and LGBT rights for years. Even after Pope Francis's pledge to confront and eradicate pedophilia in the church, Donohue still takes the simplistic, homophobic view that priests who molest children are gay. "Less than 5 percent of the priests involved in molestation are pedophiles," he said after pope said he doesn't judge gay priests. "I will never stop telling the truth. And the pope never said we should either. I am against gay bashing."

http://www.advocate.com/year-review/2013/12/16/9-catholics-who-need-listen-pope

[IrishAyes]

1. According to the statistics that I've read (responsible sources, sorry I don't remember!)

Gays by percentage are far less likely than other males to be molest children.

Thanks for the OP.