Pope "Shocked" By Gay Adoption

From the Times Of Malta:

The Pope is “shocked” by Malta’s Civil Unions Bill, which will allow gay couples to adopt children, Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna has told The Sunday Times of Malta. Defending his decision to use his Christmas homily to reiterate that a family had to be built around a man and a woman, Mgr Scicluna said he had aired these concerns with Pope Francis when he met him on December 12. “We discussed many aspects...and when I raised the issue that’s worrying me as a bishop [the right for gay couples to adopt] he encouraged me to speak out," Bishop Scicluna said.

Over the weekend the bishop's claim got widespread coverage on anti-gay sites, most of which then mocked the Advocate's person of the year selection.

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Posted in: Catholic Church,gay adoption,Pope Francis,religion

Headline Of The Day

The protest spread via Twitter to another Catholic high school nearby, where students also staged a sit-in. More encouraging photos are at Buzzfeed.

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Posted in: activism,Catholic Church,education,marriage equality,protests,religion,Seattle,the kids are alright,Washington State

Signorile Slams Advocate Over Naming Pope Francis The Person Of The Year

"The Advocate magazine put Pope Francis on its cover, proclaiming him the Person of the Year, offering a myriad of reasons why it passed up others, such as Edie Windsor. The best thing about this is that Francis has a 'NoH8' decal Photoshopped onto his face, and it's driving poor Bill Donohue of the Catholic League into a blood-vessel-popping rage. But mostly, this was idiotic. Pope Francis is a lot of things to many people in the world. But he is not our hero of the LGBT community in 2013. Can we please get a grip, folks? Are we that starved for validation? [snip] Sure, we should note that Francis has made some relatively supportive statements toward gays this year, but to make Francis the person of the year for the LGBT community, when so many others have worked tirelessly to advance equality, is silly and seems like a PR move by the Advocate to get attention. Bravo for them, they got it. How it advances LGBT rights and upholds our credibility when we give out honors so lightly, however, is another matter." - Michelangelo Signorile, writing for the Huffington Post.

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Posted in: Advocate,Catholic Church,LGBT rights,Michelangelo Signorile,Pope Francis,religion

MINNESOTA: Archbishop John Nienstedt Accused Of "Inappropriate Touching"

Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt, who has preached that parents will go to hell if they accept their gay children, has been accused of touching a young boy on his buttocks.

A statement released Tuesday morning said, “An allegation has been brought by a mandated reporter within the Church to the St. Paul Police of inappropriate touching of a minor male on the buttocks by Archbishop John Nienstedt. The single incident is alleged to have occurred in 2009 during a group photography session with the archbishop following a confirmation ceremony. “Archbishop Nienstedt emphatically denies the allegation.” The statement said that upon learning of the allegation last week, the archdiocese instructed the mandated reporter to make the matter known to the police. “The archbishop and the archdiocese stand ready to cooperate fully with the St. Paul Police,” the statement said.

RELATED: You may recall that it was Nienstedt's command about gay children that launched NFL player Chris Kluwe into the spotlight after Kluwe penned a blistering response in a local newspaper. In September of this year Nienstedt declared that Satan loves sodomy. Also in September, Nienstedt was accused of shielding a pedophile priest who is currently in prison.

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Posted in: Catholic Church,John Nienstedt,Minnesota,scandal

Religion's Gifts To The World

Episode 13 in a monthly series.

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Posted in: Catholic Church,Christianity,LGBT rights,religion

Advocate: Pope Is Person Of The Year

The Advocate writes:

Edie Windsor is a hero, one well worth recording in history books that retell the story of DOMA's demise. But she is not the Person of the Year. She couldn't possibly be, not for The Advocate, where we celebrate the work of so many who contributed to that landmark Supreme Court victory. The most influential person of 2013 doesn't come from our ongoing legal conflict but instead from our spiritual one — successes from which are harder to define. There has not been any vote cast or ruling issued, and still a significant and unprecedented shift took place this year in how LGBT people are considered by one of the world's largest faith communities.

Pope Francis is leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics all over the world. There are three times as many Catholics in the world than there are citizens in the United States. Like it or not, what he says makes a difference. Sure, we all know Catholics who fudge on the religion's rules about morality. There's a lot of disagreement, about the role of women, about contraception, and more. But none of that should lead us to underestimate any pope's capacity for persuading hearts and minds in opening to LGBT people, and not only in the U.S. but globally.

Gay City News reporter and Queer Nation member Andy Humm comments at the above link:

"This is just about the most pathetic, self-hating bowing down to a bigot that I've read in my 40 years of gay activism. Francis is doing good public relations in the service of propping up the patriarchy--an infantile style of governance that sees the 'leaders' as parents and the members as children. Catholics need to grow up and govern their own church if they want to avoid continued scandal. The fact that so many are in a thralll to this man--who has not changed one iota of anti-gay, anti-woman doctrine--is pathological."

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Posted in: 2013 in review,Catholic Church,LGBT rights,Pope Francis,religion

Pope Francis Vs Rush Limbaugh

"The Marxist ideology is wrong. But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don’t feel offended [to have been called a Marxist]. There is nothing in the Exhortation that cannot be found in the social Doctrine of the Church. I wasn’t speaking from a technical point of view, what I was trying to do was to give a picture of what is going on. The only specific quote I used was the one regarding the 'trickle-down theories' which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and social inclusiveness in the world. The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefitting the poor. But what happens instead, is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger nothing ever comes out for the poor. This was the only reference to a specific theory. I was not, I repeat, speaking from a technical point of view but according to the Church’s social doctrine. This does not mean being a Marxist." - Pope Francis, when asked how he feels about being called a Marxist by "ultraconservatives in the USA." Pundits believe the question was a reference to Rush Limbaugh.

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Posted in: Catholic Church,Marxism,Pope Francis,Rush Limbaugh

TIME Names Pope Francis Person Of The Year, Edith Windsor Ranked Third

TIME Magazine today named Pope Francis as its person of the year.  In second place is Edward Snowden, with DOMA champion Edith Windsor placing third.  Syrian President Bashar Assad is ranked fourth, and Tea Party hero Ted Cruz finished out the top five.  Has TIME previously revealed the runners-up in this manner?

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Posted in: 2013 in review,Catholic Church,DOMA,Edith Windsor,LGBT History,Pope Francis,Time Magazine

PA Catholic High School Fires Teacher After He Applies For A Marriage License

NBC Philadelphia reports:

High school teacher Michael Griffin was fired from his position at Holy Ghost Preparatory School in Bensalem on Friday after applying for a marriage license in New Jersey with his partner, a move that the school says “contradicts the terms of his teaching contract.” Griffin, an alumnus of the private all boys liberal arts Catholic high school, had taught Spanish and French at the school for the past 12 years. He first posted about his termination on Facebook Friday morning. “Today I applied for a marriage license since NJ now has marriage equality,” Griffin wrote. “After 12 years together I was excited to finally be able to marry my partner. Because of that, I was fired from Holy Ghost Preparatory School today. I am an alumnus of the school and have taught there for 12 years. I feel hurt, saddened, betrayed and except for this post, am at a loss for words.”

Griffin said that the school has long been aware of his relationship and that his partner has attended numerous school functions with him.

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Posted in: bigotry,Catholic Church,education,pennsylvania

Limbaugh: Pope Francis Is A Marxist

Via CNN's Belief Blog:

Pope Francis: Successor to St. Peter ... the people's pontiff ... Marxist? That's what conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh suggests, calling the Pope's latest document "pure Marxism." Limbaugh blasted the pontiff on Wednesday, a day after Francis released "Evangelii Gaudium" (The Joy of the Gospel), a 50,000-word statement that calls for church reform and castigates elements of modern capitalism.

Limbaugh's segment, now online and entitled "It's Sad How Wrong Pope Francis Is (Unless It's a Deliberate Mistranslation By Leftists)," takes direct aim at the pope's economic views, calling them "dramatically, embarrassingly, puzzlingly wrong." The Vatican issued the English translation of "Evangelii," which is known officially as an apostolic exhortation and unofficially as a pep talk to the worlds 1.5 billion Catholics.

Francis – the first pope ever to hail from Latin America, where he worked on behalf of the poor in his native Argentina – warned in "Evangelii" that the "idolatry of money" would lead to a "new tyranny." The Pope also blasted "trickle-down economics," saying the theory "expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power."

Video of Limbaugh's show is at the link.

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Posted in: Catholic Church,Pope Francis,religion,Rush Limbaugh