Anyone who thinks the gay Left are going to live and let live with the orthodox Christians isn’t reading their articles. The people who put “religious liberty” in scare quotes are just as ardent about crushing dissent (“bigotry”) inside the churches as outside. They won’t force the churches to perform gay marriages? Read Steven Petrow the so-called “Civilities” columnist in The Washington Post.
The headline online was “A lesbian mom asks: How do I stop our Catholic bishop from insulting my family?” The headline on the front page of the Style section on Tuesday was “Don’t just ‘suck it up’ at church.” That would show far too much civility. A lesbian calling herself “Fuming in the Pews” was deeply offended:
My wife and I were both raised as Catholics, and we’re raising our two girls in the church now. Our local parish has been completely welcoming to us as lesbians, but last week, the bishop made his annual visit to perform confirmations and used the occasion for a rant against marriage equality. A straight friend of ours said to me later, “Boy, it’s a good thing you weren’t there.”
Our daughter will be confirmed next year, and I’m already thinking about how to handle it if we get a similar speech. I said to my wife that I would have had to walk out, but she told me the polite thing to do is to just to suck it up. I understand that we’re talking about a church — not a town hall — but really... we should sit and let our family be insulted? What message does it send to the kids that nobody objects? And don’t you think our friends should have said something to the bishop?
The secular liberals who read The Washington Post may not be grasping just how deeply strange these paragraphs are. A confirmation ceremony is all about accepting all the Catholic Church teaches. The candidates for confirmation are there to pledge their fidelity and adult membership in the church, and to prepare to defend their faith and evangelize out in the world. If you don't support it, why are you there?
The lesbian activist who’s writing in clearly understands as a “cradle Catholic” what this means, but she’s interested in revolution, not confirmation. In her mind -- and the groupthink of the liberal media -- the bishop needs to shut up and go along with whatever sexual proclivities the parishioners want to embrace.
Catholics find it like writing in to the newspaper to suggest “I was highly offended when I went into the confessional and the priest asked me what were my sins! I don’t come to church to be insulted in such a way!”
For his part, Petrow advised agitating within the church, of course. Don’t leave it, complete the revolution:
I don’t think it’s my role to tell you to leave your church, although many of those posting on Facebook in response to your question echoed one mother who suggested, with the best of intentions, “Go to the Episcopalians!” A Catholic friend reminded me what a “monumental decision” that is, which is to say that I understand the various attachments you have for your church, as well as your understandable preference for helping it advance rather than leaving it behind.
Nor am I going to advise you to “suck it up,” largely because of the message that silence sends to your kids.
The civility street is always a one-way street with Petrow. Don't join the church that agrees with your liberalism. Go make your own church hopelessly liberal. Then, as usual, he went to gay activists for “advice” and counsel:
“Of course, it’s not acceptable to let this go without response!” Marianne Duddy-Burke, the executive director of DignityUSA, a national organization of LGBT Catholics, said. She added: “I’d bet there were several kids in that church who know themselves to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. There were many more who are friends or relatives of those kids. Every one of those people was personally attacked by that bishop.”
I appreciate that Duddy-Burke called out “that bishop” as an individual. He is no doubt one of many Catholic leaders who are homophobic and against same-sex marriage, but there is diversity of opinion even at the highest levels of the church. Pope Francis himself has spoken of more “compassion, respect and sensitivity” toward gays and lesbians, and many LGBT Catholics have found welcoming parishes and have stayed in the church....
“The most important thing is to do something,” Duddy-Burke says. She suggests having your straight friends contact the bishop, thank him for administering the sacrament and then explain that there are committed LGBT families in the congregation who had been deeply disrespected by his remarks. “Talk about the pastoral damage that was done to people sitting in the community and how painful it was to hear yourselves or the people you love demeaned in this way,” Duddy-Burke says. Make it personal.
Inside the Style section, these last two bolded phrases were the pull quote in bolded italics. The inside headline was "Lesbian mom must speak to bishop if she is insulted."
Gay activists perennially cast the pope as a "welcoming" leftist, quoting one line from a press conference and ignoring every other statement he's uttered on marriage and sexuality and families. Compassion and respect for the sinner is what everyone should expect in greeting the church. That's not the same as expecting respect for the sin.
Petrow concluded by advising more community organizing for lesbians inside the Catholic walls:
As you plan for next year, make an appointment with your priest and bishop well in advance and tell them that such remarks are inappropriate and hurtful. If you’re unable to have these conversations in person, write them and make clear your objection to this year’s sermon. Remind them of the pope’s message of acceptance. Send copies to your parish’s religious education director and the diocesan newspaper.
Finally, is it acceptable to walk out if this happens again? If the bishop’s remarks are intolerable to you, then yes, do so — quietly but deliberately and only after discussing the possibility in advance with your daughter. More than anything, this is about what you are modeling for her; “suck it up” is no lesson for a child. Kids need to know that there are adults in the church who will stand up for them, their moms and their families. Who better than you to be the first?
Then, hopefully for Petrow, this lesbian walkout can make the front page of The Washington Post -- just like it did in 2012 when a lesbian activist in Maryland protested being denied communion after announcing her lesbianism to the priest presiding over her mother's funeral. Embarrass your church, get your priest fired -- anything for the revolution.
