[Journal: Gay and Lesbian Catholics - Dignity USA] Page: 4 of 24
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D I G N I T Y
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vi'r:"i4:"iiv:"iw ..........................: m:::: i :::: :: ". .. r.:::::.........a...... f..::.".."iir "" .......... :.:. :::". i i...:.: r.. .:.":.".::. .... . . . . . . .".. ...... . J}
L e t t er...... :: o n P a s t o r a l C a r e o f G a y a nd...... L e s b i an........................r . P e r s o ns.. r.... ........ ....a ...... .r. .:.... "J. . l.r . . : ........ ... :.r."By the grace of God I am what I am, and God's grace to me has not
been without effect." (I Corinthians 15:10) We are gay men and
lesbian women, and we are Catholic. We find that we are able to
integrate both our sexual and our spiritual identities into our lives
and are the richer for doing so. Dignity exists as a group to
communicate the joy of this experience to others and to celebrate that
joy in worship.
Nevertheless, we also sadly acknowledge our experience of aliena-
tion between gay/lesbian Catholics and some other members of the
Church, including many leaders. Faced with this alienation, we have
devoted ourselves to a ministry of reconciliation.
Homosexual Catholics are often tempted to abandon their faith and
the practice of their religion out of anger against a Church in which
they feel unwelcome. Dignity invites them instead to worship in a
mutually supportive atmosphere. Dignity invites other members of
the Church to dialogue and understanding in order to heal this
brokenness within the Catholic community.
As faithful followers of Jesus Christ, we have been incorporated into
His body by our baptism. We look to our church for ministry based
on justice and charity. At the same time, we accept our responsibility
to live our lives based on virtue and good conscience. We fully accept
both the comfort and challenge of our faith. Like all Christians, we
strive to be earnest seekers after the truth.
It is in this spirit that the faith community of Dignity addresses itself
to the leaders of the Catholic Church in this country. From the sub-
stantial store of our ministry experience with gay/lesbian people,
we offer the following counsels. We urge Catholic bishops and
others involved in ministry and teaching to give this advice serious
consideration and to join us in the necessary work of reconciliation.
JUSTICE ISSUES
1. We counsel the uprooting of prejudice against gay and lesbian
persons. Homosexuals are often the objects of vicious prejudices
that are clearly an offense against Christian morality. The Wash-
ington State Catholic Conference and some individual bishops
have made statements that affirm the full humanity of homosex-
ual persons and that oppose demeaning and harmful attitudes.
Such repudiation of prejudicial attitudes by Church leaders is a
necessary precondition for effective ministry to gay and lesbian
persons.
2. We counsel the rejection of sexism and oppressive behaviors
towards women and gay men. Lesbian women often experience
a double alienation from the Church, as women and as homosex-
ual persons. Like other women, they find their personhood
denied by exclusive language and behaviors. The American
bishops have already decided to address these issues in a pas-
toral letter on women. The adoption of inclusive prayer lan-
guage, the use of other than male images of God, and the removal
of barriers to women's full participation in the Church are some
specific remedies that both lesbian women and gay men find
necessary and just.
3. We counsel support for laws protecting the basic human rightsof
homosexual persons. Homosexuals are frequently deprived ofaccess to housing and employment simply because of their orien-
tation. A number of bishops and many clergy and religious
groups have supported the inclusion of homosexual persons
among protected classes in civil rights laws. They have recog-
nized that opposing discrimination does not imply condoning
homosexual behavior but that opposing legal guarantees for ba-
sic rights does condone injustice. Supporting such laws is one of
the principal ways for church leaders to reduce the alienation be-
tween gay/lesbian Catholics and the rest of the Church.
4. We counsel strenuous opposition to violence against gay and
lesbian persons. Bot lesbian women and gay men are subjected
to unprovoked physical abuse, sometimes even rape and mur-
der. The perpetrators of such violence frequently go unpunished
by courts that do not respect the rights or lives of homosexual
persons. Church leaders could be helpful by decrying such
violence and by being careful to say nothing that implicitly con-
dones or inspires it.
5. We counsel a compassionate perspective on the AIDS crisis. The
bishops of California have rejected as bad theology the notion
that AIDS is a plague visited by God upon gay people for their
sins. They preach the same compassion and caring for gay people
with AIDS as for all victims of disease. They have given credit to
the gay community for its support services to persons with AIDS.
They urge education on AIDS prevention. They support guaran-
teeing the rights of infected persons. We recommend their
statement to other Church leaders as a model of Christian com-
passion and reconciliation.
SEXUAL ISSUES
6. We counsel openness to discussion on the morality of homosex-
ual acts. Werecognize that the Church'sleaders have beentaking
a strong stand on this issue. Yet in the past, the Church has
revised its stance on grave moral issues, such as the taking of
interest, the ownership of slaves, and the condemnation of the
Jews. Vatican Council II made a major advance in sexual theol-
ogy by solemnly acknowledging the unitive dimension of hu-
man sexual experience in addition to the procreative dimension.
As further understanding about the biological, psychological,
and personal dimensions of sexuality emerges, we ask the
Church's teachers to present their teaching with some measure of
humility and openness.
7. We counsel a reexamination of the use of Scriptures against gay
and lesbian persons. Contemporary Christians no longer regard
as moral guides many Scriptural passages about sex, such as the
stricture against intercourse during menstruation, Paul's recom-
mendation of virginity whenever possible, or the description of
the roles of husbands and wives. Impressive scholarship has
now demonstrated that in even more serious ways the Biblical
passages concerning same-sex acts are irrelevant to the contem-
porary discussion about homosexuality. We urge Catholic lead-
ers to examine and respond to this scholarship - either with a
reasoned and credible ejection of its findings or with an honest
and humble acknowledgment of its conclusions. We further
urge Catholic leaders to look beyond these Scriptural passagesto
the total "Gospel perspective" on gay persons or anyone else...........
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Dignity USA. [Journal: Gay and Lesbian Catholics - Dignity USA], periodical, May 1991; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc854008/m1/4/?q=MISSOURI%20CITY: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.