A Gay Ol' Time for Washington Catholics

An advocacy group (ALWAYS OUR CHILDREN-- named after the American bishops' letter largely composed by Cardinal McCarrick) runs out of the Cathedral of St. Matthew (started by Msgr. Jameson) and the gays have spread the word that they will find it a welcoming environment. It must be admitted that the gay choirs have made a big improvement in music there.

Anyway, a New Ways representative spoke to the advocacy group at the Cathedral some time back and now New Ways is going to have a workshop on Saturday, March 12 at the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas (8380 Colesville Road #300, Silver Spring, MD 20910). The speakers include Brother Terence Cant, CFC, who is a member of the Congregation of Christian Brothers. He is currently finishing his Doctor of Ministry degree at San Francisco Theological Seminary. He is a Program Specialist for New Ways Ministry. The other facilitator is Francis DeBernardo who is the Director of Writing at the University of Maryland and the Executive Director for New Ways Ministry.

(By the way the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas have official standing in the Church and are in the Archdiocesan and National Catholic Directories!)

Brochures for this event were sent to parishes in Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland.

I called the Washington chancery and all they would say was that "We know about it." The voice did not sound happy.

The worshop is entitled, BUILDING BRIDGES - Gay and Lesbian Catholics and the Church.

Here is what the brochure said:

"Discussing gay and lesbian persons and their place in the Church can be challenging. Faith communities question whether to reach out to the gay and lesbian community while lesbian and gay people wonder if they can claim both their faith and their identity. Anger, fear, alienation and misinformation threaten our ability to talk to one another. Yet, we are called to be one Church. We must build bridges of faith and reconciliation."

"Through education, story-telling, dialogue and prayer, this workshop will help participants deepen their understanding of our tradition's wisdom, provide reliable information about the lives of lesbian/gay persons, and strengthen commitments to building bridges between gay/lesbian people and the Catholic Church."

"Drawing upon Scripture, tradition, sexual ethics, social justice and pastoral practice, the workshop is especially valuable for pastoral ministers, religious educators, youth ministers, parents, priests, men and women in religious life, helping professionals, gay/lesbian people."

Schedule:

9 AM - Registration & Coffee or Tea
9:15 AM - Welcome & Introductions
9:45 AM - Video: A Journey of Understanding (Archdiocese of Los Angeles)
11 AM - The Church: What Do We Really Teach?
12 PM - Small Group Discussion
12:30 PM - Bag Lunch
1 PM - Gay/Lesbian Youth and "Coming Out"
1:45 PM - Video: De Colores: Lesbian/Gay Latinos
2:15 PM - Always Our Children: The Church and Parents of Gay/Lesbian Children
2:45 PM - Break
3 PM - Pastoral Planning
4 PM - Departure

REGISTRATION FEE is $45 mailed in & $55 at the door
PAYABLE TO News Ways Ministry, 4012 29th St., Mt. Rainier, MD 20712

Revolt of the Gay Church

St. Joan of Arc Parish was told by the Vatican to remove the gay pride materials from its website. They refused.

http://www.stjoan.com

They pride themselves on being welcoming of homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgendered persons. They recently had a couple witness to their love and are on the record for promoting homosexulity in the schools.

Fortunately, Archbishop Harry Flynn only gives lip-service to Rome. He is definitely on our side of the fence. Note that the Basilica of St. Mary is the home of the GLBT (Lay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgendered) group Basilica Boulevards that has given talks and workshops at St. Joan of Arc. Yes, the nut does not fall far from the tree. They have a monthly "coming out" worship service.

The Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSC) linked to the parish, is dedicated to affirming sexual minorities, particular from a Catholic background. Each year they offer the Bishop Gumbleton Peace and Justice Award and the Fr. LeMay Award (co-founder of Dignity). Bishop Gumbleton has a gay sibling and is on the record as a fervent supporter of gay rights.

Other diocesan parishes have also supported gay rights and St. Frances Cabrini Church has sponsored a series of gay speakers. There are some eleven "gay-friendly" churches in the diocese.

The old men in Rome are wrong. We are the People. We know what is right and real. Gay marriage and relationships can be defended from the Scriptures and from science.

Love is stronger than law!

Setback in Teaching Diversity & Homosexual Rights

Efforts at legitimate sexual diversity have faced a serious set-back. Detroit Michigan Federal District Judge Gerald E. Rosen has ordered the public school system of Ann Arbor to pay $102,738 in legal fees to the Thomas More Law Center. The Law Center defended the bigotry of a student Betsy Hansen who wanted to express her homophobic religious views at her high school's Diversity Week program. The Judge compared the school officials to Nazis-- talk about nonsense!

The high school was promoting true enlightenment, that homosexuality is a healthy and respectable lifestyle-- even from a religious perspective. This Catholic girl wanted to add her two cents, even if it would bring hurt to homosexual students and faculty! The school had every right to censor her speech to racial matters and to punish her for rigidity and prejudice.

Now the judge faults the school for censoring her hate speech. Who do we allow to talk in our schools next-- white supremacists?

The Pioneer High School staff prevented Hansen from expressing her Roman Catholic view on homosexuality at the "Homosexuality and Religion" panel, and they censored a speech she was asked to give on ''What Diversity Means to Me.''
Her religious view toward homosexuality was a ''negative'' message and would ''water-down'' the ''positive'' religious message that should be conveyed– that homosexual behavior is not immoral or sinful.

The federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the Thomas More Law Center claimed that school officials violated Hansen's constitutional rights to freedom of speech, free exercise of religion, and the equal protection of the law. Further, the lawsuit alleged that school officials coerced students to accept the religious belief that homosexual activity is not immoral or sinful in violation of the Constitution. Next the courts will tell us that we cannot teach against black-haters or woman haters.

School officials prudently selected religious leaders who endorsed pro-homosexual "religious" belief to sit on the panel. The schoolgirl's request to have a Catholic homophobic Papist on the panel was denied.

Here is the introduction to Judge Gerald Rosen's 70-page opinion:

"This case presents the ironic, and unfortunate, paradox of a public high school celebrating 'diversity' by refusing to permit the presentation to students of an 'unwelcomed' viewpoint on the topic of homosexuality and religion, while actively promoting the competing view. This practice of 'one-way diversity,' unsettling in itself, was rendered still more troubling – both constitutionally and ethically – by the fact that the approved viewpoint was, in one manifestation, presented to students as religious doctrine by six clerics (some in full garb) quoting from religious scripture. In its other manifestation, it resulted in the censorship by school administrators of a student's speech about "what diversity means to me," removing that portion of the speech in which the student described the unapproved viewpoint.''

The judge ruled that the public school system and a number of its employees violated Hansen's constitutional rights to freedom of speech and the equal protection of the law. Trying to shut the door, he also resolved that school officials violated the Establishment Clause in welcoming pro-gay clergy to hold a panel on "Homosexuality and Religion."

If this girl really has a problem, then why is she even in a public high school. They should have sent her to a parochial school where she could be endoctrinated as much as the homophobes want. Sounds to me like one of the narrow-minded home-schoolers got out by mistake!

We need judges that will overturn such verdicts! It is anti-American to be anti-gay! We can only hope that Diversity Week will be restored in the near future and that it will be practiced in all our schools.

Pro-Abortion, Pro-Choice Catholic Politicians

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cruz Bustamante, and Gray Davis unapologetically tout their pro-abortion stances while practicing as "Catholics" in good standing.

Except for a handfull of right-wing fanatics, most of the American bishops will not refuse holy communion to pro-abortion politicians and celebrities. Many thanks to the bishops, especially Bishop Gregory and Cardinal McCarrick for refusing to budge on this issue.

Abortion is only one issue, and certainly not the most important one facing Catholics and our society today. The rights of immigrants, the use of capital punishment, the needs of the poor, and the unjust aggression of our nation in war against others is much more pressing.

Abortion is a CHOICE best left to a woman in consulation with her doctor. While we lament the anti-abortion talk of Catholic bishops, we applaud the inclusion of pro-choice politicians and celebrities in communion reception and worship services. Any attempt to politicize the sacraments would strip the Church of her tax exemption, anyway.

Today, most teachers in Catholic schools are pro-choice and voted for Senator Kerry and others of his inclination. This points toward a promising formation of the next generation. Stand up and be counted. Wear your pro-abortion tee-shirts at Mass. Advertise for Planned Parenthood and Catholics for Choice. Let Catholic pro-choice politicians know how happy we are with them.

They set a wonderful example, letting our women and men know that YOU CAN BE PRO-CHOICE and CATHOLIC.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD), Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Gov. Mario Cuomo (D-ex-Gov. of NY), Gov. Gray Davis, (D-Gov. of CA), Rep. John Baldacci (D-Maine), Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Rep. Robert Brady (D-PA), Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA), Rep. William Clay (D-Mo.), Rep. William Coyne (D-PA), Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Rep. Lane Evans (D-Ill.), Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas), Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), Rep. John Larson (D-CT), Rep. Bill Luther (D-Minn.), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. Barbara Milkulski (D-MD), Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Sen. Jack Reed (RI), Ambassador Paul Celluci (R-MA), Gov. Tom Ridge (R-PA), Fr. Robert Drinan, S.J. (frmr US Rep), Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), Rep. Karen McCarthy (D-Mo.), Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Rep. James McGovern (D-MA), Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA), Rep. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD), Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ). Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas), Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA)

Schwarzenegger: Terminator for Embryos & Pro-Choice Hero

Some of the dreaded Republicans are on our side afterall. Indeed, after the recent elections, despite Kerry's loss, the PRO-CHOICE now has a real majority in the Congress and Senate. Some of the Democrats that loss, like Clooney, were clandestine pro-lifers (anti-choice) advocates. Senator Arlen Spector has even warned President Bushwacker not to nominate anti-choice judges. Given that Spector will replace Hatch on the Judiciary Committee, this is great news!

Turning to Arnold, the hunk of a governor in California, he is on the record for abortion rights and recently supported the successful ballot measure for embryonic stem-cell research in California. Three billion dollars will be spent over the next ten years on this important scientific study. If the Bushwacker will not allow the nation to do it, California will take the lead and go it alone.

Babies that are less than 2 weeks old have no possible right to life! Despite the PASSION OF MEL GIBSON against the use of his "tax dollars" for this work, it is going to happen anyway! So Mel, make another blockbuster movie about Jeezus-- and we'll take a nice percentage to help with abortions and embryo experimentation. Maybe we'll create a CLONE ARMY of Arnolds to combat any LETHAL WEAPON at Mel's disposal? Haha!

Where can I donate my eggs to this important work?

Bishops Becoming More Pro-Choice? Maybe!

Attorney Pamela Hayes is one of a dozen appointed to the National Review Board established by the American bishops in 2002 to oversee compliance with the sexual abuse and child protection policies.

So what, you ask? Well, Pamela is also proud of her efforts to promote and to extend abortion rights through political involvement. Can it be that the bishops no longer categorize abortion as a form of child abuse? It is definitely promising and we can hope that other PRO-CHOICE activists will take leading roles in the Church and in keeping a watch over those hypocritical "boy-loving" priests.

She says, "I've contributed to a lot of pro-choice candidates, and so what? So what? What are they going to do about it? If they don'y like it, then don't put me on the board. If they've got a problem with that, you tell them they've got a problem" (See National Catholic Register, Vol. 80, No. 43).

She has a long history of supporting pro-abortion politicians like Senator "Our Poster Boy" John Kerry and Hillary "Put Abortion in Healthcare" Clinton. Having raised thousands for the holy cause of abortion rights, she said, "If they're pro-choice and they're Democrat, they're my kind of candidate" (Ibid.).

Those are just about our sentiments as well. More power to you, girl!

NAACP Joins the Fight for Abortion & Infanticide!

During its quarterly meeting in New York on February 21, the NAACP board of directors adopted a resolution supporting the April 25th national pro-abortion march, which is co-sponsored by leading abortion advocacy groups such as NARAL, Planned Parenthood and NOW.

The NAACP Board, during its quarterly meeting February 21 in New York, unanimously approved a resolution that also urges "all who believe in equal rights" to attend the "March for Women's Lives" pro-choice rally in Washington, D.C. on April 25, 2004.

The resolution, introduced by Board member Rupert Richardson, noted that 80 years ago, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, one of the association's founders, said every woman must have the right of procreation "at her own discretion."

Moreover, the resolution said: "A woman denied the right to control her own body is denied equal protection of the law, a right the NAACP has fought for and defended for nearly 100 years."

NAACP Board Chair Julian Bond said, "This is an issue of equal rights, and we are pleased to join those insisting on a woman's right to control her own body."

In addition to Bond, the NAACP is led by president Kwesi Mfume, a former Maryland congressman. During his tenure in office, Mfume built a consistent pro-abortion voting record. YES, he even supported PARTIAL BIRTH INFANTICIDE!!! Good for him!

We are ever so happy that our black brothers and sisters have come up with the sure-fire way to eradicate tension between the races-- by eventually taking themselves out of the picture entirely. What abortion is doing for whites in Europe, it will do for blacks in the United States. Now if we could only get those Hispanics on board. 38% of all abortions here in the States are performed upon women of color. And yet, they only represent 14% of potential baby-producing mammas. Even if blacks should become extinct in the U.S., we all know there are plenty more where they came from in Mother Africa.

We are also exuberant that the Catholics are not being allowed off the hook. Recently, categorizing the Catholic University of America as a batch of Uncle Toms, the NAACP President, Kweisi Mfume, threatened the school with litigation and forced them to accept a NAACP chapter on their campus. Congratulations on a job well done. Don't worry about all that black genocide talk-- remember, there is a big difference between the chicken and the egg. Chickens, I mean people, have rights, scrambled eggs do not!

This is the first time in its 95-year history that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Board of Directors has endorsed the principle that women have the right to equal access to family planning materials, information and CHOICE when it comes to birth control.

Women of color are predominately PRO-CHOICE.

No dissent on this issue can be allowed. I think we can be assured that any so-called promises to CUA that the chapter will avoid abortion promotion is just empty chatter-- thank the goddess! Evidence of this is how one chapter was barred from submitting an anti-abortion resolution at the national convention in 2004.

The Macon Georgia NAACP Chapter complains that it was barred from submitting a resolution that spelled out the toll abortion has taken on African Americans. The chapter was told that the resolution would not be accepted because the chapter did not file its required financial reports, even though they were filed long before the cut-off date-- hehe! Loretta Grier, the chapter president, insisted, that "Even if resolutions are rejected, they are usually printed for delegates to view. The resolution wasn't even given that due process; I am deeply troubled by all this."

Poor crybaby, didn't get your way! What are you, a Catholic or something? She should be replaced as president. If the chapter refuses, it should have its charter removed. There is no choice to be anti-choice.

Accept the NAACP's endorsement of abortion rights. We support the NAACP in censoring and barring such an anti-choice resolution!

Every day 1,452 brave Afro-American women terminate their leeching unborn babies. How can we get ahead, if we are stuck at home with some lazy bum's brat? No , abortion must be maintained. Our happiness demands it. If 81 percent of these women have some psychological complaint afterwards, well, it makes us tougher for the fight. Ours is a brave new world that will not be stifled by the backward and decadent morality of prudish Christians and other right-wing fanatics.

We urge the NAACP not to back down from their historic stand. A faulty poll from Black Enterprise Magazine showed that nearly 60% of African Americans disapprove of the NAACP decision. Don't you believe it! Abortion rates prove it is popular and it brings needed revenue into the black community. You on the board are the leaders of the black community. You TELL them what to do. Years of slavery and oppression have made them submissive and pliable to authority. Allow no caucus on the question. The wrong people would press their agenda.

The statistics give us much cause for rejoicing:

• African-American women make up 13.7 percent of the U.S. population of women of childbearing age, yet the abortion rate among black women is three times higher than of white women.
• For every five African-American women that get pregnant, three will abort.
• Since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973, more than 14 million black infant's lives have been terminated by abortion.

Here is proof positive that the NAACP is in perfect sync with our black women and that Afro-American families should all embrace a contraceptive and abortifacient way of thinking and acting.

Force Catholic Hospitals to Perform Abortions!

Time for Comprehensive Reproductive Services at Catholic Hospitals

The Maryland Catholic Conference is running scared. A legislative proposal is being resurrected to force the eight Catholic hospitals in Maryland to put aside their archaic and anti-woman religious tenets and ethical baggage. It is expected that a bill will be reintroduced in the Maryland General Assembly to repeal part of the state's nonsensical "conscience" law and compel Catholic health institutions to provide abortifacients to rape victims on request or refer them to a clinic or hospital that will. Currently, the "conscience" clause violates the civil rights of women needing compassion after assault and the available services to terminate unwanted pregnancies. The so-called "conscience" clause places the bigotries and anti-woman sentiments of health care providers over the needs of hurting women. The clause is a violation of the separation of Church and State. While ours is a secular society, such a clause mistakenly promotes Catholic moral and religious convictions while eroding women's rights in hospitals that receive federal, state, and corporate funding. These bastions of patriarchal oppression even refuse to provide sterilization services. It is time to discard this law, not only in Maryland but throughout the nation as well. Those in Illinois and New York would do well to re-ignite this debate for the sake of victimized women.

We advocate forcing Catholics and others in the anti-CHOICE camp to comply with this list of conditions:

• Perform abortions & sterilizations at Catholic hospitals
• Require partial birth infanticide (abortion) procedures
• Referral to specialists for abortions & sterilizations
• Conduct medical research on aborted embryos & fetuses
• Deny costly medical treatment to defective and/or retarded newborns
• Require abortions of defective and/or retarded unborn "matter"
• Refuse positions to anti-abortion doctors & nurses (at hospitals & schools)
• Criminalize anti-CHOICE speech and activity as dangerous to America
• Allow infanticide for the first 3 years of life (for any cause)
• Perform artificial insemination services for lesbians and others
• Perform amniocentesis for gender screening & selective abortions
• Allow euthanasia in cases of physical and/or emotional distress
• Conduct sex-change operations
• Encourage and conduct stem-cell research from aborted embryos
• Salvage "baby" fetus body parts from abortions for discounts to labs
• Explore technology & do experimentation for cloning
• Require "toleration" classes for all employees

Catholic Bishops Help Spread HIV/AIDS

Accolades go out to the 9,000-member Catholics for Free Choice for the poster campaign in the District of Columbia that exposes murder as the official policy of the bishops and the Catholic Church. To deny people condoms is to sentence people to death. The CFC has spent more than a quarter of a million dollars on Metro Subway poster ads:

Catholic people care. Do our bishops?

Because the bishops ban condoms, innocent people die.

Catholic people care. Do our bishops?

Banning condoms kills.

Who knows how many thousands or even millions of lives have been destroyed and people murdered by the irrational fear of a latex rubber. The Pointy Hats have blood on their hands and may be more culpable than the worst terrorists or serial killers. Their offer of death masquerades as compassion.

Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for Free Choice, said, "We wanted to shame the bishops into some public exposure because of the way in which their policy has not helped the AIDS crisis."

You tell on them, Frances! We also want to applaud Metro spokesperson, Ray Feldmann, for not caving in to charges of bigotry from the homophobic bishops and their flunkies. Ray insisted that the ads were accepted "because they were not deemed to be pornographic or visually offensive to the general public. We are not referees of who is telling the truth." The bishops not only want to squelch reproductive and lifestyle choice, but also the FREEDOM OF SPEECH!

We are confident that Ray knows the truth when he sees it and would ask him to go one step further. Given the public access of the Metro system, we would urge him and other officials to install Condom Dispensers on all their trains. People are "on the go" these days and never know when they will meet that special someone. Given the amount of money Frances spent on ads, I am sure that the money could be found to support the program. Remember, not everyone is a kid who can get a supply from the school counselor. Further, maybe discrete visual aids (brochures?) could be supplied to help neophytes in the proper installation and use of condoms? The recorded voice that accompanies the opening and closing of the train doors could be modified as follows: "Door opening, have a nice day and have a condom on us."

Here is a wonderful letter to the editor of THE WASHINGTON TIMES from Frances:

Catholic bishops share responsibility for spread of HIV/AIDS
Dec. 29, 2001 (p. A10)

The response of several Roman Catholic officials to a Catholics for a Free Choice ad campaign about the dangers posed by the Catholic Church's ban on condoms is somewhat surprising ("Pro-choice poster campaign targets bishops," Dec. 24)

One anti-choice leader, the Rev. Thomas Euteneuer of Human Life International, states that the "bishops do not ban" condoms — but they do. All 100,000 Catholic hospitals worldwide and all 200,000 Catholic schools and social service agencies are prohibited by local bishops as well as Vatican policy from teaching about or providing condoms to HIV/AIDS patients, clients or students.

The Catholic Church claims that it shows its love and compassion for those with HIV/AIDS by treating 25 percent of those infected worldwide. That means that the nearly 10 million people with HIV/AIDS who are "treated" by the Catholic Church have no direct access to condom education or condoms from their caregiver. Imagine the number of newly infected wives and children who are a result of the ban.

Another Catholic official quoted in the article, a pastoral minister for the Archdiocese of Washington, where AIDS is a major public health problem, is saddened by the ad campaign. He should instead be saddened by the unnecessary transmission of HIV/AIDS caused by a church that neither educates HIV/AIDS patients about how to save lives nor provides them with the means to do so when abstinence is not a course they choose to follow or are able to follow.

We are all human — even our priests and bishops have difficulty following church teaching on abstinence. For such people to tell ordinary people in desperate circumstances that they cannot use condoms to prevent the spread of a deadly disease is to preach a culture of death.

Catholics expect more from their bishops, and our ad campaign is one way of calling them to accountability.

FRANCES KISSLING
President
Catholics for a Free Choice
Washington