Baum reinforces status quo

Catholic New Times, July 3, 2005 by Kevin Simpson

I find Gregory Baum's answer to the question "Should Homosexuals Remain in the Catholic Church" (CNT, Jan 16, 2005) to be weak; a reinforcement of the status quo.

When the article first appear ed in CNT, I wanted to respond but was too disappointed and angry. Now I think I can address the root of the disappointment.

Some might see Gregory's article as too challenging for a Catholic publication, but it merely sets out two Christian approaches to the same question: "How do we address gay and lesbian people as children of God?"

The United Church has studied the question and is clear.

But with Gregory Baum's answer, the Catholic faithful are not even required to engage the question, as gay and lesbian members are counselled to dissent but in a "discreet" manner.

That approach over the last 25 years has meant that the church can claim with impunity that it discourages discrimination and violence towards gay and lesbian people, as Gregory repeats in the article, but at the same time consistently oppose every civil advance for gay and lesbian people.

That opposition has often included petitions and form letters distributed in the pews of the churches.

Is active dissent for gay and lesbian Catholics just not signing these hateful pieces of paper? How much more pathetic can it get? The public opposition by the church leads to permission for violence among those so inclined, and there is no way for the church to shirk that responsibility.

Gay and lesbian Catholics have tried to engage the hierarchy for years in "discreet" meetings, and been told by the likes of former Archbishop Adam Exner of Vancouver that the church is like a corporation with rules and procedures, and his role was as an enforcer.

Now a progressive theologian proposes that we take the tack of my siblings and their children and dissent from a teaching akin to Humanae Vitae by non-reception and discreet behaviour? In Gregory's article, he is "discreet" enough not to disagree with any of the church's teaching on homosexuality, except to say that, "While living on God's earth, no human being is ever deprived of his or her essential and indispensable finality."

This is a no-brainer, and it leaves us going away empty.

Kevin Simpson,

Past-President,

Dignity-Canada