The voice of church hierarchy from Maine to California, and now in Minnesota, is shrill but clear: Oppose all LGBT equality, especially gay marriage.
And yet support for full LGBT equality among the Roman Catholic laity has risen dramatically. A recent Gallup Poll, for example, revealed a solid 62 percent thought gay and lesbian relationships were "morally acceptable," a view diametrically opposite to church doctrine. Four years earlier, support for those relationships stood at just 46 percent.
So what's a pro-equality Catholic supposed to do?
One option is to become active in a new national organization that seeks to mobilize, as the poll found, "the more than 62 percent of Catholics who support freedoms for all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity," thereby funneling "that support into action for legislative, political and cultural change."
Based in Washington, D.C., the new group is Catholics for Equality ( www.catholicsforequality.org ) , which formally launched Sept. 14. The newly incorporated not-for-profit group is a 501 ( c ) ( 4 ) , an IRS designation that allows it to direct up to half of its activities to political causes including participation in state ballot measures, lobbying and endorsing candidates in partisan elections. Donations to it are not tax-deductible.
Catholics for Equality also established a 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) not-for-profit entity to which donations are tax deductible. It will engage in public education and advocacy and have limited participation in ballot measure campaigns. Both entities are subject to state laws of incorporation and well as the IRS rules.
During a recent teleconference, new group organizers acknowledged, it will not be easy. "We don't have the capacity to use the church halls" or parish bulletins to organize, said founding board member Father Joseph Palacios, a sociologist, adjunct professor of sociology at Georgetown University, and priest of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Palacios, who is Latino, also identifies as a celibate gay man. He was active in marriage equality work in Washington, D.C., last year through Catholics United for Marriage Equality, which he organized.
Instead, Catholics for Equality is relying on "a state-of-the-art website and a strategic use of social media"including a soon-to-be-rolled-out smartphone appto provide as board member Aniello Alioto said, "American Catholics with role models, facts, and tips on how to have a family discussion, how to challenge misinformation in our parishes, and how to ensure as Catholics their voices are heard."
Initially, Catholics for Equality plans to rely on the power of social media.
"We've built our website so that every page a supporter views, every time a user takes action, he can share that with friends on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Gmail, and other popular social networks and services," explained Alioto. "Our main goal from now until the end of the year focuses on encouraging and providing support for Catholic families, parishes, and communities to have honest and rational discussions about LGBT equality."
Catholics for Equality has received assistance from several national LGBT organizations, including Dignity, a group for LGBT Catholics, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination, and the Human Rights Campaign.
HRC spokesman Fred Sainz said that the organization lent Catholics for Equality meeting space and "supported some of their start-up costs at less than $10,000."
A former HRC staffer, Phil Attey is presently the unpaid acting executive director for Catholics for Equality.
Undoubtedly, Catholic Church hierarchy has been major player in Chicago and throughout the state. In fact, Illinois' Catholic population is slightly more than 30 percent, with Chicago's nearly 5 million among the faithful ( nearly 39 percent ) ranking the local archdiocese third in the nation, according to church data from 2008.
The local LGBT Catholic landscape has several existing groups, each serving different purposes. The oldest and best know is Dignity. Current Chicago chapter President Chris Pett said he not only welcomes Catholics for Equality, but also envisions the new group having a positive impact in public discourse.
"We need to grab the mike and provide an alternative voice that is truly representative of the faithful versus what the bishops tell us," he said during a recent telephone interview. With a civil unions bill pending in the Legislature, Pett explained, "Catholics need you to reach out to their legislators," adding, "It's powerful when a constituent who is Catholic calls or writes their lawmaker. A bishop has one vote, but legislators have a lot of constituents. And lot of Catholics think [ enacting civil unions ] is the right thing to do."
Leadership at Equality Illinois, a statewide LGBT organization, could not be more enthusiastic about for the new organizing effort. "Religious leaders and people of faith are among the strongest sources of support for LGBT equality issues," said Equality Illinois CEO Bernard Cherkasov.
"Within the Catholic Church itself, nuns have been doing incredible work supporting what is right in the face of opposition from the hierarchy. But in order for us to make progress, we need to amplify those voices of reason and use them as models for people of faith everywhere. That's why I am so proud of the work that Catholics for Equality are doing. They have a long road ahead of them, but they have a strong team who really understand the Church and its sensitivities."
Cherkasov has engaged Pett to chair Equality Illinois' "Faith and Freedom Project.
Meanwhile, Joseph Ferrallo, co-director of AGLO, the Chicago's Archdiocesan Gay & Lesbian Outreach ministry, said his organization has no comment about the new Catholic group.
But Joe Murray, a spokesperson for the local Rainbow Sash Movement ( www.rainbowsashmovement.com ) , voiced concerns. "Our board has made the determination not to join Catholics for Equality or endorse the organization" he said.
"Our concern is at a very fundamental level, we believe that fighting homophobia within the church, and challenging the church's teaching that promotes anti gay sentiment, discrimination, and violence is both necessary, and ethical if we are to support gay rights in the broader community. We cannot support gay rights in society, and not in the church."
Catholics for Equality is not focused on church ministry or pastoral support programs. Rather, its aim is to facilitate netroots and grassroots political activism in pro-equality state legislative and ballot measure campaigns.
"We [ also ] are not a church reform group," said Father Palacios. "We are not going to handle doctrine. We can't change that. That is the church's thing. We don't even have the illusion that we as Catholics can do that."
Accordingly, he added, "What we are doing is public action and public education on public issues. We are helping the Catholic movable middle rethink their positions. They are a fair-minded people. They want to do the right thing from their American core values and the heritage of Catholic social justice values."
A specific way to facilitate conversation, Catholics for Equality suggests, is for supporters to host parish brunches or coffee hours in homes and restaurants where "people-in-the-pew" Catholics, what organizers call the "moveable middle," can hear from community and parish leaders and LGBT equality boosters.
In Maine, for example, the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination has obtained a grant to set up conversations among parishioners, meeting in small groups after Mass during coffee hour.
"The idea is to bring gay and lesbian couples and straight couples together one-on-one," with the objective of reaching "people not opposed to marriage and LGBT rights, but who are uncertain what that would look like," said Catholics for Equality board member Anne Underwood.
Disclosure: In January, Chuck Colbert attended the first organizing meeting of Catholics for Equality, as a journalist and invited guest.
Copyright 2010 Chuck Colbert. All rights reserved.