Letter to the Editor
In my opinion, what affects LGBT Catholic community the most is homophobia.
It is promoted by the Roman Catholic Church under the mantle of "Church Teaching."
Our LGBT identity is the basis for witness and participation in the ongoing reign of the people of God. To deny this would be, in fact, denying our human dignity.
Yes, we are witnessing a tonal change from the Vatican under the leadership of Pope Francis; however, his instruction to the bishops of Malta to oppose the adoption of children to LGBT couples has trappings that must be publicly challenged.
LGBT Catholics can longer afford to be shy about confronting homophobia in the Church. Nor can we any longer be silent when elements of the Catholic clergy promote anti gay bigotry from their closet and pulpit. I fear far too many of us have given these clergy a pass. It is time for us to have a public conversation about this outside of the influence of these clergy.
I don't know how I feel about outing these clergy, but I think it is unreasonable not to have the discussion, given the recent activity of the Illinois Catholic Conference and the Archdiocese of Chicago in opposing our civil rights.
In my opinion, these issues are important not because they lack clarity which makes some uncomfortable; such questions are important because no community can remain hermetically sealed, and confident of its own superiority.
Joe Murray
Chicago