By George...
Dear Editor:
I was somewhat surprised by Cardinal Francis George's willingness to meet with a gay man Sept. 9 who was fired in late July from his position as Director of Worship at Holy Family Catholic Church. According to Windy City Times, "Colin Collette was fired from his job after announcing through social media that he and his partner, William Nifong, were engaged." The reason for my surprise is that George believes error has no rights.
The drama playing itself out at Holy Family is just that drama over finding out what the Catholic Church really teaches about the homosexual person when, in my opinion, this should have been understood from the beginning. Who's at fault for this? I think there is enough blame to go around, but high on the list are Catholic priests who promote this deception. After speaking with some parishioners from Holy Family, their take on the subject was that they had been misled by their pastor to believe that Holy Family Catholic parish was suppose to be welcoming, and what happened to Collette was a betrayal of that gospel value.
I think the whole question of communication points to a poor and dysfunctional level of catechists in the Church. Programs that claim to reach out to fallen Catholics to welcome them back to the Church have fallen on deaf ears. In my opinion, the Archdiocese Gay and Lesbian Outreach ( AGLO ) ministry is a prime example of misleading people to feel they are welcome in the Church when they are not. The silence from the AGLO board and moderator has been deafening when it came to Collette's dismissal.
Some gay Catholics don't like to believe that the Church is both corrupt and wounded, and would rather keep the veil over their eyes. How else could AGLO be promoting celibacy, supporting the cardinal's position on same-sex marriage, and buying into the shame factor to remain hidden, and silent? The way lesbians are treated by this organization can only be described as an example of public chauvinism.
We have two Catholic gay aldermanTom Tunney of the 44th Ward and James Cappleman of 46th Ward. Sadly, both of these men have been silent on Collette's dismissal.
I hope Collette understands the Cardinal feels he has done no wrong. I expect to see a friendlier Cardinal George because of how much the landscape in the Vatican has changed; however, no one should think this will in anyway change the Teaching of the Church on the homosexual person. The cardinal does not have that authority.
In my opinion, the cardinal will not change his position and rehire Collette; to do so would indicate he was wrong in his actions.
Concerning Collette's comment about finding out who informed the cardinal about him, it would also surprise me if George gave him this information. Again, from the cardinal's perspective, "Error has no rights."
I think Collette should try to keep the public conversation going. He should host a press conference immediately outside of the chancery offices after his meeting and challenge George to attend a Holy Family parish retreat to be held this October. The one thing that George really does not like is public criticism directed at him by self-identified gay and lesbian people. I would also hope Collette would publically remember all of the Catholic LGBT teachers across the country who have lost their jobs at Catholic educational and charity intuitions.
Misleading people is wrong, but when the Roman Catholic Church does it on such a massive scale to LGBT people it is morally wrong. Those who promote the idea that LGBT are welcome in the Catholic Church just are not grounded in reality of the situation, as is reflected by this case and others across the country. I was part of that group up until recently.
If we are going to work for meaningful change in church doctrine, we have to exit our closets both clerical and lay. We can no longer see invisibility as somehow good and those who come out of the closet as threat.
I will keep Collette in my prayers as I will the many others who have lost their jobs based on bigotry.
Joe Murray
Chicago