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» Asked by Anonymous

May 16 2012

bayzack:

A local church in my area posted outside there church. this is what the that church had to say about that sign when a women posted her own sign of love and peace and a rainbow balloon.

Good morning-

I am a member of the community and terribly bothered by the message on the sign board in the town center this morning reading, ” two men are friends not spouses”. I understand that this attitude properly reflects the beliefs of your church but find this hateful, which I did not believe to be the Catholic way. This message IS hateful and sends a message to the community that gay people are not only unwelcomed but looked down upon for their sexuality. I believe that it sends a message to the community not to unify in a time when unity would benefit this world but to segregate based upon sexual preferance, which seems irrelevant to living as a good human being.

This message reminds me of something we would have seen in the 1940’s in the South pertaining to racial differences. Today when we look back on those times, we are ashamed that this behavior wad allowed. Sadly, your church is doing exactly that and years from now will be viewed in the same manner.

It is my understanding that the Catholic church is seeking new members. As a straight woman, I would never set foot in your doors for being part of such a judgemental and hateful community is not something I would expose myself or my children to. I am embarrased for you,and hurt and saddened for the community. I pray for the hateful members of your church to find peace and kindness, acceptance and love, for this is none of those. There is NOTHING wrong with two men loving one another and it is in my belief that if there is a God he would be disgusted with your churches behavior.

I caution you against further messages like this. You are merely inviting hate unto your church and driving away potential members.

I strongly urge you to remove this message immediately.

I recently read a sign that read “if you hate gay people, blame straight people- they are the ones who keep having them”- ponder that for a minute!

I pray you will do what is “right”.

-Vanessa Perry

_____________________________-The reply.

Dear Vanessa:

I am sorry I could not respond sooner to your e-mail, but I had many duties to perform before being able to set aside the time. In order to facilitate a response to your many statements, I will bullet specific responses.

1) In fact the Catholic way is not hateful nor is the expression on the sign. To say that two men should be friends is certainly not hateful; to say that they cannot be married is based on a moral truth that two men can never join or unite in the way a man and a woman do in marriage.

2) The sign does not say that gay people are looked down upon because of their same-sex attraction. The sign means what the early Greek philosophers concluded to – that the proper relationship between two men is one of friendship not sexual activity and certainly not marriage

3) The sign does not ask for segregation. It does not say that a person with same-sex attraction is not entitled to housing, not entitled to a job, not entitled to free movement or free speech, not entitled to medical care or inheritance rights or visitation rights - all of which the Church teaches every person is entitled too. In fact all of these rights can be guaranteed for the individual as an individual without any reference at all to marriage. If there is any segregation it is in nature and the Church believes in the natural law.

4) You make an historical error in your comparison with racial tensions in the South. I suggest that you research Thomas Wyatt Turner, Alexander Pierre Tureaud and Earl Johnson, all African-American and Catholic and at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement which primed the Catholic Church to get more involved until it was invited to march with Martin Luther King – which it did. This is not an issue of race and it cannot be compared to one.

5) The Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ is not a club and it is not “seeking new members”. Unfortunately, many other church communities out there see it that way and can be threatened by that argument. The Church serves Christ who is the love, but is also truth – Jesus told the woman caught in adultery that he did not judge her – but he also said- “go and sin no more”. Our purpose is to gather in souls for God’s kingdom - not to gain new members.

6) You are entitled to your opinion. The Catholic Church teaches that we should be left to decide with our own conscience. Yours leads to you to protect those with same-sex attraction. The Catholic Church too protects them – being the largest provider of services to gay individuals who have contracted AIDS and by protecting the dignity of every human person around the entire globe. But because we will not yield on marriage we are labeled bigots and haters – this is most unfortunate, but we will bear it as Jesus bore his accusers.

7) I put the sign up representing the Church’s position – and yet you call the members of our parish hateful having never met them – this is judgmental!

8) As to your slogan: “if you hate gay people, blame straight people- they are the ones who keep having them” – it may be a catchy phrase but it reveals the truth that only the union of one man and one woman can bear children and this is true marriage.

As I wrote this I just pulled a protest sign attached to a rainbow balloon which was nailed into our fence… so what do think about people defacing private property – that is hateful and something the Church would not do…

In Christ,

Steve