[Note: The following column appeared in the July 19, 2007 issue of InNewsweekly. Reprinted with permission of the author.]
Dignity/USA, the nation's largest and oldest faith community for GLBT Catholics, while meeting in convention July 5 - 8 in Austin, Texas, issued new guidelines for pastoral care of people. The guidelines, said Jeff Stone, spokesperson for the New York chapter of Dignity, were in response to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Nov. 2006 guide, "Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care."
Last year, in their pastoral care document, the bishops wrote, "By its very nature, human sexuality finds its proper fulfillment in the marital bond. Any sexual act that takes place outside the indissoluble and lifelong bond of marriage does not fulfill the proper ends of human sexuality. It is not directed toward the expression of marital love with openness to new life. It is disordered in that it is not in accord with this twofold end and is thus morally wrong."
Ministry to gays and lesbians, the document says, requires mandatory life-celibacy. The bishops discuss gayness, with language describing homosexuality, gay life and love as "same-sex attraction," a "disorder or "inclination." Accordingly, the bishops oppose any form of civil recognition for gay couples' commitment, everything from domestic partnership to civil unions to civil marriage - anything remotely approximating marital relationships. The bishops also oppose gay adoption because, they say, "homosexual unions are contrary to the divine plan."
Nonetheless, a growing consensus has emerged among Dignity's leaders and membership for a "proactive" rather than "reactive," response, Stone said, adding, "We want to develop the [Catholic] faith tradition that feels right and authentic" without "letting the bishops control us."
By comparison, Dignity's pastoral care guidelines affirm the "inherent dignity" of GLBT persons in their "diversity" as "members of Christ's mystical body." The guidelines call for "equal participation" in Church life, including the sacraments of marriage and ordination, specifically calling for "the opportunity to formalize our commitments, sacramentally" as well as through civil marriage. The guidelines also offer support and encouragement for GLBT youth, their parents and friends, and for the children of same-sex couples.
Ultimately, the document challenges all Catholics to "live out the Gospel values of service, compassion, and community," reminding ministers and worshipping communities that "love of neighbor" lies at the heart of the "great commandment."
A former Dignity/USA national president and executive director, Marianne Duddy-Burke, who played a key role crafting the pastoral guidelines, said, "Over time we will see more and more Catholic groups, large and small, articulating their own vision of community, pastoral practice, and ethics." Duddy-Burke, of Boston, said the local Dignity chapter was active in the process, establishing a study group and holding a "listening night" where individuals could offer their perspectives.
True enough, what irked many GLBT Catholics, Dignity/USA president Sam Sinnett said was the bishops' "not bothering to consult with openly LGBT people, or even with their own diocesan ministries that work directly with LGBT people."
"Our guidelines were developed through a process of broad consultation throughout our organization and beyond over the past six months," said Sinnett.
"Clearly, given the Catholic community's realization that the bishops no longer provide trustworthy moral leadership," Duddy-Burke said, more "authentic voices" are now filling that "void" created by the hierarchy's loss of credibility. "We've certainly seen bolder statements from theologians and commentators in recent years," she explained.
Since they were issued last week, Stone said the reaction to the guidelines has been so far uniformly positive.
"Dignity's pastoral care guidelines are based on solid theological and psychological foundations about the lived experience of LGBT people," said Frank DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a gay affirming, national Catholic education and research center.
"These guidelines are a helpful alternative to the U.S. bishops' 2006 guidelines, which were a radical departure from U.S. Catholic thought and practice about gay ministry. The Dignity guidelines actually represent more clearly the pastoral practice that is happening in the best gay ministry programs in dozens of Catholic parishes and dioceses around the U.S. Mid-level Catholic leaders in Church institutions have not found the bishops 2006 guidelines realistic or helpful," he added.
Casey Lopata, of Fortunate Families, a Rochester, N. Y. -based gay positive ministry, primarily with Catholic parents of GLBT persons, said his group also "welcomes" Dignity's pastoral guidelines. "They clearly reflect the kind of pastoral care hoped and prayed for by the vast majority of more than 275 Catholic parents of LGBT daughters and sons who responded to [a] Fortunate Families survey during the past year," he said.
Lopata also voiced hope that "bishops, pastors, and all pastoral ministers will open their hearts and minds and listen to our LGBT daughters and sons," he said. "They deserve the same pastoral care, if not more, given the hurt caused by the lack of such care. We fervently hope the institutional Church will seriously listen to and learn from our daughters and sons, and ultimately offer them the compassionate pastoral care exhibited by Jesus in the Gospels."