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After attending the Sacred Liturgy on Pentecost Sunday I had to recognize that the Catholic Church is no longer a place that welcomes all people. The Bishops stand at the altar and bar people who have a different sexual orientation from receiving communion. Everyone is not welcome in our church. We are not an inclusive church who welcomes anyone. My Pentecost experience allowed me to respond to the Catholic Bishops of the United States that judgment belongs to God.
After listening to the readings of Pentecost Sunday about the diversity of the Church I surely thought this time the Bishops would take those statements of inclusion from Holy Scripture as their guiding light. Sadly that was not the case. They have become so locked into the court theology of the middle ages that they have become fossilized in ministry to Gay and Lesbian people. Like our Church fathers Augustine and Origen I remain critical of the hierarchy.
The bishops are unable to enter into a living discussion of the challenge of the lived experiences of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender Catholics. They have no access to the self-understanding of GLBT Catholics. To quote a statement from St. Thomas Aquinas, their understanding is “All straw”.
I fear the reform that Vatican II called for will only end in failure as previous councils did such as Basel, Florence, and Lateran. So hopeless debate will continue with understanding impossible to reach because of fear. Like so many of my Catholic associates I appeal to the gospel, reason & conscience in this matter. How can denying any communion speak to pastoral effectiveness?
The source of all corruption is the marriage of politics with religion, and Eucharist with authority. Many of us experience the Eucharist differently, but that should not be a reason to deny any individual the Eucharist. I call on our theologians to return to narrative theology – telling the story of Jesus’ life. I do not hear the voice of the good shepherd coming from either Pope or the Bishops on this matter. Instead we have wide spread fossilization of the Church leadership.
Finally the gospels began with the needs of all people. God is the God of all people and as such is near to all people, so that even gays and lesbians can recognize, worship, and love the real God. The Bishops for their part have splintered the Eucharistic Community by their actions on Pentecost Sunday and try to fault the victims what hypocrites.
