A
response to
Always Our Children: A Pastoral Message
to Parents of Homosexual Children,
a statement of the NCCB Committee on Marriage and Family.
Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc.
In defense of the Holy Father and Orthodoxy
P.O. Box 109, Petersburg, IL 62675
ph: 217-632-5920 fax: 217-632-7054
Tuesday, October 7, 1997
Press
Conference outside the NCCB office in Washington, DC
A
statement by Stephen G. Brady, President of Roman Catholic Faithful,
Inc.
The Associated Press story by David Briggs as reported in the
Indianapolis Star (Wednesday, October 1, 1997) "Love your gay children,
bishops say" and the State Journal-Register of Springfield, Illinois of
the same day implies that the bishops feel that since active homosexual
conduct is an outcome of what they consider a natural condition that it
therefore should be tolerated. Under this reasoning, sex outside of
marriage should also be morally condoned since it results from a natural
desire.
This
media spin on the "pastoral" was inevitable given the pastoral's
cleverly nuanced language designed to undermine the teaching of the
Catholic Church.
The
bishop's pastoral assumes that sexual appetite, however disordered,
defines the fundamental nature of a human being.
The real
question here is why the NCCB is trying to break down resistance to
homosexual conduct while completely ignoring those children abused by
the homosexual clergy, and those priests and seminarians being abused
by homosexual clergy? Why are the cries of the faithful going unanswered
while the American hierarchy protects its own?
Bishop
Joseph Imesch of Joliet, Illinois, (whose diocese has its own sex
scandals) chairman of the Committee on Pastoral Practices (NCCB) was
quoted in the Star article as an authority on the topic of the recently
released pastoral.
Yet,
when allegations of physical sexual harassment of priests were made by
priests against one former priest of Imesch's diocese (Bishop Daniel
Ryan of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois), neither Imesch nor the
NCCB showed any love nor sought any justice for the priests who suffered
at the hands of Bishop Ryan. Why?
In
February, Roman Catholic Faithful (RCF) publicly identified Bishop
Daniel Ryan as an active homosexual who had been placed in a position of
authority within the Catholic Church. Based on the protection that
Bishop Ryan received (the Papal Nuncio refusal to investigate), it has
become painfully obvious that within the
American church leadership there are those who are cut from the same
cloth as Ryan.
We have
received phone calls and letters from priests, seminarians and laity who
had their own horror stories in regard to the acceptance of overt sexual
behavior at seminaries and Catholic institutions. The explosion in
priest pedophilia lawsuits is merely a symptom of a deeper problem. One
has to question whether the bishop's indulgent promotion of
homosexuality reflects the disordered sexuality that apparently exists
among some of the Catholic clergy.
The
release of this "pastoral", without the approval of the full body of
bishops, just a few weeks before the NCCB meeting November 10, again
raises the question-why?
In the
spring of 1998 RCF will be sending out a mailing to every priest in this
country in an effort to gather the information we need to help purge the
Catholic Church of the homosexualist influence. We have found that
litigation and public exposure can help rid the Church of scandal.
In their
pastoral, the bishops speak of "accepting and loving your child". Are
the bishops suggesting that Catholic mothers and fathers do not love
their children unconditionally? What arrogance considering that many of
our lost shepherds (including Imesch, Ryan, Mahony, Weakland, Untener,
Clark, Hubbard and the like) speak of love and justice but their actions
speak much louder than their words. We at RCF hear from hundreds of
parents whose children are subjected to every form of abuse such as
heretical teaching, inappropriate sex education, sexual abuse, and
countless liturgical abuses. When parents approach these bishops with
their cries for help, they are completely ignored if not mocked and
ridiculed. Do these bishops know what true love is?
If these
bishops truly love the homosexual person, do they tell them to avoid the
occasion of sin by staying away from gay bars? Do they tell them to
remove themselves from a relationship with their lover? Are they told to
go to confession and daily Mass to receive the graces necessary to fight
this sinful lifestyle? Or, are they encouraged to attend a "homosexual
Mass" hand in hand with their lover as in the case of Bishop Mathew
Clark's March 1, 1997 "Mass for Gay and Lesbian Catholics" at Sacred
Heart Cathedral.
Perhaps
the NCCB should clean its own house before it attempts to tell Catholic
parents how to love their children. The deplorable state of the Catholic
Church in America is well documented and is most definitely a
reflection of the lives of its clerical leadership. It is about time
orthodox Catholics hold their bishops accountable and we at RCF intend
to do just that starting with our November 9th meeting in Washington DC.
Stephen
G. Brady
phone 217-632-5920 / fax 217-632-7054
October 7, 1997