Openly gay Catholic journalist Robert Mickens offers an interesting take on Pope Francis' permission to priesst to bless same-sex couples:
It's Francis lancing the boil of homophobia in the Catholic clergy and hierarchy, Mickens proposes. It's less about same-sex couples than it is about the large numbers of priests and bishops who are gay — but often closeted and in many cases self-loathing.
When a leading Catholic journal considered on the slightly left of center side of Catholicism today — I'm speaking of La Croix International — chooses to talk about the pope's permission for "homosexuals" and "homosexual couples" to be blessed, you see how very far the Catholic community has to go to become a welcoming place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other gender-nonconforming human beings.
As Francis DeBernardo notes, the move of the Catholic church to sanction blessing same-sex marriages — but not performing same-sex marriages — is rooted in the view of Pope Francis that the fundamental mission of the church is to welcome all. Not to pass moral judgment. Not to exclude sinners on moral grounds, since, if it takes that tack, who will NOT be excluded?
The Guardian explains why it welcomes the decision of the Church of England — at long last — to bless same-sex unions:
"In previous years, the Church of England has changed its position on the remarriage of divorced people in church, the ordination of women and the appointment of female bishops."
"Each reform was fiercely opposed, but arguments based on the gospel message of inclusion and equality before God triumphed over those based on a narrow interpretation of scripture. …
In a remarkable essay charting his own change of heart on same-sex relationships, Mr Croft [bishop of Oxford] has written that 'the foundational trajectory of scripture is of recognising … dignity, worth and equality'."
I was talking to a relative yesterday, a christian who was telling me how amazingly blessed they were because they had a need of something that was too expensive new and too difficult to find used and in good shape.
But God hooked them up with someone in their church community who had this thing, no longer needed it, was happy to give it to my relative for free.
They cited another example of being blessed like this when a friend noticed a need they had and found someone in the community who was willing to pay for it for them.
They became quite emotional describing how "blessed" they were.
I wanted so much to tell them:
That wasn't "God" at all, that's communism!
Or as anarchists would call it: Mutual Aid.
This is not God, this is something deeply, essentially, and definitively human.
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