Religious Tyranny is NOT Religious Freedom

The Governor of Mississippi is about to sign into law SB2681 that gives full permission for business owners to deny services, for landlords to deny housing, and for discrimination to go unstopped even when local communities pass anti-discrimination ordinances. All in the name of “Religious Freedom.”



Black’s Law dictionary, Seventh edition, defines Freedom of Religion as:

“The right to adhere to any form of religion or none, to practice or abstain from practicing religious beliefs, and to be free from governmental interference with or promotion of religion, as guaranteed by the First Amendment and Article VI, Section 3 of the U. S. Constitution.”

What if your Boss was to tell you what you could do or say (or not do or say), based on his “Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs? What if he threatened to fire you if you did not bend to his will and obey his orders? What if he took away your Freedom of Speech and told you what you could say publicly, or what organizations you could support on your own time as a volunteer, or a donor? Can’t happen in America! Right?

Wrong! In 29 states you can be fired today for simply being a lesbian, gay or bisexual person and in 33 states for being transgender. This is unfair and constitutes a grave injustice. In Cincinnati the Roman Catholic bishop says you can be fired for being LGBT, or even just for supporting Marriage Equality. In Hawaii the Roman Catholic bishop says you can be fired as an Algebra teacher, simply for being legally married to someone of the same gender.

Now, in Mississippi the state government is stripping you of your American Constitutional Rights. This means that you could walk into your favorite restaurant, store, theater, or gas station and be denied service because someone “didn’t like your kind.” That sounds like a time when cowards disguised in white robes intimidated “those people” in the name of “Christian” values. Can’t happen in America today! Right? Wrong!

Unethical politicians are trampling on the Constitutional rights the authors of our Constitution gave to each and every American:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

What you believe is your business, a question of your conscience. No one (not even the Great State of Mississippi) has the right to force their beliefs on you and you do not have a right to force your beliefs on others.

The product of authentic religion/spirituality is practical charity, the means of it are earned trust, integrity and real hope. The product of false religion/spirituality is hatred the means of it are suspicion, division and fear.

Religious Tyranny is NOT Religious Freedom.

"Who am I to judge?" pope Francis unmasked.

Please Note: The Prime Mover in passing this hateful law was the Roman Catholic Church. Remember all the LGBT folks fainting when pope Francis said: "Who am I to judge?"

Please understand that his famous "change in tone" was meant to improve PR for the Catholic Church in the West and NOT to help LGBT people. He is not our friend.

Will Pope Francis challenge President Putin on his country's persecution of LGBT people?

This week Pope Francis will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vatican. So, why is this meeting happening and why is it a big deal, anyway? Let’s be candid, Putin is not dropping by to borrow a cup of sugar, well possibly a metaphorical cup of sugar. A little bit of sugar to help the poison of Russia’s newest pogrom on LGBT people go down, or at least make it more palatable.

Why the urgency?

The 2014 Sochi Olympics are taking a hit.

The word “boycott” is on the lips, not only of activists, but of athletes, and consumers. Corporate sponsors are questioning consumer blowback. All this is spilling over to talks of boycotts of investment in Russia and has the potential of developing into a divestment movement like that against South Africa because of its apartheid laws in the 1980s.

Additionally, serious questions have been raised about how participants and visitors will be treated during their Olympic stay in Russia. Conditional and nuanced assurances by Russian officials have left many, as the French say: Unconvinced. Anyone with internet access can view videos of Neo-Nazis torturing gay men that they have lured into traps. In public streets and squares rightest thugs openly attack LGBT folks who attempt to engage in free public speech, or as Putin calls it “homosexual propaganda.” Wearing a rainbow could land you in the hospital, in jail or both. The police and judicial authorities turn a blind eye to these flagrant assaults and fail to prosecute thugs, who become de facto enforcers of Putin’s decrees.



Petitions have been circulated asking Nations to boycott the Olympics, comparing this Olympic event with Hitler’s hijacking of the 1936 Olympics as a propaganda device to sell the New Germany to the world. Ekaterina Samutsevich, a member of the Russian Band Pussy Riot, explains the parallel:

“In an interview with the BBC, Samutsevich said it was all but impossible for Russian athletes to mount any sort of protest as they would lose their livelihood. "[The Olympics] could be a source of national pride. But what is happening now, and there is no other way to describe it, is right-wing fascism. This is what the Olympics are turning into and even sports people are being pressured into adopting these views. Rather than celebrating about sporting achievement it becomes about propagating these views.”

Putin needs some of the heat taken off, his attempted justification that his antigay-laws are to “protect children,” although taken from the playbook of Anita Bryant and the “good” folks at the discredited National Organization for Marriage (NOM), has no foundation in reason. Putin himself said famously in his oped in NY Times "We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.."


This was stated, rightly, as a rebuke to President Obama’s claim of American Exceptionalism; however, doesn’t it also apply to the LGBT minority in the Russian Federation?

While the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has been very supportive of Putin, many roll their eyes, seeing Kirill, the Russian Church and Media, as being merely a rubber stamp of the regime. Where to turn?

The answer came in the mail on September 4th 2013. A letter from Francis to Putin praising him for his new role as President of the G-20, in Francis’ words:

“I am aware that the Russian Federation has participated in this group from the moment of its inception and has always had a positive role to play in the promotion of good governance of the world’s finances, which have been deeply affected by the crisis of 2008.”

Francis’ letter to Putin goes on to encourage Putin’s role as “Peacemaker” in Syria. Although not stated explicitly, it implies a role for Putin as a counterbalance to the U.S. in Middle East politics. It is all very sweet and could signal a honeymoon between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church. Consider that it has only been four years since diplomatic ties with Russia and the Vatican have been reestablished after centuries of distance and cold distrust. Both Russia and the Vatican desperately need to refocus on new issues, to “change the subject” of the conversation. This meeting allows both of them to accomplish this effectively. The cost, spiritually and in terms of justice, are LGBT people and their lives.

With Syria, the Middle East and Russian relations on the table, will Pope Francis speak up on behalf of LGBT victims, or will their continuing persecution be seen as the price of a sweet deal? Perhaps Francis could simply smile, if the subject is raised by a pesky reporter, and ask: “Who am I to judge?”

"If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" -Pope Francis

"If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"

Last week pope Francis uttered those words to the press while aboard the papal airplane bound to Rome from Brazil. Many have praised the pope’s use of the word “gay” and his promise of not judging as a tectonic “breakthrough” and as being a “game-changer” within catholicism.

Last week something else also happened, Ken Bencomo a beloved English teacher at St. Lucy’s Priory High School, an all-girl school in Glendora, California was fired. Why? Ken Bencomo went down to the County Clerk’s Office in San Bernadino and purchased a Civil Marriage License from the state of California. He married his partner Christopher Persky.

Evidently the catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose H. Gomez, wasn’t watching the news the day that pope Francis made his “who am I to judge” statement.

What can you do?

Don’t just leave, tell the church why you’re leaving. Write a letter to pope Francis, mail a copy to archbishop Gomez and finally, cut and paste a copy of your letter to the change.org petition demanding that Ken Bencomo be reinstated immediately as a teacher at St. Lucy’s.


Here is a sample of a letter, feel free to use/modify it:




His Holiness
Pope Francis
The Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City
Europe



Your Holiness,


Last week your holiness made the statement: "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"

Yet, archbishop Jose H. Gomez, fired Ken Bencomo a beloved English teacher at St. Lucy’s Priory High School, an all-girl school in Glendora, California. The bishop did this simply because Mr. Bencomo is gay and entered into a Civil Marriage under California state law.

There are many heterosexual teachers working in Catholic schools who have been divorced and remarried. These teachers, although technically “adulterers” according to church teaching, have not been fired. It is clear that Mr. Bencomo was targeted for special treatment, simply because he is gay.

Tragically this is not an isolated incident but part of an aggressive national and international campaign by bishops, which includes misuse of donated funds, to deny LGBT people of their human dignity and civil rights.

This forces me to conclude that your words are false and empty promises and merely congenial non-substantive rhetoric, your inaction and the actions of the bishops demonstrate a persistent and unjust persecution gay people. I do not wish to be an accomplice to this continuing injustice.

I therefore am informing you of my decision to formally leave the catholic church. I was baptized at (insert name of the church where you were baptized) in (insert year of baptism). Please have them make notation of my decision in the baptismal register.



Most Sincerely,
(your signature)


CC: Jose H. Gomez and Change.org


Jose H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010




Help this go viral. If enough people speak-up and take action, it will be noticed by the bishops and the pope. This is the one thing they most fear, because the true wealth (and power) of the bishops are the people. This will cause bishops to think twice about inflicting similar injustices again. It also calls on pope Francis to back his words with real substance.

RUN! Do not walk, to the nearest exit!

Yesterday my phone rang, it was a reporter from a news station in Fresno asking for an interview on the pope Francis’ statement on gay priests. Later, Telemundo called asking to arrange for a camera crew to interview me at home. I sighed as I poured myself a cup of coffee and then read through the statement.


Bottom line: It is a way of appearing to change everything without changing anything. Lets examine the actual statement:


"If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"



“If someone is gay...”



Substitute the word “straight” for “gay” and you begin to see the problem; in fact, whenever an issue arises regarding gender orientation, simply do that: Substitute the word “straight” for “gay.” Does the statement still make sense?


It only makes sense if you believe that being gay is somehow disordered or defective. The official teaching of the Catholic church is precisely just that. The Official Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2357 states:

2357

Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

and


“and he searches for the Lord and has good will”



Here is the translation of what the pope is saying in plain English, taken directly from the Catholic Catechism:

2359

Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

Bottom line:


"homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." Under no circumstances can they be approved. Homosexual persons are called to chastity.



Forget whatever your sexual orientation is, could you live this way? Could you spend your entire life without intimately loving someone else? Could YOU? Most of us discover our sexual orientation at puberty. How would you have felt [did you feel] when you realized that you were gay? How would [did] that change the nature of your relationship with your parents? Your brothers and sisters? Your cousins? Your classmates? Your friends?


It’s OK, I’ll just never :”act on it.” Here is where the teaching of the Catholic church totally falls apart. Here is where its inhumanity begins to reveal itself plainly. THINK of what the logical consequences are to these official teachings! THINK of the real world damage this does to a young LGBT person who hears these teachings from their priest, teacher, parent and family members. THINK!


IT SEPARATES SEX FROM RELATIONSHIP.


Catholic moral theology isolates sex as “an act” and in doing this, it thereby effectively de-humanizes sex by removing it from its natural context, i.e. a relationship.




“Two principles capture the essence of the official Catholic position on the morality of sexuality: first, that any human genital act must occur within the framework of heterosexual marriage; second, each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life. In [their book, "The Sexual Person] this comprehensive overview of Catholicism and sexuality, theologians Todd A. Salzman and Michael G. Lawler examine and challenge these principles. Remaining firmly within the Catholic tradition, they contend that the church is being inconsistent in its teaching by adopting a dynamic, historically conscious anthropology and worldview on social ethics and the interpretation of scripture while adopting a static, classicist anthropology and worldview on sexual ethics.



While some documents from Vatican II, like Gaudium et spes ("the marital act promotes self-giving by which spouses enrich each other"), gave hope for a renewed understanding of sexuality, the church has not carried out the full implications of this approach. In short, say Salzman and Lawler: emphasize relationships, not acts, and recognize Christianity's historically and culturally conditioned understanding of human sexuality. The Sexual Person draws historically, methodologically, and anthropologically from the best of Catholic tradition and provides a context for current theological debates between traditionalists and revisionists regarding marriage, cohabitation, homosexuality, reproductive technologies, and what it means to be human.”



Pope Francis did NOT do that in his statement. What he did is accurately summed up by the following passage from Luke [11: 46-47]


“You lay impossible burdens on men but will not lift a finger to lighten them. Woe to you!”



At best, Francis is signaling a gentle course correction for Catholic bishops on this issue. When you’re an infallible institution, you can’t admit you made a mistake, you can’t admit that you have been wrong. Individual lives that are ruined or destroyed are unfortunate “collateral damage” that are sacrificed for the reputation of the institution. When all objective evidence contradicts something the church teaches, they simply emphasize something else. Prelates smile, employ humor, emphasize something else and are congenial.


But make no mistake, this pope’s congenial words offer ZERO relief for LGBT Catholics. They make no attempt to repair past evils inflicted on innocent people and so my advice is: leave! If you are LGBT leave the Catholic church, you can do better. If you are the parent or a family member of an LGBT person: leave! Your loved ones deserve better. If you are the parent of a child, leave! Your children absolutely deserve a healthier development. To raise an LGBT child in the Catholic church today constitutes de facto child abuse.


So, please, for the sake of psychological, emotional and spiritual well being and of love itself: RUN, do not walk, to the nearest exit!

Post Script


And this headline after the pope's "hopeful statement:" Gay Teacher Fired From Catholic School Shortly After Marriage Ceremony

A roadmap for Equality in the U.S.

A lucid overview and explanation of what is coming next in our national struggle for Full Equality and human dignity.

A Giant Step Forward in our Struggle for Human Dignity!

As a boy I never believed this would ever be possible. As a man I know what it has taken to make this possible. As a human being I appreciate both the liberation and spiritual wholeness that this represents.

As Rachel Maddow said: Mazel Tov!

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Supreme Court’s Decisions and the New Mason-Dixon Line

I have not posted here for several months and I will address that in my next post; however, I want to resume my blog commenting on yesterday’s significant developments.

Yesterday the long awaited decisions from the U. S. Supreme Court were finally announced. The first decision on DOMA was a substantive, although only a partial, victory. It was substantive because Section 3 of DOMA was struck down. The practical effect of this is that couples who are married in one of the states that recognizes full marriage equality for all of its citizens, will now have their marriages legally recognized by the Federal government.

Real world, this means they can file joint tax returns; in fact, they can amend their tax returns for the last 3 years, provided of course that they were legally married in a state that legally recognized their marriage. It means Social Security benefits for married partners. It means health care benefits. It means that persons married to someone in the military will now have access to base housing, spousal benefits and can be buried next to their husband/wife in a military cemetery. It means BI-national couples will not suffer the deportation of their other half by the INS. All of this and a myriad of other rights and obligations too numerous to list here.

For Californians, Prop 8 is finally dead, well almost. It will take 25 days for the U. S. Supreme Court’s decision to be officially communicated to the Ninth Circuit Court. Upon that official communication, the Ninth Circuit will then lift its stay on the decision that Prop 8 is unconstitutional. Governor Jerry Brown and the California Attorney General have already instructed all 58 counties in our state to immediately begin to issue Marriage Licenses once these legal technicalities are fulfilled. We should have Marriage Equality practically restored in California by the middle or end of July.

Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) had predicted a “HUGE” victory at the Supreme Court. He was correct, but for Marriage Equality and not for continued legal discrimination against LGBT people.

All of these developments are cause for joy and celebration. I recall being there at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and San Vincente in 2008 when the evil, and now defunct, Prop 8 was declared legal. We marched from that corner up to Sunset Boulevard and then on to Crescent Heights and back down to Santa Monica. In a humorous aside my partner and I found ourselves at the head of the crowd. We decided to walk back to the parking lot where our car was, not realizing that thousands of people were following us up the small side street. That little gaff provided a much appreciated, and needed, moment of laughter in an otherwise difficult night.

Yesterday streets were closed down here in LA, and other places across California and America. This time it was not to protest an evil injustice; but rather to mark and celebrate the achievement of a milestone for justice and human dignity. Such celebrations were more than warranted, as Thea’s partner and survivor said to journalists: “If I had to survive Thea, what a glorious way to do so!” Her love and wife were FINALLY recognized as valid and full citizens with the same equal rights and dignity that we all deserve! FINALLY!

Therein, however, lies the rub. Not everyone is equal. Proponents of injustice and inequality bellowed that 37 states deny those very rights to their subjects (citizens). They love to count their seemingly superior numbers; however, they conveniently overlook the populations of marriage equality v. discriminatory states. There are TWO Americas. I thought back to my 5th grade history class with Mrs. Martse, she explained the Mason-Dixon line to our class. It was an arbitrary line across America. A compromise, a way to accommodate two desperate views of humanity within a divided political reality.

The idea that an entire group of human beings can be abused, dehumanized, vilified and denied fundamental civil rights is not a new idea. The fact that other human beings can be so devoid of both empathy and wisdom, and create artificial justifications for such abuse of others, is a recurring tragedy within human history. Yet, here we are-again and so, while I rejoice that I live in a “Free” state, I lament that we live in a nation that is still half enslaved.

The words of President Lincoln speaking to this reality in his day, came to mind yesterday:

"A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.

His words provide comfort and hope; but simultaneously they are a call to action until all of us in all 50 states, and internationally, are free. A Yale law school professor yesterday commented that the Supreme Court decision on DOMA will inevitably lead to full equality throughout America within five years. In principle that seems true; however, it takes blood, sweat and tears to translate principles into laws. It takes generations of such perseverance to then translate laws into social attitudes. Other people in other ages have overcome injustices and malicious prejudices, we will too and for the very same reason: because we have no other choice.

Until you find the courage to speak the truth, you will never experience freedom or know peace.

The greatest contribution that any LGBT person can make to the cause of justice and equality is to stand up in the light of day and speak their truth clearly.

Reason and truth spoken with courage and persistence will end bigotry in our laws, and will eventually move hearts and minds to full social acceptance.

San Francisco in archbishop Cordileone’s sight

Newly installed archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has arrived with more baggage than San Franciso International airport can handle. Here are some of the more unwieldy pieces of that luggage:


1) “Cordileone first made headlines in 2008 when he helped draft and finance Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage. At the time, he called gay marriage a "plot by the Evil One" to destroy marriage in the modern world.” [Huffington Post]


2) He was in fact the man most responsible for Prop 8, as this article in the East Bay Express explains in detail.



3) Even before his installation as Archbishop of San Francisco, Cordileone issued the following ultimatum to those engaged in pastoral ministry to LGBT persons in San Francisco:


“In an April 12 letter to the association's board, Cordileone stated he would ‘take public action to clarify the status of [Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministry] CALGM with regard to authentic Catholic ministry’ should they refuse to take an oath that requested that each member ‘strive to clearly present Catholic doctrine on homosexuality in its fullness’ and ‘profess personally to hold and believe, and practice all that the holy Catholic church teaches, believes and proclaims to be true, whether from the natural moral law or by way revelation from God through Scripture and tradition. "The board has twice rejected the bishop's request."


To place this in context, imagine if he required all Marriage Encounter/Engaged Encounter Couples to take an oath that they practice and publically advocate for Natural Family Planning. The majority of Catholic married couples use artificial contraception.





4) Within one month of his installation as the new archbishop of San Francisco Cordileone issued the following letter:

November 6, was a disappointing day for marriage, as the effort to preserve the unique meaning of marriage in the law lost by only a narrow margin in four states, even though vastly outspent by those who promote the redefinition of marriage.
The meaning of marriage, though, cannot be redefined because it lies within our very nature. No matter what policy, law or judicial decision is put into place, marriage is the only institution that unites a man and a woman to each other and to any children born of their union. It is either this, or it is nothing at all. In view of the fact that every child has a mother and a father, our society either respects the basic right of every child to be raised by his or her mother and father together and so supports the true and unique meaning of marriage for the good of children, or it does not. In a society marked by increasing poverty and family fragmentation, marriage needs to be strengthened, promoted, and defended, not redefined. I hope and pray that political leaders, judges, and all people will seek to honor this foundational and common sense truth of marriage.


To this Jay Barmann comments: “Read it and try to understand how this guy is going to keep living here” in SFist.



In answer to Jay Barmann, Salvatore Cordileone has no desire or intention to remain archbishop of San Francisco for too long. I say this because the archdiocese of San Francisco is not a “red hat” archdiocese. There are no cardinal-archbishops of San Francisco. Well, with the exception of cardinal Levada, the former archbishop of San Francisco. Who along with cardinal Roger Mahony, and retired SF archbishop Niederaure all collaborated with Cordileone in passing Prop 8.

However Levada was promoted a cardinal AFTER he resigned as archbishop of San Francisco and was made the head of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly known as the Holy Office of the Holy Roman Inquisition). This is the number 2 position at the Vatican and is the watchdog organization for doctrinal purity within the church.

This is a critical point in considering the words and actions of archbishop Cordileone. He has no desire or intention to remain in San Francisco; however his performance in this role will facilitate his promotion to become a cardinal. Realistically, this means leaving San Francisco and moving elsewhere. Elsewhere is ideally one of the influential congregations [Departments] in the Vatican bureaucracy. For example, the Sacred Congregation of Bishops, that selects those who will be promoted from the ranks of the priesthood and be made bishops.

Cardinals also act as electors to the next pope and, since Benedict XVI is very elderly, the next papal conclave (election) will happen soon. One doesn’t become a cardinal and promoted to high office in the church on merit alone. In fact, many cardinals have reached high office with very little personal merit, for example cardinal Roger Mahony does not even hold a doctoral degree. However, he and Cordileone have two things essential for advancing an ecclesiastical career: 1) Napoleonic ambition and 2) influential friends in high church office.

Cordileone certainly possess both of these and, unlike Roger, he does hold a doctorate in Canon (church) law. His mentor in fact is cardinal Raymond Burke the head of the Roman Signatura, which is the equivalent of the church’s Supreme Court. Burke is very well connected and an influential ultraconservative in Vatican circles and Cordileone is seen to be his protégé.


Cordileone has had a meteoric rise within the hierarchy from his position as auxiliary (assistant) bishop of San Diego, fueled by the suffering of LGBT people. He was rewarded for his central role in promoting Prop 8 with a promotion to diocesan bishop [CEO] of Oakland. Now Benedict XVI has strategically placed him as archbishop of San Francisco. This is no accident San Francisco is perceived as the heart of the LGBT movement in America and Benedict has sent Cordileone to strike at the heart of our struggle for civil rights, because this pope knows that if the U.S. embraces full civil rights for LGBT people that the world will follow. He is desperately trying to stop that from happening and Cordileone’s past performance promises success in turning back the clock.

For Cordileone even pausing the clock may be enough to earn him a red-dress and a renaissance palazzo in Rome, replete with a chauffer driven Mercedes (no more pesky DUI’s) and a small army of sycophantic staff to tend to every whim and desire. Not to mention, becoming a powerful player in Vatican politics.

A clue as to how Cordileone can pause the clock is found in his letter. Note the passage: "I hope and pray that political leaders, judges, and all people will seek to honor this foundational and common sense truth of marriage." Cordileone knows that the Supreme Court will decided, possibly as early as this month, the fate of Prop 8 and within this next year the so called “Defense of Marriage Act” [DOMA].

The “judges” to whom Cordileone is appealing are: Scalia, Alito, Thomas, Roberts, and most especially, Kennedy. Cordileone’s letter is what is visible in the light of day, imagine what he’s doing behind the scenes.


POST SCRIPT:

What can you do? Write, speak out, let your voice be heard by elected officials, editors and online. Vatican intrigue may have a home in Rome, but it most certainly should not have a home in Washington DC.

You Matter

On Election night in 2008 I stood at the Music Box in LA and watched the election counts come in. That night four years ago, I experienced two opposite emotions at the same time. The hope for substantive change promised by our newly elected President, Barack Obama; and the just anger at the bigotry manifested by the passage of Proposition 8. A hateful “law” that stripped LGBT people not only of their civil right to marriage, but of their human dignity.


I came to realize in the weeks and months following the passage of that hate inspired law, that its passage was a blessing in disguise. If we had won and defeated Prop 8 in November of 2008, the rest of the nation would have brushed it off: “Eh, that’s California, the land of fruits and nuts.” But because we lost here, in what is perceived to be the bastion of liberalism in the USA, it was a slap in the face to LGBT people across America. If our civil rights can be trampled in California, what chance do we have in the Deep South or the Midwest? Prop 8 was a painful but effective national wake-up call to LGBT people and their loved ones.


Harvey Milk said: "Burst down those closet doors once and for all, and stand up and start to fight." It is true that if every LGBT person came out to family, friends, coworkers and society that homophobia would collapse. Social change, social justice and social equality would ensue. But there is also another truth here that is equally important: This is a personal matter, either you do it or it doesn't get done.


Each of us is personally healed and made whole the day we speak the truth about ourselves. The joke is: The last person you come out to, is yourself. The Prop 8 crisis was for me personally a moment of truth. A moment in which I had to make a personal decision that would change my life.


Speaking the truth can exact a painful price. Speaking the truth cost me my parish, my career, my financial security, my health care insurance and my retirement. I had to file for bankruptcy in July of 2010. Everything was stripped away. As Alexandr Solzhenitsyn said: “Once you take everything away from a man, you have no power over him.” In America we call this the “golden handcuffs.” Incidentally if anyone reading this has any influence in legislation, please help repeal ERISA exemptions to religious organizations. Everyone’s retirement benefits should be protected.



Today I am free from the fear that grips many priests in active ministry. I have lost false friends and discovered who are my true friends. I discovered that my parents love me unconditionally and that my family is there with and for me. The Prophet Job wrote: “Naked we come into the world and naked we go forth from it.” The only thing we have is ourselves and the love we have given and received.

Tuesday night, four years after the passage of the infamously unjust Prop 8, Maine, Maryland and Washington state all passed Marriage Equality laws that extend the Civil Right of Marriage to all couples. Minnesota voters rejected an Anti-Equality amendment to their state’s constitution. This along with the reelection of Barack Obama, the first sitting President to support Marriage Equality, in his victory speech affirmed the civil rights of all Americans “gay or straight.”

This represents a cultural tipping point in American society towards full legal equality and eventual social acceptance. Because of America’s influence in the world, it also represents an acceleration of international legal and social equality for LGBT persons. That is my assessment, but I think it prudent to look at last night’s events through the eyes of others.

NOM:

Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), an organization that actively works against the Civil Rights of LGBT people, predicted that the President would lose reelection last night. She was wrong. She did however have the foresight to step down as the president of NOM and hand on the helm to Brian Brown, just before everything hit the fan.


Effectively leaving Brian Brown holding the bag of failure and defeat, while Maggie walks away unscathed. Last night’s defeat of NOM was its death knell. Major donors (Knights of Columbus & the Mormon Church) will connect the dots and realize that NOM is now a costly and ineffective tool in preventing Marriage Equality.

The U.S. Supreme Court:

There is a popular myth that the U.S. Supreme Court is insulated in a hermetically sealed bubble from social issues and partisan politics. That the Court is an institutional version of Mr. Spock from Star Trek, a few moments of reading Justice Scalia’s pontifications on various issues will disabuse you of this fantasy. However, the Court does attempt to foster and maintain a patina of disimpassioned objectivity.


The Court has to decide a series of cases that deal directly with Marriage Equality. These include the case of the infamous Prop 8, that has been invalidated by the Ninth Circuit Court and been appealed by Prop 8 backers to the Supreme Court. Additionally the Second Circuit Court has declared that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional.


Make no mistake; the Supreme Court Justices were all keenly watching the results of Tuesday night’s Election. It is clear that Marriage Equality is increasingly the will of the Electorate. It would serve the Supreme Court well, as an institution, to be on the winning side of history. More importantly it would erode the prestige and image of the Supreme Court to rule against Marriage Equality, especially in the wake of their highly contentious ruling in Citizens United.


The Republican Party:

If the Supreme Court rules that DOMA is unconstitutional, it will be granting a HUGE gift to the Republican Party. Republican political strategists have been warning for some time now that an Anti-Equality position on marriage will cost dearly in future elections and reduce the Republican Party to a permanent minority party, incapable of winning the Presidency. Read this memo from George W. Bush’s advisor Jan van Lohuizen, published in Politico:


1. A review of public polling shows that up to 2009 support for gay marriage increased at a rate of 1% a year. Starting in 2010 the change in the level of support accelerated to 5% a year. The most recent public polling shows supporters of gay marriage outnumber opponents by a margin of roughly 10% (for instance: NBC / WSJ poll in February / March: support 49%, oppose 40%).
2. The increase in support is taking place among all partisan groups.



The problem for the Republican Party is finding a way out of their doctrinaire Anti-Equality stance that does not alienate its political base, specifically white evangelicals in the former Confederacy and Great Plain states. A Supreme Court ruling such as Loving v. Virginia in favor of Marriage Equality would be an elegant solution for Republican leadership. They could simply blame “activist judges” and underscore the need for their base to vote Republican so that they could block the Democratic Party from appointing new liberal justices.


Essentially, they’d take a page from their handling of the abortion issue: use “repeal”, as a carrot to motivate the base where they are the majority (the Deep South & Great Plains states); and play it down where it is expedient to ignore the matter (e.g. the Northeast and West Coast).



U.S. Catholic Bishops/Vatican:


The French have a saying: “Nothing succeeds like success,” sadly for the Vatican and its hierarchy the opposite is also true nothing fails like failure. The hierarchy failed and they failed massively in this Election and on the issue of Marriage Equality. Archbishop Dolan’s anointing of Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention in Tampa hoping for an ally to replace President Obama failed. Romney lost and so did Dolan, the USCCB, and the Vatican.



The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ abuse of “Religious Freedom” in this election cycle has been judged absurd. The bishops claimed that a mandate that Catholic institutions (e.g. universities, charitable agencies) provide insurance coverage (such coverage normatively includes reproductive services/procedures) to employees, students and their dependents violates Catholic’s Freedom of Religion/Conscience.



Voters saw through this attempt by the bishops to redefine Religious Freedom as belonging primarily to institutions and only secondarily to individuals. An employee, student, etc of a Catholic institution would have their conscience effectively overruled by the bishops; unless they could afford to pay for these services/medications/procedures out of pocket and many cannot. This would have had the practical effect of violating the Freedom of Religion/Conscience of employees, students and their dependents.


The good news for Dolan and American bishops is that this pope is very, very old and will probably not be around by the next national election. They simply have to lay low provide minimal lip service to the pontiff’s fanatical eccentricities, in order to protect their careers, and wait for his replacement. A practical example of this can be found in the inaction of Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, Maine. As the Seattlepi reports:


“The Catholic Church didn't play an active role in the referendum debate, focusing instead on education. But Malone did issue a statement saying Catholics who support same-sex marriage are "unfaithful to Catholic doctrine."



Election night 2008 made Election night 2012 possible. Much hard word and many painful sacrifices by LGBT folks across America and internationally have made this progress possible. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to you. When you speak the truth you change the minds and move the hearts of those who know you. You change their votes and in doing so, you change society for the better. As Harvey Milk said:
"Burst down those closet doors once and for all, and stand up and start to fight."

Vote for Justice & Equality

Eye of the Storm

Recently my Dad had a bad cough. Mom insisted that he go to the doctor, who dismissed the whole matter saying: you’re in perfect health; you just have a nagging cough. My Dad answered: “The cough isn’t as nagging as my wife. She insists that I have an X-ray of my lungs.” The doctor laughed and said: “To put your wife at ease, I’ll order the X-ray.” The X-ray came back with a spot on my father’s right lung. Mom never insisted on an apology from either the doctor or my dad.


The first moral of that story is the importance of listening to your intuition, even when experts mock you. We have an inner spiritual sense that guides us. It happens when we first meet a new person, we may feel an affinity or repulsion towards that person. Listen to that! A nagging sense that we need to do something, go somewhere, etc may well be the universe telling us that this is (in) opportune. Listen to that!


The spot on my father’s lung, we feared, might be cancer. Both of my dad’s parents died of lung cancer making this spot in the lung especially ominous. Intellectually, of course, I know that one day my parents will die. It is quite another thing to accept that truth on an emotional level. Mom told me shortly after the death of her mother: “The day your mother dies, on that day you become an orphan.”


Two days ago I officiated a wedding, it is how I earn a living these days, it is honest work and I enjoy working with the couples. This particular couple had set up a table with their deceased grandparent’s photographs. The father of the groom walked up to me, wiping away tears with a handkerchief. “All that is left are memories and sayings.” Your really are an orphan when your folks die. While they are still alive, there is always someone to turn to for orientation and advice. After their death, there are just memories and their sayings.


In this time under the shadow of my dad’s possible (inevitable) death, I thought of my late bishop. Bishops are referred to as the “spiritual father” of their priests. Well, my “spiritual” father dropped me from the diocesan health insurance policy less than 30 days after I made my statement of conscience on Prop 8. My real father offered to pay for my health care insurance. Due to the work ethic he inculcated in me, I politely refused. I’ll pay for my health care insurance myself in the near future. My attorney, a former priest and a canon (church) lawyer, invoked cannon law that requires a bishop to provide material assistance to priests, even suspended priests. My “spiritual father” (bishop) responded: “Get a job.”


Actually, I’m happy that all of that happened. It underscored for me that all of that language of “spiritual father” is a lie. The nuns who fought for universal health care are real, the bishops who threw the poor under the bus with health care and became choirboys for the Republican Party, are fake. They are the modern day Pharisees who place institutional image above the well being of children; and who view morality as SEX and not as charity. My dad illustrated what a real father is: someone who honestly cares. Who loves even when he doesn’t fully understand his crazy kid. Who loves me simply because I am his child and accepts even though his child seems incomprehensible to him.


Thankfully, my dad’s lung spot turned out not to be cancer. One day I know I will lose my dad and mom, but I also know that their love will accompany throughout life. I know that their sense of justice, tempered by charity and warmth, are my greatest inheritance.


All this time I have been silent on this blog. This has been a time for me to process not only the possible loss of my Dad (and one day both my parents), but also my identity as a person.


I entered the seminary in 1978, as a 19-year-old undergraduate who had a conversion experience. I find myself at 54 undergoing another conversion experience. Both have placed me in touch with something both transcendent and imminent. Both were unexpected and life changing. Both led/are leading me to something beyond myself and both have given me a sense of mission and serenity.

Every Biblical Argument Against Being Gay, Debunked Biblically

This election year the states of Washington, Maryland and Maine will vote on Marriage Equality. The state of Minnesota will vote to prohibit Marriage Equality in its constitution.


Some Christian church leaders will encourage members to vote against Marriage Equality citing the Bible as their reason. This presentation by Matthew Vines debunks their arguments and makes a compelling case for Marriage Equality. I urge you to watch it, take notes and incorporate these arguments when debating this issue.

Why was a college student in the car of drunken Archbishop-elect Cordileone at 12:26 AM, when Cordileone was arrested for a DUI?

Listen very carefully to the announcer of a local San Diego news station:


“According to police, 56 year old bishop Salvatore Cordileon was driving along the edge of SDSU when he entered a sobriety checkpoint he appeared drunk and was arrested shortly after midnight. He was in the car with his elderly mother and a foreign exchange student, a young male adult.”


If San Francisco Archbishop-elect Cordileone were just the simple priest that he claimed to be to at his arrest, his superior would have demanded explanations.


What were you doing driving drunk?


What was a college student doing in your passenger seat at that time of night?


After you dropped off your mother, where did you intend to go, and what were you going to do when you arrived?


Have you ever spent time with, or socialized, with this young man prior to your arrest? If so in what context and what is the nature of your relationship?


The matter would be brought to the attention of the bishop, and it would most probably affect his career and, of course, it would be handled discreetly.


The fact that Cordileone’s mother was present in the car with Cordileone and the young student would not clear the concerns or suspicions from the mind of a superior. Consider the statements of the police:




“Cordileone's mother, who was a passenger, was allowed to drive the mid-size black car home following her son's arrest after officers made sure she had not been drinking and had a valid license, McCullough [the arresting police officer] said.”


and:

"He was a driver that was obviously impaired,” Officer Mark McCullough also stated.



These two statements from police clearly indicate that Cordileone’s mother was sober and capable of driving the car that night. The second statement by officer McCullogugh that “he [Cordileone] was…obviously impaired” raises some serious questions about both the judgment and the laxity of Cordileone’s mother, with respect to her son. She can’t tell, or is unwilling to protest, that he is obviously drunk and poses a threat to human life behind the wheel of an automobile. How objective and outspoken would she be about a possible inappropriate relationship with a young student?


A superior/pastor/bishop would ask all of these questions of Salvatore Cordileone and so, it surprises me that the press does not. Then again, the Catholic hierarchy has much experience in managing the press. This is not a story they want pursued, it would be highly inconvenient in an election year. Especially on the same week that the head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), New York Archbishop cardinal Dolan blesses the Republican National Convention and Mitt Romney’s bid to replace Obama as President. If Romney wins, the USCCB’s social conservativism will become national policy and this increases both USCCB [Vatican] power and prestige.



Cordileone is not a simple priest. He is:


“Known as "the architect of Proposition 8," the 56-year-old played a pivotal role in convincing many Catholic organizations in California to help bankroll the 2008 campaign to overturn the state's same-sex marriage law. With his help, Prop 8 supporters raised some $1.5 million, which went a long way toward helping get the measure passed.”



That is why Benedict XVI promoted him to put a lid on gay San Francisco and use that position to influence politicians to deny LGBT Civil Rights. In this election cycle the bishops define morality as being about sex, specifically controlling women and LGBT people. Archbishop-elect Cordileone’s arrest on a DUI can be handled; the fact that a young male student was a passenger in the drunken bishop’s car is a monstrous embarrassment to the USCCB’s agenda. It could have far reaching negative political consequences for Benedict’s plan to stop Marriage Equality in the USA.



Post Script

What can we do now?

1. Determine the identity of the young male student who was a passenger in Cordileone’s car on the night of his arrest.

2. Interview that young male student and publish his story.

Whose Freedom of Religion/Conscience?

I received a comment from a reader, which is posted on the preceding blog comments. Occasionally, I post a response as a blog, because I believe the comment contains sentiments/ideas that touch on general interest.


Dear Silias,


In regard to your statement,



“Actually, democracies have THE WORSE [worst] record of protecting minority rights of all types of governments, historically speaking.”


I would very strongly disagree with your assertion. You need merely consider the Twentieth Century to realize the absurdity of such a claim. The Third Reich under Hitler, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin and the People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong (all totalitarian regimes) together arguably murdered more people than all other governments combined in all previously recorded history. Incidentally, democracies constitute a small sliver of all forms of human government throughout history, the overwhelming majority have been authoritarian governments in which the common people have had little or no voice in decisions directly affecting their daily lives such as the subject at hand, their health care.


I agree with your sentiments regarding minority rights in the face of majority rule; in fact, I have argued that very point in previous articles. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and the courts exist to protect minority rights (admittedly imperfectly) against majority tyranny.


That stated I think you have misunderstood the thrust and main point of my article.
I think it prudent, as my old philosophy professor used to say, to begin by clearly defining our terms. Specifically, what is meant by the expression “Freedom of Religion/Conscience.” Black’s Law dictionary, Seventh edition, defines Freedom of Religion as,



“The right to adhere to any form of religion or none, to practice or abstain from practicing religious beliefs, and to be free from governmental interference with or promotion of religion, as guaranteed by the First Amendment and Article VI, Section 3 of the U. S. Constitution.”



Since laws are the codified values of a people, Black’s definition provides us with definition that represents both the legal, and culturally normative understanding of the term Freedom of Religion/Conscience in the USA. Reading that definition it becomes apparent that this right is primarily conferred upon individual citizens and secondarily upon associations of like-minded people (including religious organizations).


The bishops claim that a mandate that Catholic institutions (e.g. universities, charitable agencies) provide insurance coverage (such coverage normatively includes reproductive services/procedures) to employees, students and their dependents violates Catholic’s Freedom of Religion/Conscience.


The bishops are attempting to redefine Freedom of Religion/Conscience as being primarily, or at the very least equally, accorded to institutions (e.g. the Catholic hierarchy) and secondarily, or at most only equally, to citizens. The NCCB seeks to interpret a special right/privilege that they will first, use to effectively impose their views/beliefs and practices upon subordinated people (i.e. employees, students, staff, and their dependents). Second, to carve out and enshrine a special legal status for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) within American society.


Ironically, the practical effect of their demands will involuntarily impose NCCB beliefs/values/practices on citizens, who happened to be their employees/students/and dependents thereof, regardless of the beliefs, values and practices of these subordinated people. In effect, the NCCB will trample on the Freedom of Religion/Conscience of individual citizens (employees/students/and the dependents thereof) through raw economic coercion. If you work for us, or attend one of our universities, we will involuntarily exclude you from normative health care insurance benefits that contradict the employer’s religion, regardless of your religious beliefs or practices.


An employee, student, etc of a Catholic institution would have their conscience effectively overruled by the bishops; unless they could afford to pay for these services/medications/procedures out of pocket and many cannot. This has the practical effect of violating the Freedom of Religion/Conscience of employees, students and their dependents.


The fact that a majority of Catholics find no moral issue with disregarding the bishop’s prohibition of contraception, unmasks that this is NOT about the issue of Freedom of Religion/Conscience, as it has been historically understood. Nor is this per se about contraception. This is about power and control by the bishops of American law and society, period.


This is not an attack on Catholics by the government; in fact, it is the government protecting the Freedom of Religion/Conscience of all its citizens (including Catholics) against a powerful elite attempting to force its very narrow interpretation of Catholicism involuntarily on others by redefining Freedom of Religion/Conscience and attempting to intimidate elected officials.


The most succinct and insightful statement on the hierarchy I’ve yet heard was voiced by the Prime Minister of Ireland, a historically Catholic nation, when he said to the Parliament of that nation,




Prime Minister Enda Kenny denounced to lawmakers last week what he called "the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism – and the narcissism – that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day."

P.S.: More "Special Rights" for Catholic institutions.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

Those words come from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act III, scene II, where they are spoken by Queen Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. The phrase aptly describes the bishop's overblown "outrage" over contraception.

In 23 years of pastoral service and experience, I can confidently state that an average of 3% of practicing Catholics strictly follow the teachings of the hierarchy on contraception. More disturbing than this for the bishops is reported in the following Huffington Post article,


The exemption debate has largely focused on Catholic hospitals, universities and social service agencies. Critics of the HHS mandate say it forces institutions to subsidize treatments that violate the tenets of their faith. Parishes and other church organizations focused on preaching and teaching the faith are exempt from the mandate.

Nearly half of Americans (49 percent) say that religiously affiliated colleges and hospitals should be required to provide employees with free contraception coverage. Nearly as many (46 percent) say they should not.
A majority of Catholics (58 percent) support the contraception mandate generally. While Catholic Church teaching proscribes the use of artificial birth control to avoid conception, 98 percent of Catholics use contraception, according to separate surveys.




Aquinas said that we must follow our own conscience, even if it means excommunication, since it is our conscience that will acquit or accuse us at the end of our life. Religious Freedom (Freedom of Conscience) applies primarily to individuals and not to institutions. It means that no one, especially the state, or religious "authorities" can dictate to an individual what they must do, or practice in matters of conscience. Moral teachers, like parents, can give guidelines and help to develop values, but they cannot make every moral decision for a child, especially after the child reaches adulthood, or an adherent. You cannot abdicate your personal conscience to another person or an institution (cf. Nuremberg trials).


Religious Freedom (Freedom of Conscience) is primarily applied to individuals. No one should be able to impose upon an individual beliefs or practices with which they disagree. Religious Freedom (Freedom of Conscience) is secondarily applied to Religious Organizations since these are voluntary associations of like-minded people, e.g. churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, etc. These organizations enjoy Religious Freedom/Freedom of Conscience, because their individual members enjoy these freedoms. However, these organizations may not use these Freedoms as a license to attempt to impose their beliefs/practices on the whole of society. If they attempt this, these institutions become guilty of violating the Religious Freedom of individuals. Ironically, the very attempt to use legal coercion on others constitutes in and of itself a violation of the principle of Freedom of Religion/Conscience that they invoke.


If an insurance company provides a benefit, it does not mean that you must use it. However, it is quite another matter to insist that others (especially your employees, students, or other subordinated peoples) not have that same option. The Jehovah Witnesses might just as well take exception that they are required to pay for your blood transfusion, a procedure they consider immoral. The Society of Friends (Quakers), religious pacifists, could well object to their tax dollars supporting the maintenance of the military and financing foreign wars. Orthodox Jewish people could object to their tax dollars supporting food programs that include non-Kosher items and preparation practices at public schools.


What is particularly offensive about this feigned outrage on the part of the bishops is that it is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to increase their political power. Katherine Stewart, writing in the Guardian brilliantly captures the logical and moral inversion the bishops are attempting with their feigned outrage over "Religious Freedom."



“In the writings and speeches of Catholic bishops and evangelical leaders in recent months, "religious freedom" has come to mean something close to its opposite. It now stands for "religious privilege". It is a coded way for them to state their demand that religious institutions should be allowed special powers that exempt them from the laws of the land.”



It is time the Vatican cleaned their own house first, and held personally accountable/punished bishops who Covered-Up pedophilia to protect the corporate wealth and "reputation" of dioceses. Apply Catholic social teaching to Diocesan employment (wage/benefit) practices AND then perhaps, they will have the moral authority to address general social issues. They would certainly look far less ridiculous to their clergy and the faithful. Then again, their attempt to mobilize society against Marriage Equality and The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act may simply be an effective way to divert the public's attention from the bishop's role in the Cover-Up scandal.

Ten Minutes in Hell

I viewed the following video this morning on Huffington Post and am sharing it, along with some insights here with you now.

Things to keep in mind as you view this video:

• The bus-monitor in this video is an adult who has volunteered to help keep order and peace on the bus. Presumably she is acting with the authority of the school and parents. Her testimony of events would carry a weight of credulity normally not assigned to an adolescent by adult authority figures.

• The woman on the bus possesses the emotional, psychological and spiritual development of an adult. She is a widow, a mother, a grandmother and has years of experience to help her cope with the assaults she suffers on this bus ride. A child or adolescent does not possess this experience, skill set, or adult level of development to help him/her cope with such a barrage of abuse.

• The woman on this video can quit in her role as a volunteer bus monitor and never have to endure this level of abuse again. A student must suffer this abuse twice per day, nine months of the academic year, throughout junior high school and high school years.


WARNING: This video contains offensive language and is disturbing to view. Unlike you, students are not free to “turn this off,” many endure similar treatment on a daily basis.





THE GOOD NEWS: You can do something to make a real difference.

Here are hyperlinks to various Anti-Bullying Organizations. Find out more information, become informed and personally involved. You can do this, you can make a difference, and you can be a voice for the voiceless now and in your community.

• Bully Police USA
• Bullying UK
• Bullying. No Way!
• Great Schools
• International Bullying Prevention Association
• National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP)
• National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)

• National Bullying Prevention Center (A Project of PACER Center)
• Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
• PFLAG: Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesibians and Gays
• Schools Anti Bullying Web Gateway
• Stomp Out Bullying
• Stopbullying.gov
• Striving To Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE)
• Social Web Watch

The Times, they are a change'n

Last night I received a message from a former parishioner at Holy Family Church in Visalia. The parishioner informed me that the Visalia City Council was about to pass a resolution commending and honoring the LGBT Pride Parade in downtown Visalia.
A Parade may seem like a small thing, especially in an Election year, but it represents a tectonic shift in hearts and minds on Main Street.


I had the honor and privilege of serving as the Pastor of Holy Family Church in Visalia from June 1993 through April 2008. An official directive regarding the education and formation of priests I once read as a seminarian stated that a priest was to be a catalyst for his parish. A catalyst is something that changes, without being changed.


As I reflect back on twenty-three years of service in active ministry I realize how absurd the idea of a priest as “a catalyst” is really. If you remain unchanged after hearing confessions, where people open their hearts in confidence and reveal to you what they reveal to no other person.


Parishioners opened their hearts to me; I am still in awe at the capacity that the human heart possesses to suffer in silence, not for a week, or a month, but for years and decades. Some of those parishioners were LGBT people. I did the best I could to counsel and guide them over those years. I recall some happy breakthroughs, reconciled family members and healed lives.


I also recall reading an Opinion to the Editor piece in the Visalia Times Delta in the 1990’s. Someone had written regarding an outrage against the LGBT minority in Visalia. Honestly, I don’t remember what the particular issue was per se there have been so many injustices over the years that frankly, it is impossible to remember them all. What I do vividly recall is that the author of the Op-Ed piece asked, “Where are the clergy’s voices?”


Those words stung at my conscience as I quietly ate my breakfast at Carrows restaurant on Mooney Blvd. across the street from Visalia Community College. I thought of all the “good” reasons why I could not publicly speak out. The work I had done and was doing with parishioners. Working to change the Church from within. These were subjects that came up periodically when speaking with other priests.


Frankly, there was also the question of my life. I had what one friend called “a recession-proof job” with health care benefits, retirement benefits, one month paid vacation per year, two weeks private retreat per year, paid housing, an expense account, a flexible schedule, and I really loved and enjoyed my work.


There was something I read that also caused me much thought:

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

-Elie Wiesel


My parents left everyone and everything behind when they left Cuba, so that my brother and I could live in freedom. All of these thoughts and more importantly the flesh and blood human beings who I was privileged to serve over the years changed me. When the late bishop John T. Steinbock directed us to promote “Yes on Prop 8” I could not. It was immoral. It was wrong on every level. It remains a discriminatory law motivated at best by ignorance and fear, and at worst by hatred and bigotry.


So when I heard that the city of Visalia (in the heart of the “Reddest” part of California) had voted to pass a resolution honoring the LGBT Pride Parade in downtown Visalia; I smiled. I smiled for all the good people I was privileged to know and serve. I smiled for Eric James Borges a 19 year old who took his own life after a lifetime of suffering from the same hatred and bigotry that inspired Prop 8. I smiled for Robin McGhee, a professor in Visalia who founded GetEQUAL to push for Full Federal Equality for LGBT Americans, using the principles of Non-violent Direct Action taught by Gandhi and Dr. King.



Visalia may be a small town (by California standards) but it makes up in spirit for what it lacks in physical size. That spirit and the hope it engenders are opening hearts and minds throughout our nation and our world. It represents what is most noble in the human heart and mind. It is why we will not lose.

Gay Priest to Minnesota Catholics: You Can Oppose Marriage Discrimination

Father Bob Pierson quoted a theologian, Joseph Ratzinger's words as the reason why Catholics can validly dissent from the hierarchy's orders on "how to vote." “Our holy father taught in 1967 that we must obey our own conscience, even if it puts us at odds with the Pope. I doubt that he knew that he was going to be Pope when he said that.” Father Bob is a living reminder that all faith must both be grounded in reason and be reasoned. He is also a living reminder that all faiths, at core, share the central value of compassion. When any faith stays from this value, it strays from its polar star and the truth.