Abbey-Roads2

There’s gonna be a fight…

That line was repeated over and over in a Laurel and Hardy film as the camera pulled away, revealing the inside hallways and staircase of a posh apartment building, while residents were rushing out of their apartments, following everyone down stairs to go outside and see the promised fight.  (Whew!  That’s a long sentence!)  Anyway, there is going to be a fight in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

The Nienstedt affair.

All the blogs are picking up the story now that it has hit Catholic News Service  and Lifesite News.  Poor Fr. Tibesar, the local priest embroiled in the controversy, got himself more deeply involved in the controversy.  To such an extent that he comes off as a priest completely disloyal to the Magisterium.   He gave that bitchy homily  you see…  

The newspapers are getting involved.

So now Nick Coleman, a writer for a local newspaper in the Twin Cities has picked up the story in his Nov. 27 column, “Future Archbishop’s compassion stops short when it comes to gays.”     Mr. Coleman interviews a few of the principals involved in the brouhaha, one key person being the official spokesman for the Archdiocese, Dennis McGrath.  McGrath had this to say:

Dennis McGrath, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said Nienstedt’s comments were not aimed at families of gays, or at individual homosexuals.

“It was about the sin, the activity — not the person,” McGrath said. “He didn’t mean you must stop loving your child. But if you say, ‘Why don’t you go hit the gay bars tonight? …’ He was talking about those who encourage or promote homosexual activities, like a pornographer might.” - StarTribune

Crying out loud.

Of course, the emotional response from gay activists won’t be diminished no matter what the Archdiocese says.  Active homosexuals want total acceptance and inclusion in the Catholic Church.  In other words,, they want the Church to do the impossible and declare same-sex sexual relations to be no longer a sin.  Christ gave the Church authority on earth, but not the authority to change natural and divine law.  All Archbishop Nienstedt did was present a catechetical response to the issues regarding homosexuality and Church teaching:

“Those who actively encourage or promote homosexual acts or such activity within a homosexual lifestyle formally cooperate in a grave evil,” wrote Nienstedt, who is scheduled to succeed retiring Archbishop Harry Flynn in May. “If they do so knowingly and willingly, [they] are guilty of mortal sin.”

Nienstedt went on to set three conditions for such church members to receive communion: They must experience a “conversion of heart,” express “sorrow for their action” and receive absolution from a priest. - StarTribune

It’s emotionalism run a muck.

The Archbishop was fulfilling his duty as a faithful shepherd of his flock and simply clarifying Church teaching.  This is what bishops do, they teach and guide the faithful in “faith and morals”.   Nienstedt was not telling parents to reject their children who happen to be gay.  He wasn’t demanding that they stop loving them.  He was clearly speaking to people who promote the gay lifestyle as a viable alternative, on parity with heterosexual relations and marriage, in defiance of Church teaching.

The people who are protesting Church teaching are making this into a personalized, highly charged emotional issue in rebellion of the Catholic Church.  One parent, Mary Lynn Murphy had this to say:

“It is a human right to express your sexuality,” says Murphy, who met last week with Catholic parents of gays who were in tears over Nienstedt’s statements on homosexuality.

“They are being tormented by a church that is driving a wedge between parent and child,” Murphy said. “They believe they are being asked to choose between loving their church and loving their child. And they are furious. For the most prominent religious leader in the state to use that kind of language, well, it brings shame on him.” - StarTribune

Crock-o-dile tears maybe?

Don’t these tearful parents realize that couples who have divorced and remarried outside of the Church, are under similar restrictions as active homosexuals when it comes to receiving Communion?  Homosexuals, who wish to be Catholic, are not the only people who are required to obey God’s commandments regarding chastity.

Many single heterosexual men and women are also obliged to live chaste lives.  If they live with their boyfriend or girlfriend and are in an active sexual relationship, they too are barred from Holy Communion.  The Church does not ask us to disown or exclude these people from our families or list of friends.  Neither does the Church order society to deny these people human rights.  But the Church does require us to witness to the faith, and out of charity, admonish the sinner - at appropriate times - which at the very least entails our not promoting sinful behavior.

Saving souls. 

The Church and her ministers are concerned for the salvation of souls.  To misinform people on faith and morals, what is good and evil, is inexcusable for a Roman Catholic bishop, priest, or lay person - even parents - to do.  It is misplaced charity to say that a sin is not a sin, in order that a family can pretend everything is all right.  It suggests to me that parents really do not know what homosexual sex is all about.

Everyone is asked by Christ to deny himself, take up his own cross and follow him.  In each of our lives we have something we must deny - and not seek to justify or conjure up an exception to.  In contemporary culture we have lost any sense of sacrifice or self denial - and we would have our children find fleeting happiness in this life, only to lose their soul in the next.  That really isn’t love, much less good parenting.

[On December 2, the First Sunday of Advent, LGBT activists will stage a rally on the steps of the Cathedral in St. Paul between 2pm  and 3pm.  It may be a good time to have a holy hour, either at the Cathedral or at your local adoration chapel, to pray for the conversion of sinners.]