Abbey-Roads2

And dissimulation.

One of my very worst traits is that I have no patience with inconsistencies.  (Having grown up in an alcoholic-dysfunctional family can be blamed for that.)  For instance, I absolutely hate it that Church policy says that homosexuals cannot be admitted to ordination to the priesthood, and yet they are - with all sorts of excuses to support it.  (Yes, yes.  I understand if a man renounces homosexuality and agrees to live according to Church teaching, and there is no occasion for scandal, etc. - then a dispensation can be made.  I got that message.) 

That said, I can’t understand how  a homosexual man can be so easily fired from his job as a choir director for a parish  (the same job that provided health benefits, house payments, and a retirement plan), while another high profile, so-called gay-lifestyle-advocate  man can be received into a highly distinguished Order in the Roman Catholic Church.

By a Cardinal yet.

Cardinal Egan will be inducting gay-lifestyle promoter Peter Rapanaro, the director of “My Big Gay Italian Wedding” into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem this Saturday. -   Blog source  By now, a done deal.

So what is the Equestrian Order?

The announcement explained it thus:

The honor is being bestowed on Mr. Rapanaro for his ceaseless lifelong dedication of service to the Diocese in which he has performed thousands of marriages, christenings and funerals, bringing both joy and solace with his God-given voice. His televised masses, locally on Channel 55 WLNY TV and Telicare Stations Channel 10 and nationally on EWTN stations, bring his vocal gifts to an even larger audience.

“The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre” is reserved solely for those practicing the shared faith with the Sovereign Pontiff his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. The Investiture ceremony requires the pledge of Defense of the Faith with a Profession of Faith. Mr. Rapanaro will be the featured vocalist at the Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and will be honored at a black tie dinner later this day, at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel. - Source

On their high horse.

Now it should come as no surprise that the Order most likely has its share of gay people on their roster - they just may not be public about it.  I don’t know if this Rapanaro guy is gay, but as his work reveals, he certainly does seem to be something of an advocate for the gay lifestyle.  (The Equestrian Order is also very much about money and status - but of course - it would be unfair if I did not mention they do great good and provide a genuine service to the Church.  See links below.) 

Mixed messages.

The great inconsistency I see here is this:  A man who worked for years for the Church loses his job at his parish because he lives with his partner.  Fine - if it was a scandal to the faithful, then something had  to be done.  Yet to then turn around and discover that lavish honors were conferred on another man, whose work itself may be a source of scandal - albeit in a different diocese - the inconsistency and injustice is obvious.  One man’s career and reputation is destroyed, while another with a similar profile is exalted by the Church.  It is difficult to understand how Church teaching is clearly affirmed by such actions. 

Although to object is to be labeled a bigot.

Really?  Tell that to men and women who have freely renounced homosexuality, joining other chaste and celibate men and women of every state and situation in life, to follow Christ.  Those who have refused to compromise with worldly standards, and who have denied their very self as regards relationships and friendships, even jobs and positions, for the sake of the Gospel.  And although leading chaste and celibate lives in fidelity to Church teaching, they often continue to suffer discrimination just because they are suspected of being gay.

How easily the spirit of the world slinks its way into the center of Christian families, religious communities, institutions and the clergy.  That spirit of compromise, because of the love of pleasure, luxury, honor and fame.

Links:

Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem

The Oath Against Modernism (The Knights and Dames take this oath.)