Home  |  About  |  Campaigns  |  Contact  |  Friends  |  Press  |  Search 

Before you explore any other pages on our site–

RCF's Newsletter,
A.M.D.G.

Guest Book / Feedback

Read our philosophy statement

How to become a member

Make a donation

Past news items

Search our site

Contact us

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Roman Catholic Faithful
Responds to NCCB Pastoral on Homosexuality

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 by James Bendell, Esq.
Board Mbr. of Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc.
Port Townsend, WA 360-385-9556 

I became active in the Roman Catholic Faithful organization at about the time I was representing former altar boys who had been molested by priests of the Archdiocese of Seattle. I had experienced the concern and compassion of the American Bishops in that law suit. One of the priests had molested three sons of a   widow. After we filed suit, the Archdiocese filed a counter-suit against the widow, claiming that she contributed to her sons’ damages by not caring enough for them after they were molested. This is the same argument that was recently made by an official in the Dallas Diocese -- that the parents of the children were to blame. To which I respond to the Diocese of Dallas and the Diocese of Seattle, with the words spoken at a Congressional hearing years ago:

AMERICAN BISHOPS, AT LONG LAST, HAVE YOU NO SHAME?

Now let me turn to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (the NCCB). Do you know that the NCCB possesses secret documents that it has circulated to the American Bishops during the past decades concerning how to deal with priest pedophiles. In the recent Dallas pedophile case, which resulted in a verdict against the Diocese exceeding $120 million, the victims’ attorneys attempted to subpoena those documents, and the court in fact ordered the NCCB to turn them over. But the NCCB refused. Do you know why? Among the reasons cited by the NCCB was the argument that conferences like the NCCB "have no responsibility for ministering to individual members of the Church", and that there is no "legal or ecclesiastical relationship with individual members of the Church".

In other words, the NCCB is not accountable to Catholics for what it does or what it says. Well, if the NCCB is not willing to take responsibility, then please go away and don’t bother us Catholics with drivel like this so-called Pastoral. But if you do want to be involved in the lives of Catholics, then have the guts to step up to the plate and release these secret pedophile documents. Why you won’t hand over these secret documents concerning the nationwide pedophilia scandal? Who pays your salary? WE DO! Whose children are being molested? NOT YOURS. What are you hiding?

We at Roman Catholic Faithful feel so strongly that the NCCB should turn over these documents to Catholic parents, that we are launching a national campaign to urge Catholic parents to demand that these documents be made public. And if they are not made public, then the American Bishops are going to see the results in the collection plate on Sunday.

A BRIEF LOOK AT THE PASTORAL

We can start by noting that the entire letter is based on a lie. It deliberately misquotes the Catechism as suggesting that homosexuals should accept their own "sexual identity". However, if you actually read Section 2333 of the Catechism cited by the Pastoral, it is clear that the Catechism is referring to a person's sexual identity as a man or woman, not as homosexual, bisexual or any other disordered variety of sexual attraction. So we know that the authors of the Pastoral are willing to lie to Catholic parents in order to pursue their own agenda.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered". The Pastoral makes what can only be interpreted as a deliberate omission of this core teaching of the Church on this topic.

The Pastoral tells parents that if they feel their adolescent child may be experimenting with homosexual acts, that sometimes the best approach may be a "wait and see" attitude. This is outrageous. Wait and see for what? Until they get AIDS? Until the become totally engulfed in the homosexual lifestyle?

A comment like that can really only be made by someone who doesn’t see any moral disorder in homosexual behavior. Which is not surprising, considering that the authors of the Pastoral called upon notorious dissenters such as Fr. Robert Nugent, a homosexualist who has already been thrown out of 2 Diocese in the United States, and is under investigation by the Vatican.

The Pastoral tells parents to believe that homosexuality is a "fundamental dimension of one’s personality", suggesting that it is inevitable. This deliberately ignores the clinical evidence that homosexuality can often be successfully cured through psychotherapy. The Pastoral’s only comment on this treatment is to say that since it is not 100% guaranteed there is no obligation to undertake the treatment. But that is not the issue!! The issue is whether parents who love their children should encourage them to undertake treatment. OF COURSE THEY SHOULD. Would the bishops discourage parents from giving chemotherapy to children with cancer based on the theory that it is not a 100% guaranteed cure??!!

Here’s another lie in this Pastoral, "Nothing in the Bible or in Catholic teaching can be used to justify prejudicial or discriminating attitudes and behaviors." In fact, several years ago the Vatican sent a letter to the American Bishops warning them about proposed legislation that would remove the right of citizens to discriminate against homosexual persons in certain areas such as adoption, child rearing, etc.

Based on the NCCB’s official position in the Dallas pedophile suit, it has no relationship to the Catholic people in this country. However, if it really wants to give sound advice to parents worried about possible homosexuality in their children, here is advice the NCCB could give.

1. Keep your children away from the many Diocesan "Gay and Lesbian Ministries" throughout the country -- they encourage homosexuality.

2. If your son expresses a desire to become a priest, be careful what seminary he selects, because so many seminaries are so chock full of active homosexuals, your son will find himself subject to sexual harassment.

3. Finally, and most importantly, the NCCB could encourage parents to urge their children to join the one Catholic organization that truly reflects Christ’s love for homosexual persons -- Courage, the Catholic support group for homosexual persons that is based upon the virtue of chastity and the love of Jesus Christ. It is so telling that this pastoral makes no mention of this wonderful organization. And it is just one more reason why we have to ask whether the authors of this Pastoral really accept the moral teaching of the Catholic Church.

 

Copyright© 1996-2004
Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc.
All rights reserved

Website design and maintenance by Catholic Web Services



Last update: 12/05/2004