Marianne Duddy-Burke on the amazing disconnect between lay Catholics in the U.S., who are clearly well-disposed to LGBT people (according to the findings of one research study after another), and the bishops led by His Eminence Timothy Cardinal "Dirty Freddie" Dolan:
If we want Catholicism to be identified as a hostile institution by four out of five LGBT people, and by many of those who support us, then let the bishops continue to own "Catholic, Inc." However, if we truly believe in the baptismal identity we reaffirm each Easter season and want our church to be seen as a help and haven for those in need, it is time for Catholics to claim a leadership role within our church, much as we have done in the public square. We must begin to take on the bishops when they act in ways that are contrary to our central creed that God is incarnate in all humans, including LGBT people and those who love and support us.
And she's right. As I wrote yesterday, the foundational narratives of the Judaeo-Christian tradition belong to all of us, and not just the heterosexual (or heterosexual-posturing) (and frequently white) males who have long imagined they have unilateral ownership and control of those narratives.
The photo of Marianne Duddy-Burke is from the website of Dignity, Chicago.
