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Catholics welcome gays, but not gay sex

The church says the new guidelines are "positive and welcoming." Gay activists, however, call them flawed and contrived.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published November 15, 2006

BALTIMORE - The nation's Roman Catholic bishops adopted new guidelines for gay outreach Tuesday that are meant to be welcoming, while also telling gays to be celibate since the church considers their sexuality "disordered."

Some gay Catholic activists said that the approach was contorted and flawed and that it would alienate the very people it was trying to reach.

The statement, "Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination," was adopted by a 194-37 vote, with one abstention, at a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The bishops also overwhelmingly adopted separate statements encouraging Catholics to obey the church's often ignored ban on artificial contraception and directing parishioners to examine their consciences to decide if they are worthy of receiving Holy Communion.

Anyone who knowingly persists in sinful behavior, such as gay sex or using artificial birth control, should refrain from taking Communion, the bishops said.

"To be a Catholic is a challenge," said Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the bishops' doctrine committee. "To be a Catholic requires a certain choice."

Presenting the gay ministry document at the meeting, Serratelli acknowledged that gay and lesbian Catholics "have a difficult task in this world, but this task is necessary and good."

"The tone of the document is positive, pastoral and welcoming," Serratelli said. "Its starting point is the intrinsic human dignity of every person and God's love for every person."

But gay Catholic groups thought the bishops' approach was flat-out wrong.

Francisco DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, an independent outreach to Catholic gays that has run afoul of some church leaders, said the guidelines "do not reflect good science, good theology or human reality."

"This document proposes that lesbian and gay people be viewed not in the entirety of their lives, but in one dimension only - the sexual dimension," DeBernardo said. "No other group in the church is singled out in this way."

N.C. Baptists break with pro-gay churches

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina voted Tuesday to cut ties with congregations that affirm or approve of homosexuality, formally adopting a policy that allows the group to investigate whether member churches are gay friendly.

The policy adopted by the North Carolina convention, which includes more than 4,000 member churches and 1.2-million members, is even stricter than that of the national Southern Baptist Convention, according to the Alliance of Baptists, a Washington D.C group that welcomes gays as equal members.

"It's not something that we wanted to do, but homosexuality is the only sin that has its own advocacy group," convention spokesman Norman Jameson said. "Those advocacy groups are pushing us into this stance. Other denominations that waffle and waver on the issue year after year are getting torn apart."

The vote changes the convention's long-standing laws, which previously only required its members to support the convention through cooperation and financial contributions. Now any churches that "knowingly act to affirm, approve, endorse, promote, support or bless homosexual behavior" will be barred from membership.

"This action does not mean that you should avoid ministry to the homosexual community," said convention executive director Milton Hollifield Jr. "Even though we believe that homosexuality is wrong, we still love and engage those in this lifestyle."

Sixteen churches in North Carolina will come under immediate scrutiny under the policy, Jameson said.

[Last modified November 15, 2006, 02:00:03]