The Church

I feel entitled to speak my mind freely about the Catholic Church. Having endured 12 years of Catholic School I know the Holy Roman Bingo Church fairly well.

Were it not for the Catholic Church I might have felt comfortable about my sexuality twenty years earlier than I finally did.

In my humble opinion the Catholic Church far surpasses all of the other so called Christian churches in compromising, masking and confusing the *real* message of their so called Saviour.

"The Church has the responsibility to promote the public morality of the entire civil society on the basis of fundamental moral values" ...Or, in other words, you don't even have to be a Catholic in order to have the Church volunteer to decide what may or may not happen in your bedroom! Here we have the essence of a bad religion. If a religion is worth the weight of the Holy Garments it's people revere it certainly would have no need to force it's views on persons who are not members of it's fold. Instead new members would be rushing to join a church which truly served and enriched the spirit.

To my way of thinking, a religion is worthwhile if it simply leads it's followers to spread love and joy in their daily contacts with other folks. The worst cases are the religions that try to force their beliefs (always the *only* truth) on unsuspecting and unwilling victims of their righteous zeal. I knew that I should expect this from the Jerry Falwells and their ilk. But the CATHOLIC CHURCH ?

And that cute little phrase "moral values"... Why it almost rhymes with "Family Values" doesn't it ? Could The Most Holy Representative of God Almighty on Earth be a closet republican ?

Oddly enough it seems that much of the press and even many Catholic leaders in this country have rejected the obvious homophobic message of this latest missive of moralistic crap from the sexually frustrated would be pedophiles in Rome.

How can we as gay people fight this latest load of oppression ? I'd like to suggest that this assault can be defeated in the same way as any other homophobic slander campaign. The answer is in Coming Out. Perhaps you know some Catholics. They may like you. They might have known you for years. They probably respect you as a person. But do they know you are gay ?

The absolute plain truth is that gay people are just like any other people except for our sexuality. We are bakers and truckdrivers and police officers and clerks. We buy gas for our cars and food for our bodies. We love and we cry and we hope for a better world.

Each and every one of us has "straight" friends. We have straight coworkers, classmates, neighbors or relatives. And as we slowly reveal the truth about ourselves to more and more of these people we encourage each of them to take a fresh look at what society has taught them about us. We increase their sensitivity to our situation. We open their eyes to the lies and slander that have been used against us.

Sure, we could march into churches and very easily disrupt a Sunday Mass. Yes, we could harass priests and bishops. Indeed we *could* play into the hands of those who hate us... Instead I suggest we ought to show the world what fine people we are.

Help the rest of the world to understand us! Come Out to someone this week. You will help yourself to feel like a free and whole person and you will also help your brothers and sisters in our struggle to be free.