ComunidadLB

A PASTORAL MESSAGE TO HOMOSEXUAL CATHOLICS IN THE
ARCHDIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony
and the Auxiliary Bishops of the
Archdiocese of Los Angeles

December 2008

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

As Bishops of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, we are addressing this message first of all to the homosexual members of our Church. Given the controversy generated by the passage of Proposition of 8, we want to reassure each of you that you are cherished members of the Catholic Church, and that we value you as equal and active members of the Body of Christ. At the same time, we would like to address this message to all the members of the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and to all men and women in the wider community.

The passage of Proposition 8 in the State of California does not diminish in any way the importance of you, our homosexual brothers and sisters in the Church. Nor does it lessen your personal dignity and value as full members of the Body of Christ. The Church’s support of Proposition 8 was our effort to resist a legal redefinition of marriage. Our support for Proposition 8 was in defense of the longstanding institution of marriage understood as the life-long relationship of a man and a woman ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and education of their children.

We are disappointed that the ballot information about Proposition 8 stated that the purpose of the initiative was “to ban gay marriage.” From the very beginning, this was not our purpose.

When the United Nations was established in 1948, it proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which set in place some 30 Articles to embrace all rights of all peoples on the earth. Article 16 deals with marriage. In the context of the time when it was written, it is clear that the basic understanding of the family, as envisioned by the United Nations Declaration, was one founded on the marriage of one man and one woman. Subsection 3 states: “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.” It is this universal understanding of marriage and family which Proposition 8 desired to guarantee in California.

Such an understanding of marriage is found in at least three major religious traditions which have described the origin, meaning, and intent of marriage in their sacred writings. In the Hebrew Scriptures, we find explicit reference to marriage between a man and a woman in 51 verses located in 19 books. The Christian Scriptures have 14 verses dealing directly with marriage in six books. The Muslim Koran records 14 passages dealing with marriage. Thus, our faith communities and their sacred writings are in agreement about the application of the term “marriage.” And there are other faith communities which, in their own sacred writings, concur with this understanding. Our faith communities have never understood this term to be applied to other types of relationships between people.

These sacred writings and traditions, spanning thousands of years, support the fundamental truth that God created the human family as male and female, sending them
forth to be fruitful and multiply. This is the understanding of marriage which has prevailed throughout human history, and has been enacted in the laws of peoples, nations, races and religions everywhere. It is this truth that is at the heart of Proposition 8.

Proposition 8 was not crafted as a concern for civil rights but as an effort to resist a redefinition of marriage. “Marriage” is not a merely religious concept, but is so fundamental to human experience that it cannot be redefined legally.

The Catholic Church has historically opposed attempts to deny or to limit the exercise of the basic rights which are known through the natural law and which are expounded in Sacred Scriptures and in the charters and declarations of world bodies. Our efforts in this country to espouse equal rights for all citizens have frequently created adverse reactions for our Church: our somewhat belated efforts to prohibit slavery; our insistence on equal educational opportunities for all children; our strong support of immigrants rights; our struggles on behalf of unborn children and those at the end of life’s journey, and so many others. In 1997 the United States Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Marriage and the Family published Always Our Children: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children and Suggestions for Pastoral Ministers, urging the Christian community and especially parents of homosexuals to offer them understanding and pastoral care.

Proposition 8 was never intended, directly or indirectly, to lessen the value and importance of gay and lesbian persons. Your intrinsic value as human beings and as brothers and sisters continues without change. If we had ever thought that the intent of this proposition was to harm you or anyone in the State of California, we would not have supported it. We are personally grateful for the witness and service of so many dedicated and generous homosexual Catholics. We pledge our commitment to safeguard your dignity.

Here in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles we began our spiritual and pastoral outreach to homosexual people over twenty years ago. And we were pilloried by many for doing so. We began the various Serra Residences for victims of HIV and AIDS when the public understanding and fear of this illness repulsed so many.

As we have come to learn over these past decades, there are many groupings of people residing under one roof across California. Some of these groupings are related family members, while others are companions and friends. There are now seventeen rights for such companions and friends specifically included in the State of California’s legal structure.

We are saddened that some people who opposed Proposition 8 have employed hurtful and accusatory language, and even threatening actions, against those who voted for Proposition 8. This is most unfortunate since such strategies obscure the basic matter at issue: the preservation of the ordered relationship between man and woman created by God.

Supporting marriage as it has always been understood diminishes none of us. We welcome thoughtful and civil dialogue with you so that we can deepen our realization that all of us cherish God’s creative life which we equally share. We are committed to find ways to eliminate discrimination against homosexual persons, and to help guarantee the basic rights which belong to each of us.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony
Bishop Thomas Curry
Bishop Gerald Wilkerson
Bishop Edward Clark
Bishop Gabino Zavala
Bishop Alexander Salazar
Bishop Oscar Solis

October 28, 2008

Your Eminence,

We are the Steering Committee of Comunidad, an approved outreach of St. Matthew’s parish in Long Beach to the gay and lesbian community. We were founded in 1986 in the wake of Cardinal Roger Mahony’s call for such outreach ministries in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Today, our membership numbers nearly 300 men and women who have found acceptance, support and encouragement through our ministry’s efforts.

While we are writing you and the other Catholic bishops of California only on behalf of ourselves and not our overall membership, we know many of our members are concerned as we are about the perceived, increasingly negative attitude of the bishops toward gay and lesbian people. This is primarily related to the current debate over Proposition 8 and the California bishops’ opposition to the legalization of same-sex marriages. We fear that tensions in the Church over the acceptance and involvement of gay and lesbian persons have reached a high-water mark. This tension will likely endure, and may worsen, whether Proposition 8 is passed by voters on November 4^th or not.

We have been following closely the various statements issued by the California Catholic Conference and by individual California bishops regarding Proposition 8. We know Church teaching well, probably better than most Catholics, on the immorality of homosexual acts and relationships. We also know well Church teaching on the sanctity of marriage, and some of us have been partners in heterosexual marriages in the past before we fully realized or accepted our homosexual orientation/condition. Some of us even have children as the result of those unions, whom we continue to love, educate and support.

One such statement of the California Catholic Conference that was recently included in a Sunday bulletin at St. Matthew’s reads: “The ideal for the well being of children is to be born into a traditional marriage and to be raised by both a mother and a father.” While we don’t necessarily dispute this, it is clear that this ideal is being reached less and less. Gay and lesbian parents–whether single or adoptive partners–are increasingly the ones who are stepping in to raise children when one or both of their birth parents are unwilling or unable to do so, with no proven detrimental effect to the child(ren) nor society at large. While the aforementioned statement lauds single parents “for the great sacrifices they make in raising their children,” there is no mention of the growing numbers of same-sex parents who, like it or not, are similarly making great sacrifices for their children.

This and the other bishops’ statements we have read seem oblivious to the realities and complexities of our lives as gay and lesbian people. They are also ignorant of the socio-cultural and legal challenges we face on a daily basis. The desire of some (not necessarily all) gay and lesbian people for marriage equality is only one issue out of many, but it is a significant “lynchpin” issue for us and those who care for us—our

parents, siblings, other family members, co-workers and friends. Additionally, many fellow parishioners and some clergy have been sympathetic but, thanks to the bishops’ pronouncements, haven’t felt free to support us openly. Their fears were confirmed recently when Fr. Geoffrey Farrow of Fresno did speak out against Proposition 8 and was subsequently punished by Bishop Steinbock.

Some of us were present last month at the opening session of the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian & Gay Ministries conference in Long Beach. Bishop Jaime Soto gave a challenging and, in light of the experience of those assembled, startlingly insensitive talk re-iterating Church teaching on homosexuality and supporting Proposition 8. There has been some speculation that Bishop Soto gave such a stern talk under pressure from conservative Catholics and/or the Vatican, but that is no excuse. He failed to acknowledge, let alone thank, those present as leaders in their dioceses and parishes in offering welcome and compassion to gay and lesbian Catholics. We contribute time, talent and treasure to the Church on a regular basis just as heterosexual Catholics do, and perhaps even more generously.

Most recently, Bishop Blaire of Stockton wrote regarding the potential defeat of Proposition 8: “Clergy who refuse to perform same-sex marriages might lose their state authorization to witness marriages. Contractual agreements between religious social service agencies and the State for services in the community, especially for the poor, could be put in jeopardy.” This, coupled with concerns about public school teachers being “forced” to teach about same-sex marriage encouragingly in the future, seems highly unlikely. These hysterical assertions are clearly intended to motivate voters through fear and untruths at the expense of gay and lesbian people.

In short, we gay and lesbian Catholics deserve better treatment from our shepherds. We appreciate the California bishops’ reminders “that we are all children of God possessed of human dignity” and “protecting the traditional understanding of marriage should not in any way disparage our brothers and sisters” in your statement in support of Proposition 8. However, gay and lesbian people aren’t specifically mentioned in the statement. Such oblique reminders run the risk of being perceived as simply “lip service.”

We love the Catholic Church, and strive to remain committed to it and involved in it against increasingly discouraging odds. This letter isn’t intended to ask you to oppose Proposition 8. Rather, we ask that you strive now and in the future to balance statements and actions that can be viewed as detrimental to gay and lesbian persons with more affirmative statements and actions specifically directed toward us. You do no less in regard to the dignity and rights of illegal immigrants, unborn children, unwed parents and people with disabilities.

In conclusion, many of our ministry’s members wonder why they should stay in the Roman Catholic Church when there are other mainstream denominations that are more openly affirming, embracing and willing to support us in the midst of social challenges to our dignity and rights. We are deeply saddened that the California Catholic Conference and other prominent Catholic organizations (e.g. the Knights of Columbus) continue to vigorously, even financially, support efforts which are perceived as promoting unjust discrimination against us.

We humbly but expectantly ask you as our chief shepherds and teachers of the faith to listen to and support us, your gay and lesbian faithful. We would welcome future opportunities for constructive dialogue with you. Our members’ continued commitment to the Body of Christ as found in the Roman Catholic Church may depend on it. May God bless us all with wisdom, healing, unity and peace!

Sincerely in Christ,

Members of the Steering Committee

St. Matthew Comunidad

672 Temple Ave.

Long Beach, CA 90814

In Memoriam: Heath Ledger and Brad Renfro
by Chris Carpenter

The film industry as well as Heath Ledger’s family members and fans around the world were shocked by the Australian actor’s sudden death on January 22nd, 2008. The 29-year old star had proven himself in just a few years to be a thoughtful, brave and truly talented performer, culminating in an Academy Award nomination for his heartbreaking performance in Brokeback Mountain.

Somewhat overshadowed by coverage of Ledger’s death but equally tragic was the death of actor Brad Renfro just a week before at the age of 25. While Renfro hadn’t become the household name that Ledger had and was never nominated for an Oscar, he was a similarly fearless performer and took on provocative roles in such disturbing films as Sleepers, Apt Pupil and Bully.

From an LGBT perspective, Renfro and Ledger can be regarded as connected by more than their risk-taking performances and untimely deaths. Neither actor was intimidated by the notion of playing characters of gay or questionable sexual orientation. Indeed, they actively pursued such roles, apparently sharing a common interest in society’s misunderstood, marginalized and abused members.

2005 was a watershed year for Ledger. Despite playing the famous heterosexual lover Casanova in the 2005 film of the same name, he was unexpectedly and amusingly fey as fairy-tale writer Jacob Grimm in Terry Gilliam’s largely forgettable The Brothers Grimm. Sporting granny glasses and a wispy smattering of facial hair, Ledger playfully turned the image of a summer-blockbuster superhero on its head. His co-star, Matt Damon, could have worn a dress and still been more butch.

Then came Brokeback Mountain. As ranch hand Ennis Del Mar, Ledger was a revelation. His character’s mumbled midwestern drawl, sexually-conflicted outbursts (”You made me this way, Jack Twist!”) and games of marital deception (played with real-life girlfriend Michelle Williams) resonated across the country as well as across generations of gay and bisexual men.

Ledger was honored with numerous nominations and awards for his performance, and likely would have won the Best Actor Oscar that year if not for Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s bravura turn as gay icon Truman Capote. To his credit, Ledger was a gracious loser. His Ennis, however, has been seen by more film viewers than Hoffman’s portrayal of Capote, and has most definitely moved and inspired more people.

We haven’t seen the last of Ledger on screen, thankfully. He plays Batman’s arch-nemesis the Joker in this summer’s The Dark Knight. Advance word, including from Ledger himself, is that his is a disturbing, no-holds-barred take on the psychotic villain. But the Joker has always been a flamboyant, borderline-gay character, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Ledger’s performance pushes the supervillain over the line.

Brad Renfro was discovered by talent scouts when he was twelve years old, and was subsequently hired to play the central role of a boy being hunted by mobsters in the 1994 film adaptation of John Grisham’s The Client, directed by the openly gay Joel Schumacher. He may have had Susan Sarandon and a scenery-chewing Tommy Lee Jones as co-stars, but it was newcomer Renfro who kept viewers riveted.

A series of dark movies in which Renfro played a put-upon or outright-abused character followed. In 1996’s Sleepers, also based on a best-selling book, he was one of several teenagers physically and sexually abused while in jail who grow up to take revenge on their abusers. But it was Renfro’s performance in Apt Pupil, released in 1998, that raised more than a few eyebrows at the time.

Adapted from a Stephen King novella and directed by openly gay Bryan Singer, Apt Pupil starred Renfro as a lonely high school student who discovers one of his neighbors (played by gay icon Ian McKellen) is a Nazi war criminal. Rather than do the reputable thing and report the Nazi to the authorities, Renfro’s character blackmails him into divulging his darkest concentration camp memories.

While Apt Pupil was filming, it was reported that a scene in which Renfro watches his schoolmates shower in the locker room had been shot without proper genital coverage for the under-age actors. In response to the outcry that resulted, Singer and the studio re-shot the scene with adult actors and no full-frontal nudity. Still, the sequence and the film strongly imply that Renfro’s character is homosexual and involved in a twisted homo-erotic relationship with his neo-Nazi neighbor.

After such controversy, one would have expected Renfro to take on a “safer” role. Instead, he joined the cast of provocateur Larry Clark’s movie Bully. Based on a true story, Renfro played the central role of Marty who is viciously bullied by his supposed best friend (a terrifying performance by then-newcomer Nick Stahl). Marty isn’t the only teenager victimized, but Stahl’s character takes special pleasure in beating, kicking, burning and even sodomizing him. While he initially resists turning against Stahl, misguidedly believing that his sadistic friend truly loves him, Marty eventually leads his friends in a brutal revolt.

While none of the characters Renfro portrayed were openly gay, neither were those played by Ledger. However, both actors consistently captured with extraordinary dexterity the inherent tension and drama that come with the desperate longing to be loved. I feel that LGBT filmgoers in particular have lost two courageous allies in our struggle for acceptance. At the same time, I am grateful to Ledger and Renfro for the artistic choices they made. May they live in our memories, and may they rest in peace.

Chris Carpenter is a film critic and hospice chaplain residing in Long Beach. He is the current chairman of Comunidad.