Catholic Church and LGBTQ People: Clues, Hearsay, Spectacularly Failed Pastoral Leadership in Face of Oppression and Suffering

Jamie L. Manson, "For LGBTQ Catholics, there is little hope in hearsay":

Anglican Communion Sanctions Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop of ECUSA Responds: Commitment to Be an Inclusive Church Based on Outstretched Arms of Jesus on the Cross

As Chris Morley has reported to us in several comments, at its Primates 2016 meeting in Canterbury, the Anglican Communion chose yesterday to sanction the Episcopal Church USA for supporting same-sex marriage. For Episcopal News Service, Matthew Davies reports what the presiding bishop of ECUSA, Michael Curry, told his fellow bishops as they moved towards sanctioning ECUSA for supporting LGBT people and their rights:

Bob Shine on Pope Francis's Silence About LGBT People in Africa, and How This Silence Colors His Message of Good News

Bob Shine of New Ways Ministry on Pope Francis's silence about LGBT people in Africa, and how this silence colors his message of good news to the world:

Ken Briggs on the Shocking "No Big Deal" Approach of Pope Francis to Questions About Catholic Position on Condom Use and AIDS — The Moral Limits of Pretending That Some People Don't Exist

As Ken Briggs notes today in National Catholic Reporter, the "no big deal" approach Pope Francis appears to take to some issues causes him to hard-sell some topics (e.g., the need to respond to climate change), while soft-pedaling or bypassing others. The latter category includes, Briggs suggests, how the Catholic church should respond to LGBT people and to the use of condoms to combat the spread of HIV.

Frank Mugisha, Ugandan Advocate for LGBT Rights, on Pope Francis's Missed Opportunity for Conversation on Protecting LGBT Persons

Amy Fallon writes, 

Catholic Officials Explain Pope's Silence About LGBT People in Uganda: They Were "Included" in Pope's Comments Though Invisible, and Ugandans Are Concerned with "Real Problems"

More on the not surprising (but nonetheless scandalous) decision of Pope Francis to talk about human rights, social justice, tolerance, and respect in Uganda without ever uttering a single word about the LGBT human beings whose lives are made a living hell by social attitudes and laws targeting them in that largely Christian nation: 

Fruitcake Making, Home, and LGBT Folks in the Church: An Advent Meditation Noting the Total Silence of Pope Francis About LGBT People in Uganda

A brief report to all of you on a dreary post-U.S. Thanksgiving weekend in which we've had enough rain to warrant two arks instead of the single one that Noah built: I've made the weekend brighter by remaining true to my grandmother's tradition of baking her Christmas fruitcakes on or by Thanksgiving weekend. Her rule of thumb was that fruitcake for Christmas needed to be baked by the last week of November, since it required a month in a sealed tin in a dark closet, wrapped in cheesecloth and laved repeatedly with sherry or bourbon, to mature it for eating at Christmas time.

"God Loves Uganda": Some Critical Notes

Steve and I had a chance to watch Roger Ross Williams's documentary "God Loves Uganda" last night. Our local PBS station aired it Monday night, and we had saved it. I don't have much to add to what astute reviewers have already said in praise of this film (and here).

"God Loves Uganda" Airs Tonight on PBS Stations in U.S.

A note to all of you that Roger Ross Williams's powerful documentary "God Loves Uganda," which tracks the role of the American evangelical right in fostering anti-gay hysteria in Uganda and other African countries, is being released today in DVD, and is also airing today on many PBS stations. If you click the link "TV (May 19)" on this page, it will open to a window that allows you to check your local PBS station to see whether it's showing the film, and at what time.

The Legacy of St. John Paul II: This Is Leadership?!

As I continue reading about the preparations for tomorrow's canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, I keep thinking — I'll be honest — This is leadership? I'm not referring specifically to the two popes as I ask that question. 

Yes, I Did Remove a Comment Here about "Ethnocentric Racists" Promoting "Sodomy" in Western Nations — Here's Why

A quick note to let you know about this situation, in case it explodes in some way in threads here: those who have followed postings here for some time may know that I posted a number of pieces back in September 2013 about comments (ugly ones) left here by a gentleman living in Nairobi, Mr. Njonjo Ndehi (see here, here, and here).

Frederick Nzwili in The Tablet: "Ugandan Catholic Church Leaders Are Backing the Controversial Anti-Homosexuality Legislation"

Frederick Nzwili in The Tablet on the response of the Catholic leaders of Uganda to the legislation just signed into law in that country, which criminalizes homosexuality and provides a sentence of 14 years in jail for "first offenders" and a life sentence for repeat offenders:

America Editorial Calls on Catholics to Oppose Anti-Gay Legislation in Nigeria, Uganda, Etc.

In its latest editorial, the Jesuit magazine America notes that though Pope Francis's "Who am I to judge?" has offered a "fresh embodiment" of Catholic teaching that gay people are to treated with sensitivity, respect, and compassion, nonetheless "[t]ragically, we live in a world where people are not only judged harshly for their sexual orientation but are also targeted and punished for it." And then the editorial goes on to discuss the recent decision of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to sign into law a bill that criminalizes homosexuality.

An Appeal from New Ways Ministry: Write Pope Francis and Ask Him to Stand with LGBTI People in Uganda

As a footnote to what I have just published, in which I contrasted Pope Francis's Christmas and new year's silence on the threat gay folks pose to . . . everything . . . with his predecessor's volubility about that theme in recent years: my posting notes that New Ways Ministry had compiled a list of the ten best and ten worst Catholic LGBT stories of 2013.

They Gave a Schism and Nobody Came: Commentary on Christian Right's Loss of Culture War vs. Gays in Europe and America, Transfer of Battle to Africa

This tells me that discussion of the anti-gay politics of the U.S. religious right has gone mainstream (and thank God for that development): for ABC's "Top Line" and Yahoo News this past week, Olivier Knox and Rick Klein interview Roger Ross Williams about his new movie, "God Loves Uganda." Williams tells Knox and Klein,*

Recommended: Miranda Blue's Series at Right-Wing Watch on Globalizing Homophobia and Role of U.S. Religious Right

Matthew 28:19-20, The Great Commission

We have known for some time now that the fingerprints of the American religious right are all over the increasing hostility, the outright violence, toward gay citizens of various African nations. When the astroturfed demonstrations against marriage equality in France got underway, and when they also elicited outright violence against gay folks in France, I noted that the fingerprints of the American anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage (NOM) were all over those astroturfed demonstrations, and I predicted more of same, more exporting of American-style faith-based homophobia to more parts of the world, as marriage equality is enacted in more and more states in the U.S.

Kiva, Opus Dei, Strathmore: Njonjo Ndehi Continues to Cheerlead for Kiva While Talking Homophobic and Misogynistic Trash Online

@bensonndehi This is sad. It like if you are not into gay sex you dont need school, health, education or visas. #Pathetic
— Martin Ssempa (@martinssempa) August 28, 2013

Contributor to NCR Thread: Russia and Uganda Are Targeting Gays Because Rich Gay Men Want to Molest Russian and African Children

I just wrote,

Roger Ross Williams's Documentary on Exporting of American Homophobic Hatred to Africa: "Gospel of Intolerance"

News: Increasing High-Profile Role of Top Catholic Leaders in Anti-Gay Battles and Rev. Scott Lively on Trial

As the week begins, a selection of recent articles on LGBT issues and the churches--in particular, the Catholic church: