Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: Drab Little Bully Birds, Nobler Birds with Melodious Voices, and Running Gays Out of Confirmation Classes

Some noteworthy droppings today: at National Catholic Reporter, Kate Childs Graham tells the story of Danielle, an openly gay Catholic college student in San Antonio whose parish priest proclaims that "being gay is bad." Before the priest's arrival, Danielle, who comes from a family with deep Catholic roots, was teaching a confirmation class.

After the priest appeared on the scene, she closeted herself again. And then some young gay students in the confirmation class were asked to leave the class (!), and she felt that her best option was to resign as the class's teacher--primarily because she did not want to be barred outright from teaching the class.

And here are some of the responses to Danielle's story in the thread of comments after the article:

Purgatrix Ineptiae writes:

If Danielle believes homosexual activity is morally permissible, she should not be teaching confirmandi. If Danielle believes homosexual activity is not morally permissible, she should keep quiet about her inclination to engage in it except when celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Rev. Hans Bensdorp (Vienna) writes:

Danielle: for me a priest in Austria-Europe this is impossible. Priests - just as anyone else - have no right to reject LGBT people. They are - just as all others - loved by God! Even the official catechism of the Church says LGBT people are to be respected. 

Wishing you all the best! God bless you!!

Renee Faler writes:

Please explain how you know that God creates people with an LGBT orientation, since their sex organs are not complementary and are, in fact, incompatible in terms of evolutionary biology. Do you believe that God controls sexual orientation, but not genitalia? Either God is creating someone purposely, in which case God should provide the correct body parts, or God has nothing to do with one's sexual orientation or their composition. Aren't you just making a claim and hoping no one points out the logical inconsistencies? I agree that the Church has a long way to go, but I think your reasoning is not the path to follow. 

To which PetrusRomanus1 responds (amusingly and wisely and with real theological insight):

God must have a superb sense of humor to have created what we now call the genito-urinary system, which share the same basic plumbing for rather different purposes or goals. So it would come as no surprise that God hath wrought similar signs and wonders in our other sex organs, namely the heart and the mind. To be sure, sex is not strictly subject to logic, especially mine or yours. But God did make all these features sufficiently user-friendly, give or take a few pounds, to invite further exploration and awe. And what God has made, and calls good, and clean . . .

And so it goes in the U.S. Catholic birdcage, A.D. 2013: lots of loud, mean-spirited squawks from drab little bully birds who want only their own kind housed in said birdcage, some melodious songs from nobler-minded members of the avian kingdom who recognize that it takes feathers of many hues and songs of many notes to give a birdcage the right to call itself really catholic.