Monday, April 14, 2014

Charlotte Observer on Charlotte Catholic High Controversy: Kudos to Bishop Jugis for Discovering Charity . . . Now, That is


Writing for the Charlotte Observer, Peter St. Onge notes how . . . very odd . . . it is that Catholic Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte discovered the primacy of charity only after students and parents at Charlotte Catholic High School took Sister Jane Dominic Laurel (and the diocese) to task for attacking their gay family members and friends:


There’s a lot bubbling under the surface here, including an underlying tension between traditional and progressive Catholics at the high school, the diocese, and in the larger church. But it’s rich that the Bishop has discovered charity now that he’s on the other side of scorn. Jugis wasn’t nearly such a peacemaker in the days after March 21, when those in the audience from single-parent households were denigrated by the school-sanctioned nun. He still seems untroubled that Sister Laurel suggested to the school’s families that if there were a homosexual in their home, he or she was likely the product of weak parenting. 
But to Jugis, charity and healing have long been selective notions, reserved for those with whom he agrees. Where was the charity when he announced in 2004 that he would bar politicians who supported abortion rights from receiving communion? Where was the healing when he publicly pushed for a punitive same-sex marriage amendment that discriminated against members of his community? 
But now that the pitchforks are pointing his way, we should all calm down and come together.

And he's right. Peter St. Onge is right, that is. 

The video is a recording of the traditional Christian hymn "Ubi Caritas et Amor" in the version composed by Jacques Berthier of the ecumenical monastic community Taizé.

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