Mark Shea on What Viganò, Burke, and Bannon's Anti-Francis Gay-Bashing Is About: "This is About the Rich Seizing Control of the Church, not About the Protection of Victims"

Kavanaugh Has Exposed the Savage Amorality of America's Ruling Class https://t.co/PgdtZykKrw

— Mary Aktay (@maryaktay) October 6, 2018

Mark Shea, "1 Percenters attempt to buy control of the Church," hits the nail right on the head:

Buy Viganò's Attack on Francis, and You're Buying a Vicious, Orchestrated Anti-LGBTQ Attack

1) Buy Vigano's twisted tales if you wish. But if you do so, don't claim — not ever again — that you have any concern about LGBTQ people and their place in the world or in the church.

— 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚖 𝙳. 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚎𝚢 (@wdlindsy) August 27, 2018

Jason Horowitz, "Pope Francis Long Knew of Cardinal’s Abuse and Must Resign, Archbishop Says":

Interesting Conversations Right Now re: Evangelicals Hopping on Gay-Bashing Bandwagon Following Pennsylvania Report

A reminder that 80% of White Evangelicals supported (and most still support) a man who boasted of attacking women, paid to silence women, and called a woman a dog. Oh, and broke the law to influence the 2016 election. These are the people who try to preach to us about morality.

— Paul Brandeis Raushenbush (@raushenbush) August 22, 2018

 

There are some interesting conversations going on in the ex-evangelical community right now, about the predictable Schadenfreude and predictable gay-bashing being exhibited by many evangelicals in light of the Pennsylvania grand jury report and the McCarrick story. Right-wing white evangelicals have long loved to pretend that sexual abuse of minors or sexual abuse of vulnerable church members by clergy are confined to the Catholic church — because all those gay clergy.

Mary McAleese on "Fake Hetero Homophobes" Within the Clergy, and the Terrible Damage They Do

Stephen McDermott, "'I find them terrifying': Mary McAleese wary of gay priests and nuns who preach anti-LGBTI message":

Verdict in Philadelphia Gay-Bashing Case from 2014: Catholic Juror Notes (and Deplores) Catholic School Connection of the Assailants

And another quote to share with you this evening (well, it's evening in my neck of the woods): as many of you may now have read, Kathryn Knott, one of those charged in the Philadelphia gay-bashing incident in which two gay men were assaulted by folks leaving a restaurant gathering of graduates of a local Catholic high school in September 2014, has been found guilty of assault. Here's John Kopp reporting on the verdict at Philly Voice:

Josh Duggar and Ashley Madison Revelations: Commentary I Find Worth Reading

A selection for you this morning (blossoms or weeds? — you please decide) from things I've been reading about the revelation that, while employed by Family Research Council and attacking gay folks as premier threats to the sanctity of marriage, Josh Duggar had two accounts at the Ashley Madison cheat-on-your-spouse site: 

A Gay Priest and Gay Former Priest Speak Out: Time for Catholic Leaders to Stop the Gay-Bashing (and Why I Think These Voices Will Not Be Heard)

As I noted here back in May, after Seton Hall University chaplain Father Warren Hall posted a picture on Facebook supporting the NOH8 campaign to challenge bullying of LGBT people, this Catholic school fired him. As the visit of Pope Francis to the U.S. approaches, Father Hall has written an open letter to the pope asking him to meet with and listen to LGBT Catholics on his visit to the U.S.

Cultural Violence and Gay-Bashing: Four Quotations for Your Consideration

Four quotations for your consideration, from thought-provoking works I've read, bookmarked, and annotated over the years — all on the theme of violence, where it comes from, its roots in religious ideology, and its manifestation as attacks on LGBT persons: 

Gay-Bashing Suspects in Philadelphia to Be Formally Arraigned: Update on Previous Story

Remember those young folks in Philadelphia, all graduates of the same Catholic high school, who were charged this past September after they beat a gay couple to a bloody pulp? If you need reminding of that story, click the label "Philadelphia" below, and what I've posted here — with links to various news reports — will pop up. 

Mug Shots of Three Arrested in Philadelphia Gay-Bashing Incident Released, All Three Are Grads of Archbishop Wood Catholic High

Mugshots: Center City gay-bashing suspects. http://t.co/W1Aw7HqIFd @phillymag @G_Philly pic.twitter.com/xZ7SvOt4Ie
— Victor Fiorillo (@VictorFiorillo) September 24, 2014

Update to Philadelphia Gay-Bashing Story: 15 Involved, Not 12; 3 Have Been Charged and Turned Themselves In

More developments are taking place re: the 11 September gay-bashing crime in Philadelphia, in which two men were accosted by a crowd of 15 people (15 and not 12, according to the latest reports), who taunted them with gay slurs and then beat them so badly that they sustained multiple serious serious facial injuries. I've blogged previously about (and see here) the reported connection of the crowd of thugs to Archbishop Wood Catholic high school near Philadelphia. Media reports state that the group who accosted the two gay men were all friends who had attended the Catholic school together, and who had gathered for a party at a local restaurant before they beat the two men.

Do Gay Catholics Feel Unwelcome? The Never-Ending Discussion, and What a Philadelphia Gay-Bashing Story Has to Tell Us

In the last several days, I've hashed and rehashed the never-ending discussion about whether gay Catholics feel unwelcome in our church, and if the answer to that question is yes, then the never-ending discussion becomes one about why gay people feel unwelcome in the Catholic church. I've taken repeated notice (and here) of the recent National Congregations Study's just-published findings which show that, in contrast to every other religious group in the U.S. surveyed by the study, the Catholic church is moving backwards when it comes to welcoming and including gay people in its parishes and institutions.

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: "All Friends Who Had Attended a Local Catholic High School Together"

David Badash at The New Civil Rights Movement site: 

Jeff Sharlet on Life Inside Russia's Iron Closet: A Must-Read Report

As Peter Montgomery says in his recap of global LGBT stories this week at Religion Dispatches, Jeff Sharlet's GQ report on being gay in Russia is a must-read article. It's chock-full of powerful first-hand testimony about the lives of LGBTI Russians. And it explains in detail how and why Putin has chosen to hand these citizens over to the wolves in order to consolidate his power--and the role being played in that cynical, cruel process by the Orthodox Church and the American religious right.

As the Games Begin: Three Videos to Remind Us of What's Really Happening in Russia

As the Sochi Olympics begin, three videos to remind us of what's happening in Russia outside the bright lights of the carefully managed spectacle--and (third video) elsewhere in the world, as neo-Nazi groups akin to those now given free rein to beat and kill gay people in Russia march through the streets of Paris shouting hate slogans:

Commentators Keep Asking: When Will Cardinal Dolan Address Anti-Gay Violence in New York City?

In a statement at the Huffington Post site this weekend, Joseph Amodeo points out that, in a city that is home to millions of Catholics, the head of the Catholic church in New York City (and the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops), Cardinal Timothy Dolan, has been "eerily silent" following the murder of Mark Carson. That murder is one in an ongoing series of assaults on LGBT citizens of the city during this year. As Amodeo notes, "Since Mark Carson's brutal murder last week, Cardinal Timothy Dolan has failed to issue even a minor statement regarding Mark's death or the string of attacks that have taken place over the past few months."

Quote for the Day: Catholic Hierarchy and Responsibility for Anti-Gay Violence

It was not Frigide Barjot who was hitting my head, or the bishop of Avignon lurking in that street to attack us. But they are responsible.

Friends of Pope Francis: The Poor Will "Convert Him Completely," the Church Will Have a Different Face

One of the unexpected gifts of the new pope to the church is this: after having been under a shadow during the last two papacies, after having been attacked and suppressed, the liberation theology movement is now front and center in Catholic conversations. I find this resurrection of a movement many Catholics (and powerful political and economic interest groups outside the church) had believed safely dead and buried something like a miracle.

In the News: Continued Shifts in American Attitudes re: LGBT Persons, Continued Challenges for People of Faith

A collection of articles all sharing common themes:

At National Catholic Reporter right now, Sister Maureen Fiedler calls on people of faith to celebrate Hilary Clinton's recent defense of the human rights of LGBT persons.  Fiedler thinks we are "in a new and positive moment" for LGBT persons, as societal attitudes shift from exclusion and condemnation to inclusion and acceptance.  

More Sliding Towards Barbarism: Ohio High-School Student Beats Gay Classmate As Peers Watch

And talking about inching towards barbarism, or running towards barbarism as fast as our legs can carry us (I'm building here on what I just posted about Alabama's new immigration law):