Pope Francis on Women Priests and Related Recent News Items: "I do not know whether to laugh or cry at Pope Francis’ suggestion about women’s position in the Church"

Altar of Veit Stoss, descent of the Spirit at Pentecost, St. Mary's Church, Krakow, Poland, photo by Robert Breuer at Wikimedia Commons

As Virginia Saldanha, "Why I find pope’s ideas on women priests disturbing," notes, Pope Francis recently nonsensically (and all over again) said that men in the Catholic church are meant to follow a "Petrine principle" that allows men — but not women — to be ordained, run things, and mirror Christ. Women are called to follow a "Marian principle" and mirror the feminine church, not — heaven forfend! — the male Christ. (Translation: women are called to serve). 

Connections: UMC Hardening vs. Queer People to Catholic School Barring Child of Gay Couple to Failure of Utah Bill Outlawing "Conversion" Therapy to "Pro-Life" Administration Caging Children

I offer you today these selections from items I have been reading lately, because — to my way of thinking, and I am hoping you'll agree — there's a common theme here. These stories interlink:

Attack on LGBTQ People Coupled with Attack on Healthcare Coverage: Double-Whammy Attack Emanating from "Pro-Life" White Christians

THREAD: 1. People choose to end their lives for all sorts of reasons.

— Bill Lindsey (@wdlindsy) July 27, 2017

"This Is Actually Happening, and It's Real, and It's Right Now": Christian Churches Responding (or Refusing to Respond) to Pastoral Needs of LGBTQ Human Beings

Gay (former) Mormon Tyler Glenn in a video he posted to Facebook on 5 July (the video above), about the suicide of LGBTQ Mormon youth after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints enacted its policy punishing same-sex couples and their children and excluding them from church participation:

This is actually happening, and it's real, and it's right now.

Reported Spike in Suicides of LGBT Mormon Youth After LDS Church Enacts New Gay-Excluding Policy: Some Links for You

As Chris Morley notes in a series of comments here yesterday (this is his initial comment in the thread), a story has made the rounds this weekend about the new policy the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints recently enacted punishing the children of same-sex couples (previous commentary on this story is here, here, and here). On 28th January, the Salt Lake Tribune published a report citing data from the group Mama Dragons, Mormon mothers supporting their gay children, which indicates that there have been 32 suicides of young LGBT Mormons following the church's adoption of its new gay-excluding policy.

Another Suicide of a Gay Teen: Catholic Context

This heart-breaking story of the suicide of yet another gay teen is a reminder of why it matters — why it should matter — that the Catholic church in the U.S. (or anywhere else) is moving backwards  regarding welcoming and including gay members. And this story is a reminder of why it matters that, as Jerry Slevin notes, as the synod on the family nears, Pope Francis appears to be signaling a complete "non-approach" to the families of gay Catholics.

Quote of the Day: "Let's Start with How This Affects Real People"

I love the opening line of Fred Clark's last posting today at Slacktivist:

Let’s start with how this affects real people.

John Corvino, What's Wrong with Homosexuality?: "A Risky Lifestyle" (4)

Another excerpt from John Corvino's book What's Wrong with Homosexuality? (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2013)--this one sums up his chapter on the "harm argument" which maintains that homosexuality ought to be beyond the pale because it harms both those who are gay and society as a whole:

Scary Hallowe'en Reads? Cardinal Ratzinger's "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons"

There's an interesting Hallowe'en thread right now at Commonweal, responding to Dominic Preziosi's question to readers about forgotten, overlooked, or lesser known scary stories. As I've thought about the question, it occurs to me that it's hard for me to think of many scarier documents than the one the previous pope issued on Hallowe'en 1986,* when, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The CDF document purports to be about the "pastoral care" of "homosexual persons."

Pauls Toutonghi on Suicide of Gay Teen Jadin Bell: "As a Recent Father of Twins, This Story Wouldn’t Leave Me Alone"

At Salon, Pauls Toutonghi discusses in heart-rending detail the protracted, relentless bullying that led to the suicide of 15-year-old Jadin Bell on 19 January this year. Bell was the only openly gay student in his high school in La Grande, Oregon. An excerpt:

Michelle Rhee Responds to Plea of 11-Year-Old Boy: Why Reward "Don't Say Gay" Educational "Reformers"?!

Desmond Tutu Appeals to Ugandans' Conscience, and Another Gay Teen Commits Suicide

Josh Pacheco (1995-2012)

And (piggybacking on what I just posted about Justice Scalia and his recent response to a gay Princeton student re: homosexuality and murder) in contrast to Scalia the defender of Catholic orthodoxy, there's Desmond Tutu, the defender of humane values and human rights: at Box Turtle Bulletin, Jim Burroway publishes an editorial by Tutu in today's Daily Monitor.  The editorial appeals to the conscience of the Ugandan people as their parliament is poised to pass draconian anti-gay legislation as a "Christmas gift" to the people of this nation.

The Importance of Anderson Cooper's Coming Out Statement

Another Gay Teen in U.S. Kills Himself Due to Bullying: R.I.P, Kenneth James Weishuhn

In what I just posted, I once again noted the monomaniacal (and morally indefensible) preoccupation of centrist Catholics who continue to run interference for the morally indefensible U.S. Catholic bishops with pre-born human life to the exclusion of many post-birth human lives.  And their absolute silence about what the bishops have done and continue to do their brothers and sisters who happen to be gay.

Rolling Stone on Suicide Epidemic in Anoka-Hennepin School District: Pro-Life Voice Still Silent

I wrote yesterday,

. . . [H]ow do any religious leaders (and educated, purportedly morally sensitive people who defend them) possibly imagine that they can be thought of as pro-life when we in the U.S. have been living through an epidemic of suicides of young people who are gay or gender-questioning in recent years?  And when the pro-life bishops and their educated defenders are simply silent about this phenomenon?

Phyllis Zagano on Foolishness of Catholics Who Question Bishops' Attack on Obama: A Footnote

A tiny footnote to what I posted earlier today about Phyllis Zagano's recent NCR article (and about all of the centrist Catholic intellectual and media gurus now piling on the Obama administration and politicking for the "pro-life" Republicans vis-a-vis religious freedom and the rights of conscience): 

Phyllis Zagano on Foolishness of Catholics Who Question Bishops' Attack on Obama: My Response

I've gone back and forth in my head about whether to comment on Phyllis Zagano's latest piece at National Catholic Reporter chiding her fellow Catholics who refuse to walk lock-step with the U.S. Catholic bishops in their current attack on the Obama administration.  I've hesitated to write any more about this topic, because it has been hashed to death on one blog site after another--this one included--and I suspect many readers are as thoroughly sick of the discussion as I myself am.  And continuing to talk about these matters only gives legs and further publicity to the shameful, dirty, decidedly anti-life and downright dangerous (for the whole planet and everyone on it) pro-Republican politicking in which the bishops and their epigones of the Catholic center are now involved.

Another Gay Teen Suicide: Phillip Parker, Tennessee

How soon will it be until we click on to another story or change the channel when yet another of these tragic suicides of gay teens makes news in the U.S.?  That's what people eventually do, after all, when something is reported over and over in the news, and it seems not nearly enough is happening to stop a particular kind of tragedy from occurring.

Resources for Catholic Conversations with Gay Folks: Phil Ewing's Blue-Eyed Ennis Site

Fra Bartolommeo, "Christ Appearing on the Road to Emmaus"

As the work week ends, I want to take notice of several valuable resources that have appeared recently at Phil Ewing's beautiful Blue-Eyed Ennis site.  As I noted in a posting several days ago, Fr. James Martin recently posted a piece at the America blog site, calling for Catholics to give renewed attention to the catechetical teaching that gay and lesbian persons should be treated with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.  My brief response to Fr. Martin's posting is at the first link above.

Andrew Sullivan on Latest Gay Teen Suicide: The Task of Real Christians Is Alleviating Pain

I have not had the heart to blog about this latest illustration of what unrelenting discrimination (egged on in American culture by many religious groups) does to the human spirit.  And about what it does, in particular, to young gay and lesbian people.