| by Bishop Matthew H. Clark |   | |
|   | You know quite well that the Eucharistic Liturgy I celebrated on March 1 at Sacred Heart Cathedral with gay and lesbian Catholics, their families, friends and other interested persons drew quite a bit of attention. Several local media outlets reported it. So did at least two national wire services. That high level of public interest has carried over to many conversations in which I have been engeaged since we announced the event and to the notable volume of correspondance I have received since then. In view of that high level of interest, I thought you might like to know more about that reaction. | |
|   | As of April 15 - and they are still coming in - I had received 426 letters that were written before or after the March 1 liturgy. Of those, 393 or 93 percent were positive about the initiative.The remaining 33 responses, 7 percent of the total, were negative about the event or, at least, expressed reservations about it. I confess to you that I was quite surprised by the overwhelmingly favorable nature of that correspondence. My experience has been that people who are discontent are much quicker to let me know of their reactions than satisfied individuals are. I am told that that trend is by no means the pattern only in the church. I am very much aware that numbers, in matters like this, are of limited importance. But the fact that there was such a dramatic reversal of usual patterns in this instance suggests to me that the event touched sensitive chords in many Catholic people and in other people in the community who took an interest in what we were doing. Further, it indicates to me that we should consider very carefully and learn from what people found positive, encouraging or healing in the event. Beyond and deeper than the numbers are those positive, encouraging and healing stories and comments persons offered in their letters. Let me give you a sampling of excerpts from those letters. I hope that you will allow them to become food for your own thinking, especially if they raise questions you had not thought of before or if they allow you to consider the issue in question from a different perpective. "I have never seen the Cathedral so full of people, or so bursting with love and warmth. And I have never heard so many people say how proud they were to be Catholic." "More and more I realize how inclusive God is - truly a God who wants us to love one another and never do violence to anyone for any reason, whether through neglect, animosity or a rationalized ethic of justifiable violence." "We have struggled a long time loving our gay sons, maintaining our relationship with them and being faithful to the teaching of the Vatican. Just seeing you come up the aisle in procession said more than words can express. Now we know what Jesus would do." "...thank you for what you are doing for our gay and lesbian children and friends. Our daughter lives in California because she felt the hatred so strongly here ... and so do we. I've prayed for this day for 15 years." "Over the years I have come to know they very real suffering and sense of abandonment among homosexual people and their families, and I am so deeply joyful to see you bringing them close to the community and making such a clear and strong statement of love." "My younger brother is gay. I would give my life for him; he is, and always will be, closer to me than any members of my family. What I have seen him go through is unspeakable ... the Mass at Sacred Heart will show the Rochester community that all can come together as the people of God and that we can rid our corner of the world of prejudice, injustice and misunderstanding." I hope you find these words as moving and thought-provoking as I did. None convey any sense, as did the letters of some critics, that our celebration on March 1 suggested a backing away from the moral norms that call all of us to lead honest, just and loving lives. Rather they looked at themse of inclusion, compassion, respect for the richness of our moral tradition and the privileged place of conscience within that tradition. They and I recognize the norm that genital sexual activity is to be enjoyed only be men and women who are united in matrimony. But we recongize also that the pracitice of many individuals, homosexual and heterosexual, falls short of this norm, that circumstances strongly alter the nature of cases and that we are wise to leave the judgment of hearts to the God who knows all about us, our sin included, and yet continually calls us to a deeper life. Such dispositions contirbute much to the development of a church environment that allows us to accept, support and love one another as we try, even through our sins, faults and failings, to be generous and faithful in our response to God's love for us. Don't we all need that? I think so. Peace to all. [from the Catholic Courier, Diocese of Rochester. Thu, April 24, 1997. |
[from the Catholic
Courier, Diocese of Rochester. Thu, April 24, 1997.] posted without permission, permission request in progress. |