General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: When did so many (not all) "christians" become hateful psychopaths? [View all]Tigress DEM
(7,887 posts)Whenever I think Inquisition, I still think of the time when the Church and State were large and in charge and being excommunicated came with a death sentence. But you are referring to the "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith" established in 1965 and still active today.
CDF does create the doctrine that is used to discriminate against gays so... definitely not a forward thinking part of the Church. Still the Pope's involvement in establishing or approving what is considered the Church's position on various issues is much different than the traditional image of torture and sentencing to death of all non-believers.
This group COULD be a lot more active in dealing with priests accused of pedophilia, after all Jesus did say that anyone who hurts little ones is basically scum. This group COULD do a lot of good if they would make a statement that GAY does NOT equal pedophile and would condemn sexual molestation of children as a fully separate issue.
They did find time to excommunicate a group of nuns that believe Mary the mother of Christ has been reincarnated. I can buy that as being against Church doctrine.
On September 28, 2007, Gaston Hebert, the then apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Little Rock stated that (per the July 11 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) 6 Arkansas nuns were excommunicated for heresy (the first in the diocese's 165-year history). They refused to recant the doctrines of the Community of the Lady of All Nations (Army of Mary). The 6 nuns are members of the Good Shepherd Monastery of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge in Hot Springs. Sister Mary Theresa Dionne, 82, one of 6, said they will still live at the convent property, which they own. The sect believe that its 86-year-old founder, Marie Paule Giguere, is the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary.
Too bad they got all bent out of shape over Sister Jeannine Gramick's work with gays and lesbians. I think someday the Church will get it and her example will really show them how to heal the rift between the Church and homosexuals.
The Inquisition group, however it's called, is still a process by committee when you get down to it and change like this takes soooooo long. Still, as long as they aren't empowered to burn people at the stake, and people can choose another religion, it's not one of my top concerns. KEEPING Church and State separate so it can never happen again... BIG priority. (If you know what I mean....)
I did leave the Catholic Church and a big part of that decision was over the discrimination of gays by the Church. I still know a lot of Catholics that are working for Peace and Justice issues within their parishes even though it's an uphill battle.
I've met people I'd consider fundamentalists who would do for the poor or stand up for someone being oppressed for other reasons, but get all weird on this issue. They might not actually even be judgmental about the person, but still have a huge dollop of homophobia in their attitude. IE: Hate the sin, not the sinner.
I personally think that like other species on this planet, some people simply are born this way and it may even be related to over-population and survival. IF the Church et al weren't so concerned about letting every little sperm come to term, we wouldn't as humans NEED a gay population to help us survive on this planet. And I think we DO NEED the LGBT community to help us evolve. I've seen a lot of compassion and unselfish behavior from people who really get the shitty end of the stick in our society. I know gays and lesbians who are or would be as good of or better parent than I am. Quite the little heretic myself, I guess.
I still have faith that the Church will eventually see that so much more good can come of following Sister Jeannine Gramick's example of accepting people as they are, but they will probably be the last church on the band wagon.
Tig