For Gay Catholics, an Alternative to the Collection Plate
By donating gift cards to local priests, churchgoers can support their parishes without accidentally funding political causes.
Nov 20 2012, 12:31 PM ET
Timothy Villareal
Salvatore Cordileone is the archbishop of San Francisco. Although -- or, perhaps, because -- he lives in the American city most identified with same-sex relationships, he is also the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. During a press conference last Tuesday, a reporter asked Cordileone to comment on the string of successes for same-sex marriage during this month's elections. The archbishop responded, "This is not a time to give up, but rather a time to redouble our efforts."
The Catholic bishops may be holding firm, but their flock is drifting away from them. According to a recent poll by Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans has risen over the last five years. The poll's authors attributed this decline in part to public cynicism about religious leaders who tap revenue streams from their congregations to advance their own political goals.
For gay Catholics our straight Catholic allies, this question became especially relevant during the recent elections. We saw the highly-coordinated efforts by some bishops to stanch the growing marriage equality movement - and the Catholic church resources that helped fuel their effort - and wondered, "Is it really possible to support marriage equality while still being a church-going Catholic who tithes?"
Take Minnesota, one of the four states where voters faced referenda on gay and lesbian couples. Using resources from churchgoers, the Minnesota Catholic Conference was able to give $600,000 to "Minnesota for Marriage," an anti-marriage equality group. In Washington state, some Catholic bishops were so aggressive in their fundraising that the Public Disclosure Commission, the state's campaign finance agency, had to warn the Washington Catholic Conference that they were not permitted to collect donations at Mass. (To comply with the law, volunteers were required to collect donations in separate envelopes.) In Baltimore, Archbishop William Lori headlined a pre-election fundraiser for Maryland's anti-marriage equality group.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/11/for-gay-catholics-an-alternative-to-the-collection-plate/265447/
