Catholics for a Free Choice Supports Demands of Gay and Lesbian Catholics
Washington, DC—Catholics for a Free Choice today expressed its support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Catholics protesting against discrimination in the Catholic church. CFFC joins Dignity—a group of gay and lesbian Catholics—and the interfaith movement Soulforce at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception where they will protest during the National Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in Washington, DC, on November 13.
“The message will be loud and clear to the bishops that it is time to reexamine how the church hierarchy treats gay and lesbian people in the church. It is time to start practicing what we preach and start behaving like a family of God,” said CFFC President Frances Kissling, adding, “Church leaders have to stop treating members of the gay community as though they were second-class Catholics.”
CFFC fully endorses the three demands posed to the bishops by Dignity and Soulforce, namely:
- To end church policies that prohibit Dignity chapters from meeting on church property;
- To end church policies that prohibit priests from celebrating Mass for members of Dignity;
- To foster open communication in the church by appointing a committee of clergy and laity to reexamine the Vatican’s teachings against gays and lesbians.
Kissling noted the link between the struggles of gay Catholics and that of women in the church, stating, “The hierarchy’s inability to respect sexual decisions made by men and women and its inability to respect reproductive decisions made by women leads to teachings that openly discriminate against Catholic lay people of good faith.”
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