September, 2003

Page 4, the West Kentucky "Catholic"... Here's the ad:

This presentation is co-sponsored by our local Ursulines (surprise!) and the diocesan "Social Concerns Committee".

It's been a few years since our diocese has invited a liberal dissenter of this magnitude in to speak, the last one being Edwina Gateley.

What will Gumbleton talk about?  Nowadays he seems to be dividing his time between protesting US military action against Iraq and Afghanistan and being an activist for gay and lesbian causes.  What's he been saying about the US?  Let's look.

"As people of faith and conscience, we proclaim that it is a grave sin to support this war. We cannot stand silent while the Bush administration murders innocent men, women and children."
Source: http://www.paxchristiusa.org/news_events_more.asp?id=517

Very few of us stand up and say no; but some do, and I thought I might bring to your attention and ask your prayers for three people who will be sentenced later this month. Three sisters of St. Dominic of Grand Rapids, Mich.*, acted prophetically. They went to a nuclear base and symbolically disarmed a weapon, denouncing these weapons, which are abominations. They have been tried and convicted of endangering our country. They were convicted of threatening the security of the United States. On July 25, they will be sentenced to years in jail. Should we be listening to them as prophets speaking to us through their actions, through their willingness to be jailed to dramatize the evil that we are engaged in as a nation? ~Homily of July 6, 2003

"We, the undersigned, are convinced that war is the greatest evil on earth. We believe that humankind must end war, or war will end humankind, and, in fact, all of creation. Our convictions have driven us time and again to the Pentagon, White House and Congress in acts of civil resistance to war.
Now, we bring our plea to you, sisters and brothers, in the armed forces.
Refuse to kill.
Refuse the order to go to war.
Leave the military before it is too late." [More]

James Hanink, a professor of philosophy at Loyola-Marymount, agreed that Bishop Gumbleton's insistence, that the just war tradition and the teachings of Jesus are finally incompatible, does not represent the mind of the Church. "I don't think it's the spirit of the Gospels," said Hanink. "I think [Bishop Gumbleton] would have to give some case that he's privy to the teachings of Jesus, because I certainly wouldn't take them to be [the same as] Bishop Gumbleton's teachings."

"Gumbleton is spending moral capital that isn't his to spend," said Hanink. "I think there's many a person who wants to take the moral high road, and here's a way to do it on the cheap. So you say stuff like that, but it's historically unwarranted, it's scripturally unwarranted; natural law doesn't require it. We have the clear teaching of Jesus that it is possible to be a soldier and a clear practice of the early Church that it is possible to be a soldier." [Whole Article]

"I've always been amazed at how (Pacem in Terris) has been ignored these 40 years now. Because this year it will be 40 years since (Pope John XXIII) published that encyclical letter. That should have been a call to all of us, even at the time to give up war."
~Keynote address at the Pax Christi USA-Los Angeles 2003 Conference, February 16, 2003 at Loyola Marymount University

"I can vouch for the fact that very many bishops share the same conviction (that not every contraceptive act is intrinsically evil). However, sadly enough, fewer and fewer are willing to say this publicly. there is no doubt in my mind that so few are willing to voice their opinion on contraception out loud because they are familiar with the criteria used in developing a profile for any priest who is to be recommended to the Holy See to be named a bishop. Clear and ardent support for Humanae Vitae is one of the requirements. Since 1978 more and more bishops have been ordained who meet that criteria."
~Letter to America Magazine, November 20, 1963

"In the developing world, the inability of women, especially poor women, to access basic family planning services and information undermines women's efforts to determine their own destiny, increases illness and mortality rates of women and their children, contributes to environmental degradation, and inhibits the ability of families to lift themselves out of poverty."

"Family planning is one of the best weapons we have to save the lives of women and their children in develop ing countries.…Family planning enables women to space their births, preserving their health and improving the odds that their children will be born healthy."
~Gumbleton, From the pro-abortion website "Catholics for a Free Choice": http://www.cath4choice.org/nobandwidth/English/contraception/matter.pdf

"I think we need to go all out to prevent the US from invading Iraq. In 1991 Pope John Paul II spoke out numerous times in opposition to that war."
~Interview with Thomas Gumbleton, Agape Community

Indeed, most of the attendees of the Call To Action gathering urged accommodation with the spirit of the age. While Pope John Paul II has spoken definitively against women's ordination, Bishop Gumbleton said priestesses will inevitably come. Already, female parochial administrators are proving their competency and laying the groundwork for the ordination of women. One woman muttered that "one little mind" - the pope's - stands in the way of making women deaconesses, a first step toward priesthood. [More}

"Aren't we depriving ourselves of real genuine leadership in our church because we don't give women a place of leadership?"

"Think how different it would have been in the current crisis in our church if there had been some women in leadership positions who had children who had been abused. Do you think they would have been quiet about it or that they would have let priests be moved from one place to another? No, certainly not. But, for the most part, we refuse to listen to women in our church. We give them no place of leadership whatsoever."

"Jesus was so different, wasn't he? He listened to that woman and it changed him for the better. And that could happen to us and to our church too."

~Excerpts from Gumbleton homily of August 18, 2002

"The more we come to understand that there are homosexual people working with us that we're dealing with every day, the more homophobia will disappear," he says. "And these sort of unarticulated ideas about homosexuality as a perversion or something disordered or wrong will dissipate."

~US Catholic, 1997

Obedience to the Vatican?  Nope.  From EWTN's news files:

HOMOSEXUAL GROUP DEFIES VATICAN ORDERS

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky, (CWNews.com) -- Despite objections from the Vatican, a conference of Catholic activists seeking changes in Church teaching regarding homosexuality opened in Kentucky this past weekend, with a retired bishop presiding at the opening liturgy.

The convention in Louisville was sponsored by New Ways Ministry, a group which has clashed with Rome because of its statements on homosexuality. In 1999, the Vatican ordered Father Robert Nugent and Sister Jeannine Gramick, the founders of the organization, to cease their public advocacy for homosexuals. Although the two are no longer officially active in New Ways Ministry, the group's public statements remain at odds with Church teachings.

Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had written to Louisville's Archbishop Thomas Kelly, pointing out that New Ways Ministry "does not promote the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church." But the Kentucky archbishop did not discourage participation in the conference.

Archbishop Kelly did tell the conference organizers that they should not celebrate the Eucharist at their conference, because of--as Archbishop Bertone had put it--"the confusion and scandal which will inevitably arise from this event." But New Ways Ministry ignored that directive. And Bishop Leroy Matthiesen, the retired bishop of Amarillo, Texas, presided at the Mass.

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, a Detroit auxiliary who has been outspoken in his support for homosexuals, also took part in the New Ways Ministry conference. [More]

New Ways Ministry was founded in 1977 by Sister Jeannine Gramick and Rev. Robert Nugent. It was the subject of a 20-year Vatican investigation until 1999, when the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith permanently banned Gramick and Nugent from "any pastoral work involving homosexual persons." However, New Ways claims that the censure does not apply to the ministry itself.
- - -
At a Friday pre-symposium conference for parents of homosexual children and pastoral ministers, Detroit Bishop Thomas Gumbleton told parents, "The first thing that I think needs to be said that's very, very important if we're going to love our children is simply to recognize that homosexual people are not disordered people. They are psychologically healthy people. ... Homosexuals are as healthy as anyone else."

Gumbleton added, "Homosexuals are able to function and grow at least as well as heterosexuals. They are able to be creative, put in a hard day's work, act as citizens, help their neighbor. Somewhat surprisingly, they make love more humanely, largely because they are better able empathetically to feel what their partner is feeling." (Emphasis added)

[You must read the Whole Story]

And yet another one. Here is another fine quote from Gumbleton.  Remember, this man is a bishop in the Catholic Church:

"Homosexual orientation is certainly not wrong, unless you want to say God made a mistake."
~Gumbleton

Three Catholic gay activists were convicted of unlawful entry yesterday in D.C. Superior Court by a judge who then declined to sentence them, told them she was sympathetic and went on to apologize on behalf of the Catholic Church.

The activists, Ken Einhaus of Arlington, Mike Perez of Seattle and Kara Speltz of Oakland, Calif., told Edwards in the nonjury trial that they went to the Hyatt Regency on New Jersey Avenue NW on Nov. 12, seeking someone from the clergy to give them Holy Communion. They also wanted an explanation of why they were refused Communion the day before during Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Mass was held during the annual Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton flew in to testify on behalf of the activists.

Prosecutors said the three, members of the gay activist group Soulforce, carefully choreographed a protest in the hotel, where they knew a crowd of reporters was there to cover the bishops conference.

The prosecutors said the reason for the activists' refusal to leave was irrelevant; they broke the law when, after repeated requests by police and hotel officials to move, they remained in the lobby of a private building, hands outstretched, waiting for someone to give them Communion. [Whole Story]

Perhaps it was a case of mistaken identity, but the priest was acting in an attempt to defend the Eucharist from desecration. That deserves applause, not condemnation. And what planet is this judge from, anyway, that she thinks she has the right to say who receives the Eucharist ? Also, I wonder if the media would cover someone being refused Communion because he or she insisted on kneeling in order to receive ? What's saddest of all.... a bishop siding with these people. Yes, I have learned to expect the worst from Bishop Gumbleton, but still....

"As part of such a program of bringing about healthy human development, we must deal with the question of homosexuality in the priesthood. We must deal with the fact that we live in a culture that is seriously homophobic. Some of the responses to the scandal have included attacks against homosexual priests and seminarians. We must further the steps we took in our pastoral letter, "Always Our Children" to overcome the homophobia within our culture and within the Church. We must be a truly welcoming community for homosexual people. But we must also include in our human development programs elements which would enable every priest, seminarian and bishop to come to a clear awareness of his sexual orientation and a healthy acceptance of it. "Always Our Children" pointed out that homosexuals are a gift to the Church, and we should not marginalize them and push them aside. Well, if we meant what we wrote in that pastoral letter, then certainly homosexuals should be welcomed in the priesthood. But they must, just as heterosexual priests, integrate their sexuality within an honest, authentic lifestyle as a celibate person."
~Bishop Thomas Gumbleton on May 25, 2002 in Lexington, MA

A good article from LifeSite, February 8, 2000:

CONTROVERSIAL BISHOP PROMOTES DANGEROUS "GAY RIGHTS" LAW

DETROIT, Feb 8 (LSN.ca) - The auxiliary bishop of Detroit, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, whose stance on homosexuality is seen by many as contrary to that of the Vatican, is supporting a city ordinance that may land the church in court on charges of "discrimination." Bishop Gumbleton held a rally Sunday at St. James Church in Ferndale in support of the measure which would ban discrimination against homosexuals regarding employment, housing, public accommodations, and public services.

Catholic World News reported yesterday that the measure does not allow for exemptions for religious organizations. "If passed violators, including churches that refuse to hire homosexuals for positions in charities, educational positions, day care centers, or even the clergy, would face $500 fines and civil lawsuit," reported CWN.

LifeSite reported in November 1997 that Bishop Gumbleton caused an uproar in the Catholic community when he signed a petition in support of the Catholic-bashing show "Nothing Sacred." The Catholic League described the show in the following manner: "The goal is to put a positive spin on Catholic priests who prefer Hollywood's libertine vision of sexuality to the moral teachings of the Church. This propaganda is fodder for dissenting Catholics and anti- Catholic bigots alike."

"The past 40 years have witnessed liberal Catholic change-agents unite under various flags. Sometimes they rally flagrantly as with "Call to Action" and sometimes quietly as with "FutureChurch." The accidents may change but the substance remains. They all subscribe to the National Catholic Reporter. Their heroes are James Carroll, Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister, Gary Wills, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and Father Richard McBrien. They have all inhaled deeply of the Spirit of Vatican II. They speak loudly about lay participation, whisper quietly about women priests and maintain a respectful silence about abortion. Their great joy is community building. Their great dread is clericalism. Their great error is their loss of faith in the supernatural character of the church."

~Fr. John A. Kiley in the Providence Visitor  (Emphasis added)

Bishop Gumbleton: Useful Idiot

"In March 1986, Gumbleton was a signer of a letter issued by Witness for Peace, a pro-Sandinista organization.

"The letter stated that the Sandinistas were not exterminating the Miskito Indian tribe and there was no religious persecution by the Sandinistas.

"However, Russell Means, certainly no conservative ideologue, and the Anti-Defamation League knew differently. Means publicly condemned the Sandinistas for their genocide of the Miskitos. The ADL complained about Sandinista anti-Semitism...'

~Kathy Shaidle, Relapsed Catholic Weblog

We may go.  I don't know.  I'm hoping some of our readers (yeah, all three of 'em... ) in Owensboro might get involved.

The Ursulines and the other liberals in this diocese know exactly what they can get away with and they know our bishop will say nothing about it.  What surprises me is that the particular pastor at Sts. Joseph and Paul Church in Owensboro is okay with this.  Our diocese is hurtin'.  The only reason we're not as newsworthy as dioceses headed by the more outspoken liberal prelates is that ours pretty much doesn't do anything... at all.  He allows others to mislead the faithful.