Following a recent clarification on the 1999 Notification by the CDF and the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL) Sr. Jeannine and Father Robert have now been prohibited, under their vows of obedience, to speak about the 1999 CDF Notification, the ecclesiastical processes which led to it, or the issue of homosexuality. Failure to adhere to this could lead to further penalties being exacted, including dismissal from their religious communities. 

CELEBRATING CATHOLIC DIVERSITY  now calls for an end to this ecclesiastical "open season" on lesbian, gay and bisexual people. The prayers and pleas for forgiveness and reconciliation, made at the opening of this Jubilee Year 2000, are now shown to be little more than empty ritual gestures, of the kind condemned throughout the Scriptures. The significant absence of an apology by John Paul II for the harm caused by the Church to lesbian, gay and bisexual people becomes more and more scandalous.

The abolition of any affirmative pastoral ministry with sexual minorities and the silencing of theological debates on sexual diversity are clearly influenced by wider political realities. The moves to greater social inclusion, including the registration of 
civil pacts and partnerships between people of the same gender, are now a world-wide phenomenon. The Vatican misuses its authority when it seeks to intervene in the secular sphere on these matters, and as such promotes prejudice, intolerance and hatred.

The lack of an open conversation in our Church on issues related to homosexuality is having a seriously negative effect on so many aspects of the Church's mission and ministry. We urge Bishops' Conferences around the world, including the Bishops' Conferences of England & Wales, Scotland and Ireland, to encourage the relevant Vatican authorities to establish an International Study Commission on Sexual Orientation and its Diversity. 

Such an initiative is long overdue.There are important precedents in the recent past when, for example, the Church has faced the moral and theological challenges of artificial contraception, or questions posed by the ordination of women. The pain of so many young people and their parents as they struggle with the issues of sexual orientation must be listened to and healed through all that is best in our Catholic heritage. Hierarchies' failures to grapple honestly with this subject fan the flames of homophobic violence. They murder the souls of millions of Catholics who strive to integrate their faith and sexuality in healthy and creative ways.

In the meantime we call upon the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, as well as the Superiors General of the School Sisters on Notre Dame and the Society of the Divine Saviour, to lift all current penalties imposed upon Sister Jeannine Gramick SSND and Father Robert Nugent SDS. 

This would express a concrete desire for reconciliation. It would show  that the Church's hierarchy was indeed open to the complex needs of lesbian, gay and bisexual people, their parents and families. The alternative message is that Jubilee
reconciliation and inclusion is available to all others, except lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, or those who minister with them.

Further Information:
Martin Pendergast
020 8986 0807
 

Originally posted 29 May 2000