The sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has opened up a can of worms. At the same time, church officials have undertaken an aggressive assault on LGBT families, causing laypeople and liberals, including those who still attend mass, to call in louder and ever more self-assured tones for the ordination of women, married priests, and a whole new Catholic attitude vis-à-vis LGBT people and our civil rights. The German theologians, for example, recently issued a "memorandum" entitled "The Church in 2011: A Necessary New Departure."
Clearly the institutional policies and doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church on a variety of issues pertaining to sexuality and gender are outdated and inadequate. Although calls for reform have been issued since even before the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), conservative fears have set the agenda and slowed the pace of change.
Yet it may be that the dual crises of sex abuse and anti-gay politics will finally force the church qua institution to address not only issues of sexuality and gender, but the larger unfinished business of Vatican II. The general outrage and democratic possibilities highlighted by recent developments in North Africa raise the specter of a Jasmine Revolution in the Catholic Church, one in which the church as People of God would finally assert its ownership of the institution, and throw off the tyranny of unelected hierarchs.
The Catholic institution is, in many respects, part of the manifest religion that has "gone bad" to quote Mel White, but its deep roots are sound and its resources vast. Let this time of Lent be a season of radical faith, hope, and love, so that our religion may be known again as a way of life, and not the cult of death its spoilers have attempted to make of it.
It is quite common to hear an LGBT person say, "I was born this way," but this is also true for Catholics. Even those of us who converted as adults received the faith as a theological gift so that it is in us now �" like it or not �" informing our choices and calling us back to our roots, our sound beginnings and boundless potential for flourishing. It is who we are, and how we can choose to be in the world. It precedes and supersedes institutions that claim to speak for us and to have infinite spiritual authority over us. We have the faith in us, individually and collectively, and what we do with it �" how we interpret it and apply it to our ethical choices including choices about whether and how to practice our religion �" cannot be dictated from the balconies of ecclesiastical privilege.
Noam Chomsky said, "If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world." Things can get better, even in religion. Hope is in us because we are free, human. We are not unrealistic. We recognize oppression in society and the church, and fully acknowledge the breadth and depth of our collective suffering. The reasons for Catholic despair have been many, signs of hope few. Yet hope we do, as human beings created in the image and likeness of God, with free will and a capacity to imagine change far beyond that which can be immediately and rationally conceived.
Enduring faith, hope and love make us who we are and supply deep wells of refreshment in our struggle for equality, but love is so important that without this particular gift, which excels all the others, our lives are as empty as clanging cymbals. It is so important, that we define God as love, and sum up the Law and Prophets as the command to love. When asked why we marry, the most common response is "for love." That also explains why we remain Catholic, why we speak out as Catholics and why we are active not only in pro-LGBT Catholic groups such as Dignity, Fortunate Families, New Ways Ministry, Call to Action, Catholics for Equality, and Catholics for Marriage Equality, but also and especially in local parishes. The mission of Catholics for Marriage Equality in California is to advance marriage equality through prayer, presence, and education. We stay for ourselves, our neighbors, and the next generation. They need us. If not now, when? If not us, who?
The church has its share of bullies. Salvatore J. Cordileone, the bishop of Oakland (and "Father of Prop 8"), was recently appointed chair of the U.S. Bishops' Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage. Taking a cue from Anita Bryant, he has consistently repeated the false and malicious allegation that marriage equality is a threat to children. It is beyond ironic that high-ranking church officials are making this argument at a time when the global exploits of pedophile priests and their lordly, aloof protectors in the hierarchy are regularly exposed in the press and so many abusers have already been carted off to jail.
Things have gotten so bad that a non-Catholic ally and gay father in Castro Valley, Billy Bradford, stands every Sunday morning outside of mass at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland with Catholic activist Tim Stier and the Women of Magdala. The moral contrast could not be more dramatic. Inside, the bully in all his splendor; outside, the bully's victims, unsupported and desolate.
This is our historical moment. We may not make a grand entrance, or stage a rebellion in St. Peter's Square (though that wouldn't be such a bad idea), but we must respond �" in all of our ordinary and extraordinary ways �" because that is what it is in us to do. For Lent then, let us rise and converge in a mystical communion in which our humanity finally transcends our "divine" self-loathing (and "Christian" timidity), and the God who is not dead after all reveals through us truly what it means to be fully, unrepentantly alive!
Here are 25 things you can do to make yours a safer parish.
Include LGBT concerns in the prayers of the people.
Involve LGBT people as Eucharistic ministers, lectors, ushers, parish council, etc.
Invite LGBT people to mass.
Invite LGBT people to brunch after mass.
Refer to LGBT people in a positive way in casual conversation with fellow parishioners.
Remember LGBT concerns in your private and/or family prayers.
Educate yourself about LGBT issues.
Join or find ways to support and connect with pro-LGBT Catholic groups such as Catholics for Marriage Equality, Catholics for Equality, Fortunate Families, Call to Action, New Ways Ministries, Dignity USA, and the Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministry.
Start an unofficial LGBT-affirming network and/or social group.
Start an official LGBT-affirming ministry.
Share your concerns with your pastor.
Arrange to speak to the parish council.
Build alliances with members of religious orders.
Encourage the peace and justice group to address LGBT issues.
Forward the Catholics for Marriage Equality newsletter to your friends and allies.
Sponsor or promote an LGBT and allied retreat.
Make Catholic-oriented "It Gets Better" videos.
Arrange a movie night around an LGBT-themed film (such as Prayers for Bobby).
Host a book discussion around an LGBT-themed book, or a novel with a significant LGBT character and/or relationship.
Display works by an LGBT artist.
Display images and make liturgical reference to saints such as Sebastian, Joan of Arc, Cosmas and Damien, Perpetua and Felicitas, etc.
Sit with your same-gender partner during mass, and express affection as openly as heterosexual couples.
Sit with an LGBT person or same-gender couple during mass.
Fully include the children of LGBT parents.
Ask an LGBT person to be your child's godparent.
Eugene McMullan is the founder of Catholics for Marriage Equality in California, and a member of the board of Dignity/San Francisco. He is also the leader of the young adults group at Most Holy Redeemer parish.