Catholic Cardinal Has Crazy Idea To Call Gay People “Gay People”
A cardinal says the Catholic Church should address members of the LGBT community with terms they're comfortable with themselves.
In a talk this weekend, Chicago's Cardinal Blase J. Cupich discussed the church’s evolving stance on human sexuality, saying that, at a minimum, “the terms ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian,’ ‘LGBT’—all of those names that people appropriate to themselves—should be respected.”
“We have always wanted to make sure that we start the conversation by saying that all people are of value and their lives should be respected and that we should respect them,” Cupich explained. “People should be called the way that they want to be called rather than us coming up with terms that maybe we’re more comfortable with. So it begins with that.”
He pointed out that Pope Francis has used the term “gay.”
Others, though, maintain using those labels gives credence to acts that are considered sins by the Church, and prefer terms like “individuals who experience same-sex attraction.”
“It is not to disrespect anyone, but because Catholics believe every person is greater than their sexual inclinations, and that it is degrading to identify a person only by their sexual urges,” write Father Fr. Dwight Longenecker in a commentary on Crux.
Um, thanks?
Last month, Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki issued a decree that Catholics in same-sex marriages should be refused Communion and last rites. Asked about the ban, Cupich said that wasn’t his policy but “as a matter of practice, we don’t comment on the policies of other dioceses.”