kara speltz
01-19-2009, 12:02 PM
Dear Friends: I just have to share with you my great joy at this most amazing statement that was submitted this morning by the Des Moines Catholic Worker to the Catholic Worker elist.
LGBTs have been involved in Catholic Workers around the country from the very beginning , but too often we were tolerated at best, and in numerous CW houses, in the past, were not welcome. Two years ago, I gave a workshop at the Des Moines CW Gathering, on "Heterosexism and the CW." We had an amazing turnout of over 50 people and excellent and painful discussions.
Since then there have been a number of articles, involving the discussion of LGBTs in various CW papers. As Ratzinger called LGBTs as great a threat to the world as global warming, and the Vatican opposed the non-binding UN resolution, it all came to a head. The Catholic Worker has had a dramatic impact on my life, as has Soulforce and so this statement brings it all together, for me. Kara
CATHOLIC WORKER STATEMENT ON THE 2008 UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON
SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY
We are past and present Catholic Workers who come together to speak in
support of The United Nations Declaration on Sexual Orientation and
Gender Identity presented to the United Nations General Assembly on
December 18, 2008. The declaration condemns violence, harassment,
discrimination, exclusion, stigmatization, and prejudice based on
sexual orientation and gender identity. It also condemns killings and
executions, torture, arbitrary arrest, and deprivation of economic,
social, and cultural rights on those grounds.
For nearly a millennium, millions of our sisters and brothers who have
been, or were perceived to have been lesbian, gay, bisexual, or
transgender have endured unspeakable acts of hatred and violence that
have devastated their lives and, in countless instances, led to their
deaths. Today, 77 nations still criminalize these children of God
based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, and in seven
nations these "crimes" are punishable by death. As recently as 2003,
the United States of America still had such laws in effect in several
states.
Throughout the history of the Catholic Worker movement, we have stood
shoulder-to-shoulder with these sisters and brothers praying together,
performing works of mercy together, witnessing for justice together,
being arrested together, and sitting in jail together. We have done
these things together because we shared a common belief in the
teachings of Jesus Christ that the greatest commandment is that we are
to love our neighbor as ourselves and that our love is measured by
what we do for the least of these.
The sanctity of romantic and filial love inherent in this commandment
is self-evident. The clear God-given blessing of these expressions of
love inspire us to care for one another as much we care for ourselves
and lead us to form families and communities to more closely express,
as Jesus taught, that God is Love.
When there is no greater love than that love for which one would lay
down one's life for a friend, love so expressed can only come from
God. Where there is love so compelling that one will stay true to
that love even when it calls one to leave one's father and mother and
all that was treasured before that love was known, that love can only
come from God. When a love triumphs over grave after grave after
grave, that love can only come from God. To confess rather than deny
before men the love placed in one's heart by God though men revile
you, persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you for its
sake is striking and irrefutable evidence of God and that the words of
Jesus are lasting and true.
The trust that God has given to his lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender daughters and sons has not been misplaced, and this is
evinced by their unfailing witness of love so described. By their
fruits, we know them. They have continued to love us, even when we
didn't love them, and their labors have led only to a deeper
understanding of love, strengthened and expanded communities,
reconciliation among the faithful, and a world in which it is easier
to love.
To neither cherish nor express our gratitude for this blessing is a
desecration of God's love and therefore a sin. This sin is not
ameliorated by abstractions or by hiding behind the parsing of
terminology or other deviations that serve to rationalize the sin.
Exposing this sin, however controversial, does not derail nor shrink
any other concern for peace and justice on our path. We know that
fearing to take this position now will.
Because historic and contemporary acceptance and practice of a sin
does not diminish the obligation of a contrite heart to confess it, we
choose to repent. Furthermore, we hold that heterosexist bigotry is
not based in nor supported by the gospels but is a human invention
wrought by fear, ignorance, and greed. Therefore, now and forever, we
confess all our sins of heterosexism against our lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender brothers and sisters within and outside the
Catholic Worker Movement; we ask these sisters and brothers and God to
forgive us our sins against them, and we pledge our best efforts to go
and sin no more.
As part of our penance, we call upon all nations, in particular the
United States of America, all organized entities, and people of faith
to join us in repentance and to:
Endorse enthusiastically and without equivocation the 2008 United
Nations Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity as well
as any such future declarations.
Renounce all public remarks made regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender people that serve to demean, degrade, or foment hostility
toward and discrimination against them such as, but not limited to,
those comments made by religious leaders comparing them to pedophiles
or saying they are more threatening than global warming. Moreover we
ask those who have made such ascriptions to confess the cruelty of
these words and to recant them.
While we pray and wait for these things, we join hands with our
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender brothers and sisters willing
and prepared to share any slight, bear any burden, and suffer any
affliction with them until the day they are regarded by all human kind
as worthy and equal to us all, as they have always been held in the
eyes of God.
Respectfully submitted,
Des Moines Catholic Worker Community
LGBTs have been involved in Catholic Workers around the country from the very beginning , but too often we were tolerated at best, and in numerous CW houses, in the past, were not welcome. Two years ago, I gave a workshop at the Des Moines CW Gathering, on "Heterosexism and the CW." We had an amazing turnout of over 50 people and excellent and painful discussions.
Since then there have been a number of articles, involving the discussion of LGBTs in various CW papers. As Ratzinger called LGBTs as great a threat to the world as global warming, and the Vatican opposed the non-binding UN resolution, it all came to a head. The Catholic Worker has had a dramatic impact on my life, as has Soulforce and so this statement brings it all together, for me. Kara
CATHOLIC WORKER STATEMENT ON THE 2008 UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON
SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY
We are past and present Catholic Workers who come together to speak in
support of The United Nations Declaration on Sexual Orientation and
Gender Identity presented to the United Nations General Assembly on
December 18, 2008. The declaration condemns violence, harassment,
discrimination, exclusion, stigmatization, and prejudice based on
sexual orientation and gender identity. It also condemns killings and
executions, torture, arbitrary arrest, and deprivation of economic,
social, and cultural rights on those grounds.
For nearly a millennium, millions of our sisters and brothers who have
been, or were perceived to have been lesbian, gay, bisexual, or
transgender have endured unspeakable acts of hatred and violence that
have devastated their lives and, in countless instances, led to their
deaths. Today, 77 nations still criminalize these children of God
based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, and in seven
nations these "crimes" are punishable by death. As recently as 2003,
the United States of America still had such laws in effect in several
states.
Throughout the history of the Catholic Worker movement, we have stood
shoulder-to-shoulder with these sisters and brothers praying together,
performing works of mercy together, witnessing for justice together,
being arrested together, and sitting in jail together. We have done
these things together because we shared a common belief in the
teachings of Jesus Christ that the greatest commandment is that we are
to love our neighbor as ourselves and that our love is measured by
what we do for the least of these.
The sanctity of romantic and filial love inherent in this commandment
is self-evident. The clear God-given blessing of these expressions of
love inspire us to care for one another as much we care for ourselves
and lead us to form families and communities to more closely express,
as Jesus taught, that God is Love.
When there is no greater love than that love for which one would lay
down one's life for a friend, love so expressed can only come from
God. Where there is love so compelling that one will stay true to
that love even when it calls one to leave one's father and mother and
all that was treasured before that love was known, that love can only
come from God. When a love triumphs over grave after grave after
grave, that love can only come from God. To confess rather than deny
before men the love placed in one's heart by God though men revile
you, persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you for its
sake is striking and irrefutable evidence of God and that the words of
Jesus are lasting and true.
The trust that God has given to his lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender daughters and sons has not been misplaced, and this is
evinced by their unfailing witness of love so described. By their
fruits, we know them. They have continued to love us, even when we
didn't love them, and their labors have led only to a deeper
understanding of love, strengthened and expanded communities,
reconciliation among the faithful, and a world in which it is easier
to love.
To neither cherish nor express our gratitude for this blessing is a
desecration of God's love and therefore a sin. This sin is not
ameliorated by abstractions or by hiding behind the parsing of
terminology or other deviations that serve to rationalize the sin.
Exposing this sin, however controversial, does not derail nor shrink
any other concern for peace and justice on our path. We know that
fearing to take this position now will.
Because historic and contemporary acceptance and practice of a sin
does not diminish the obligation of a contrite heart to confess it, we
choose to repent. Furthermore, we hold that heterosexist bigotry is
not based in nor supported by the gospels but is a human invention
wrought by fear, ignorance, and greed. Therefore, now and forever, we
confess all our sins of heterosexism against our lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender brothers and sisters within and outside the
Catholic Worker Movement; we ask these sisters and brothers and God to
forgive us our sins against them, and we pledge our best efforts to go
and sin no more.
As part of our penance, we call upon all nations, in particular the
United States of America, all organized entities, and people of faith
to join us in repentance and to:
Endorse enthusiastically and without equivocation the 2008 United
Nations Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity as well
as any such future declarations.
Renounce all public remarks made regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender people that serve to demean, degrade, or foment hostility
toward and discrimination against them such as, but not limited to,
those comments made by religious leaders comparing them to pedophiles
or saying they are more threatening than global warming. Moreover we
ask those who have made such ascriptions to confess the cruelty of
these words and to recant them.
While we pray and wait for these things, we join hands with our
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender brothers and sisters willing
and prepared to share any slight, bear any burden, and suffer any
affliction with them until the day they are regarded by all human kind
as worthy and equal to us all, as they have always been held in the
eyes of God.
Respectfully submitted,
Des Moines Catholic Worker Community