GAY TRUTH

The late Pope Saint John Paul II did not equivocate or placate over the implications of a sizable celebration of homosexuality conducted in Rome during the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year of 2000 – saying it was an “offence” to Christian values and an insult that commanded acrimony. ''In the name of the church of Rome, I cannot express bitterness for the affront to the Grand Jubilee of the year 2000 and for the offense to the Christian values of a city that is so dear to the hearts of Catholics across the world,'' he told pilgrims in a Sunday message one day after thousands had marched in a gay pride parade in Rome. The pope reaffirmed Church teaching on homosexuality, quoting the Catechism, and said the Catholic Church could not be silent about the truth. ''Homosexual acts go against natural law,'' John Paul II said in an address delivered from a balcony over St. Peter's Square July 10, 2000.  ''The Church cannot silence the truth,'

Ontario’s Catholic Bishops made use of a pro- homosexual Catholic educrat in writing their new “ Religious Education ” program for grades 9-12 students in Catholic schools across the province.  Michael Way-Skinner of the York Catholic District School Board is listed at the end of the 283-page   Ontario Catholic Secondary Curriculum Policy Document   as a member of the 8 person “writing team.” The program, which was released online last week, was prepared by the Institute for Catholic Education, the Ontario bishops’ curriculum arm.  Michael Way-Skinner presents his strategy for making Catholic schools pro- LGBTQ at a pro-gay educators’ conference in 2015. Skinner, who is his board’s coordinator for “Religious Education, Family Life and Equity,”   told educators at a pro-homosexual educators’ conference last year   his strategy of cherry picking through ecclesial documents dealing with homosexuality and pulling out the portions that provide what he cal

LGBT activists in Poland will advocate their issues in a shadow outreach at this year’s World Youth Day. Heads of the Warsaw-based “Faith And Rainbow LGBT” group hope to reach thousands of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals at the Catholic Church’s triennial international event in Krakow, and to do so they have set up an “ LGBT Pilgrims Haven .” "We want to create a space in which they will feel safe and where they will find answers to issues facing them," said Misza Czerniak, one of the organizers. The “LGBT Pilgrims Haven” will take place in a cafe in Krakow's Kazimierz Jewish quarter. World Youth Day runs July 25-31 and is   expected to draw   about two million people to the city. This year’s theme is "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" from Matthew 5:7, the fifth of the eight Beatitudes imparted by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. World Youth Day includes Masses, catechetical sessions, and youth festivals. Pope Fra

A Tasmanian woman (transgender - Green Candidate for Federal Parliament)  is taking the Catholic Archbishop of Hobart to the Anti-Discrimination Commission over the contents of a booklet sent to Catholics around Australia earlier this year about same-sex marriage. Here, Associate Professor of Law, Neil Foster examines the basis of the claim. There are press reports (see also here ) that the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Hobart is being sued under s 17 of Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 for causing “offence” or “humiliation”. This was alleged to have been done by the Archbishop causing to be sent to Roman Catholic schools in his diocese, a booklet outlining the church views on marriage, and in particular expressing the well-known opposition of the church to the introduction of same sex marriage. A copy of the booklet, “Don’t Mess with Marriage”, can be downloaded here . It seems clear but also very respectful, and keen to condemn any ill-treatment of those with a same

A news story in The Australian this morning indicates that the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commission has found a preliminary “case to answer” in relation to a claim of sexual orientation discrimination against not only the Archbishop of Hobart , Julian Porteous, but also “all Australia ’s Catholic bishops.” We have known for some time that Greens political candidate Martine ­Delaney had made a complaint against Archbishop Porteous, but the additional feature of the decision of the Anti-Discrimination Commission is the inclusion of other Catholic Bishops from all around Australia. The booklet distributed to parents of students at Roman Catholic schools by Archbishop Porteous is entitled, “Don’t Mess with Marriage,” and was produced by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference . The booklet eschews all forms of “unjust discrimination,” and goes on to say, “some suggest that it is unjustly discriminatory not to allow people with same-sex attraction to marry someone of the sam

Freedom of choice. It’s a universally accepted, fundamental rule of civilised society. But which freedom has command over another in the hierarchy of rights? Does freedom of speech outrank freedom of opinion, and are they both junior to freedom of information anyway? And what of religious freedom, the right of individuals and organisations to follow the dictates and teachings of their faith without unfair and unjustified interference? Where does that fall in the freedom pecking order? I ask this in response to another anti-choice offensive from the Greens , this time in Tasmania, questioning the Catholic Church’s ability to reinforce its religious beliefs to families that have made a deliberate choice to educate their children in a Catholic school . The Greens’ anti-discrimination complaint centres on a pastoral letter the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference that I chair asked schools to distribute to parents detailing the church’s position on same-sex marriage. I must note t