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From: John Rupkey
Winona
Thanks to the majority of Winona County voters who rejected Bishop Quinn’s attempt to desecrate our Minnesota Constitution by amending it to reflect Pope Benedict’s degrading homophobic theology, and a special thanks to the encouraging number of vocal Catholics who voted no. I know from experience that it isn’t easy for Catholics to advance from the comfortable delusion of infallible “certainty” on moral issues to the messy reality of the evolution of moral understanding.
But those who think Bishop Quinn will be enlightened by this are suffering from another delusion. Vatican theology isn’t decided by popular vote; it is decided by whoever gets enough votes from cardinals to become pope in Rome.
So the work among advanced Catholics in Winona on this moral issue is not complete. Bishop Quinn won’t be able to stem the inevitable tide of justice in Minnesota no matter how much more money of hardworking Catholics he is willing to waste. But he can still do significant psychological damage to individual children. He will continue to indoctrinate Catholic gay children to believe what Pope Benedict wants them to believe - that the love they experience is “disordered.”
If priests and teachers think Catholic parents in Winona want them to program self-rejection into their beautiful gay children, then fine; be abusive. Teach them to hate themselves.
But I know Catholic parents want something better for their children.
What is needed in Winona today is a new theology addressing this issue, written by Catholics and for Catholics, which can be taught to gay (and nongay) children by their parents and Catholic teachers. It will be a neutralizing alternative to the toxic theology of Pope Benedict, faithfully promoted in Winona by Bishop Quinn.
This theological statement should be based on our best current understanding of human nature from psychology. It should reflect the self-evident truth that all persons are created equal, embrace Catholic teachings on justice and human rights, and affirm the gospel ideals of acceptance, love, and liberation.
I propose the following as a central idea of this theological statement. The love experienced by gay persons is sacred.
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