Infallible No More

Just a couple brief comments (it's really not worthy of much more of anyone's attention than that) on a forthcoming statement by the U.S. Catholic bishops on same-sex marriage.

First of all, if anything I'd actually say that, from the perspective of the LGBT community, this statement can be taken as a hopeful sign - not, of course, insofar as it perpetuates stereotypes and negative attitudes towards our community, but rather as a sign that we're winning this fight. If we weren't doing the work we're doing to fight for equality in our churches and places of worship and the public sphere then the bishops wouldn't feel threatened and wouldn't have sensed the need to defend their position. But they have and that in itself is an indication of how far we've come along the way to winning the place in the social and religious spheres that is ours as children of God.

My second comment is more personal. Although my journey to this conclusion has been in the works for many years now, I think it finally took the proverbial 'last straw' of the release of this statement this past week at last to help me articulate for myself what I believe - namely, that despite their at times desperate pleas to the contrary, neither the Pope, nor the Roman Catholic bishops nor any other religious, civic or any other kind of authority is completely infallible. Participating myself as an official in that system for so many years, I really believed that if the bishops said it, well then it must be true. It's taken many years for God to break through that illusion that I held, but I'm grateful to say that I stand now today as someone who believes profoundly in the goodness and love and presence in our world of the God who is with us but am also so much more aware of how fallible - how human, really - our leaders and of course all of us really are. Having the privilege to spend time studying the history of the Roman church as an institution hasn't hurt in helping me come to this conclusion either, but above all it was really during this past week that it just kind of all finally made sense. The Roman Catholic bishops, like some of their predecessors in the past and any number of other examples from other traditions and past situations, simply have not yet found a way to open their eyes to the truth that's all around them - namely, that God blesses loving same-sex relationships and is using them to bless the world. Their inability to see this is unfortunate for them and, tragically, has very grave consequences for those members of their flocks who believe these men are totally infallible and thus think that they must systematically deny who they really are and/or reject their family members and friends who don't conform to the official line or who feel emboldened in their prejudicial attitudes and justified in physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually abusing or even killing those who are different.

This is a deeply tragic situation that affects not only the Roman Catholic Church but any number of other religious groups and our society as a whole. However, if there's a glimmer of hope anywhere in this story, perhaps it's to be found in the first point I brought up: though it's taken decades of hard work and will likely require many more years of non-violent action, in the end the more we speak truth to power (about this and any other issue of justice in our society and our world) the more we carve a space for ourselves as members of the human race and dignified children of God. Some of the powers that be may lag far behind and persist in their stubborn close-mindedness up to the bitter end, but by our very rising up, by our refusal to be trod down anymore, by our persistence despite all the odds that God really does love us as we are, we create the change we hope for and we prepare a better world for those who will come after us.

None of us is infallible and none of us gets to escape being human and all the beauty and the messiness that that entails. And even when some of our leaders fall under the illusion that they are somehow above the rest of us, my hope is that we won't lose heart - that we'll allow God to help pick us up, dust us off, and move forward again in the path toward the integral freedom and peace that are ours as children of our Creator.

Peace and blessings,
Padre Chuck