DADT, Catholic style
Francis X. Clooney SJ has a post at In All Things on the Catholic Church's version of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell & the Politics of Being Catholic, in which he writes .....
Like many of you, I am sure, I was surprised that the Senate actually voted to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell before ending its lame-duck session. In retrospect, it seems as if the long discussions and testimonies seem to have made a difference, and a few skilled political leaders in the Senate did good work in persuading senators to vote in favor of the repeal. Democracy at work. In this context, I cannot help but think about where we are regarding gay men and women in roles of leadership in the Church ..... At a rather dreary level, it might seem that our situation as Catholics is some version of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, without the legislation actually in place or a rational plan for open discussion of what ails us. But ever the optimist - or better, ever hopeful - it seems to me that we are also forming an incredibly sophisticated membership, true believers – gay or straight, conservative or liberal – who have learned, continue learning, to read the Church always from multiple angles, never settling for anyone’s pure viewpoint. I suspect most of us wish for some kind of changes in the Church, but this unity-in-ambiguity, authority-with-sophisticated-responses-to-authority, might be a kind of adult Catholicism that is not so bad, after all, given how we are in 2010.
I appreciate Fr. Clooney even bringing up this subject but I have to disagree with his optimistic take on the situation in the church. I find disconcerting his idea that those who are sophisticated (what?) would prefer a system of "unity-in-ambiguity". I'd like to hope instead that all people of good will, sophisticated or not, would prefer a straightforward and transparent church stance of inclusion. I saw a quote today about the end of DADT in the military ... "Now we can serve our country without having to lie to our country" ... it would be nice if the same could be said by gay priests about the church.
Like many of you, I am sure, I was surprised that the Senate actually voted to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell before ending its lame-duck session. In retrospect, it seems as if the long discussions and testimonies seem to have made a difference, and a few skilled political leaders in the Senate did good work in persuading senators to vote in favor of the repeal. Democracy at work. In this context, I cannot help but think about where we are regarding gay men and women in roles of leadership in the Church ..... At a rather dreary level, it might seem that our situation as Catholics is some version of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, without the legislation actually in place or a rational plan for open discussion of what ails us. But ever the optimist - or better, ever hopeful - it seems to me that we are also forming an incredibly sophisticated membership, true believers – gay or straight, conservative or liberal – who have learned, continue learning, to read the Church always from multiple angles, never settling for anyone’s pure viewpoint. I suspect most of us wish for some kind of changes in the Church, but this unity-in-ambiguity, authority-with-sophisticated-responses-to-authority, might be a kind of adult Catholicism that is not so bad, after all, given how we are in 2010.
I appreciate Fr. Clooney even bringing up this subject but I have to disagree with his optimistic take on the situation in the church. I find disconcerting his idea that those who are sophisticated (what?) would prefer a system of "unity-in-ambiguity". I'd like to hope instead that all people of good will, sophisticated or not, would prefer a straightforward and transparent church stance of inclusion. I saw a quote today about the end of DADT in the military ... "Now we can serve our country without having to lie to our country" ... it would be nice if the same could be said by gay priests about the church.
posted by crystal | 5:56 PM
1 Comments:
Good post.
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