It must be sad for gay Roman Catholics to see such a constant flow of homophobia streaming from the Vatican. Given the homophobic attitudes of most religions today, I would find it very difficult to maintain a formal relationship with any of them. Perhaps it is a sign, if such signs have meaning at all, that one's connection to concepts of divinity should be individual rather than collective, like Buddha sitting under a tree and working out the problems of his salvation alone, or Jesus in the wilderness for forty days communing with his own concept of deity, or Moses on Sinai.

Most great religious leaders are introspective, developing or discovering precepts within themselves, no matter what or whom they identify as the source. It is their followers who communalize the precepts and put them to social use as "church." Perhaps the present Pope would be more effective among non-Catholics if he led a regime as inclusive and loving in practice as in theory. There is a very old joke about the monk found in his cell crumpled over a table and weeping so profusely that his tears were dissolving an ancient holy document he had been translating. "Why do I weep?" he related when asked. "Because I have come to the end of a long life devoted to a god whom I thought required me to be celibate to get into Heaven, and now I discover that the word "celibate" was a mistranslation fifteen hundred years ago. We were not commanded to be celibate. The word is CELEBRATE!"

As for the Vatican, perhaps they should re-translate some of their more hateful dogma and try harder to love their neighbors as they love themselves. Their attitude seems to be closer to that of a re-born Christian whom I used to know. He turned against all of his friends after his conversion, several of whom had rescued his sorry ass from trouble on more than one occasion, and when asked why, explained that "they don't know the Lord the way I do."

Headline:
Vatican Blasts German Homosexual Rights Law (Reuters Intl. News, 11/11/00)

Text:
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican on Saturday blasted Germany's new law allowing same-sex partners to marry, saying no legislation could legitimize a ``moral disorder.''

Father Gino Concetti, writing in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, said such laws ``disfigure the divine project of matrimony, damage the family and produce negative effects on society and on new generations.''

The editorial was entitled: ``It is not permissible to legitimize a 'moral disorder'.''

The ruling red-green coalition voted unanimously in the Bundestag lower house for legislation which allows for gay weddings, where same-sex partners can register their relationship at state registry offices.

The law, which is due to come into force next year, gives gay married couples the same pension entitlements as heterosexual couples, and gives foreigners in homosexual relationships with Germans the right to residency.

Concetti, a moral theologian whose views are close to those of Pope John Paul (news - web sites), said the Catholic Church considered the family, based on a man and woman united in marriage, the cornerstone of society.

The Vatican newspaper said it was not right to try to introduce any type of surrogate for the family.

The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual tendencies are not sinful but homosexual acts are.

The conservative opposition in Germany slammed the decision and promised to fight it.