Gay Today: World

Roman Catholic Clergy Apologize
for a Lack of Compassion

Compiled by GayToday

Authorities of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia issued an unusual apology last week, asking forgiveness from minorities, including Aborigines, women, homosexuals and other groups.

Almost simultaneously, in the United States, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony issued a public apology for his own shortcomings and for those of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Declaring that confession and repentance must proceed forgiveness the American Cardinal addressed divorced and remarried Catholics, organized labor, victims of sexual abuse by the clergy, women, and same sex lovers.

Australia's bishops admitted:

"We often displayed arrogance and lack of charity towards other Christian traditions and other faiths."

In communicating the Church's teachings about sex, the bishops said "we have too often lacked compassion and understanding".

The clergy's statements were made to mark the Church's declaration of 2000 as a jubilee year and the start of Lent. A papal statement of repentance was also issued Sunday.

Australian gay activists dismissed the bishops' apology as inadequate. Gay and Lesbian Equality WA convener Damien Meyer characterized it as one in which the bishops told gays and lesbians that "they're sorry because they didn't tell us we were evil in a nice enough way".

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Marie Louise Uhr, national convener for the Ordination of Women said apologies shouldn't be made as long as discriminatory problems still exist.

Michael Putney, the bishops' national spokesman, claims that the Church wants to enter 2000 as a humbler Church, able to say sorry for its failings.

He said that where people disagreed with the Church's teachings, as some homosexual and lesbian Australians did, it should be possible for them to feel they were still treated with dignity and respect.

"That hasn't always happened and we are sorry for that," he said.

Activist Meyer retorted:

"Given the Archbishop of Sydney's comments on the Mardi Gras last week (that the Mardi Gras was an exercise in gross exhibitionism), they certainly haven't changed their teachings.

"The way I see it they are apologizing for hurting our feelings when their basic philosophy of their teachings hasn't changed and is still completely wrong.

"I mean, just recently the Archbishop of Melbourne said that Catholic homosexuals could still be cured."

An Australian group representing victims of child abuse by priests said:

"We have had so many apologies and words and promises that things will happen better in the future that we are getting tired of it. While we can't ignore it, we can only give them so much time to see what they do."

American activists noted that Cardinal Mahony's apology made no mention of his joining with other California Catholic bishops who spent more than $300,000 to win passage of Proposition 22, the anti-gay marriage initiative.