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England’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference Adopts Gay “Equality” Agenda for Church Employment

LONDON, February 8, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In the latest manifestation of the homosexual crisis within the Catholic Church in England, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has issued a directive stating that persons living sexually immoral situations, including those in homosexual partnerings, must be given equal opportunity for Church employment.

The “Policy Statement and Guidelines on Diversity and Equality,” often reading like documents produced by gay advocacy organizations and using their euphemisms, implies that barring active homosexuals from Church employment is a matter of grave injustice, even when it would keep gays and children apart. The statement says, “Catholic organizations must ensure that no job applicant or employee receives less favorable treatment than another on the grounds of race, gender, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or age.”

The statement, prepared by the Department for Christian Responsibility and Citizenship, omits any reference to Catholic teaching, such as stated in the July 2003 Vatican document, that “Sacred Scripture condemns homosexual acts as a serious depravity...”. The 2003 authoritative church document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith goes on to state that “The Church teaches that respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behaviour.”
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The English bishops’ strong direction against traditionally understood prudent, if not required, actions to prevent scandal or sexual abuse within Church institutions is certain to be viewed as a shocker by faithful Catholics. Revelations that the growth and tolerance of a homosexual sub-culture within many North American and European dioceses since the 60’s fueled the sexual abuse scandals does not appear to have been factored into the English bishops’ statement.

The bishops’ directive says, “People of all sexual orientations have a right to take a full and active part in the life of the Catholic community. Without giving any definition of “full and active” participation in Catholic life, the directive leaves open the question of allowing active homosexuals and others involved in un-repented sexual sin to receive communion. Catholics believe the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Jesus and that to receive it in a state of mortal sin constitutes the sin of sacrilege.

Last year Catholic World Report revealed the existence of a homosexual underground that operated in Britain’s largest aid organization, Catholic Aid for Overseas Development (CAFOD). The head of the English bishops’ conference, Cormac Murphy O’Connor, was forced to intervene when Bishop John Crowley of Middlesbrough, the former chairman of CAFOD, was to celebrate a Mass on the anniversary of a union between two homosexuals, a former priest, and a former director of CAFOD.

Since then, in spite of protests from the faithful neither the bishops’ conference nor any individual English bishop has dissociated itself in any way from CAFOD, though a lay group called Catholic Action Group (CAG) is organizing a funding boycott.

Domenico Bettinelli, an editor of Catholic World Report commenting on the homosexual scandals that have rocked the US Church said it is no mystery what led to the scandals. He said that since the 1960’s in seminaries and dioceses, “A culture of permissiveness toward deviance was the norm in many places; a sense of personal sin and the need for redemption was not inculcated; the Church’s teachings on sexuality were laughed at.”

Read the “Policy Statement and Guidelines on Diversity and Equality”:
http://www.catholic-ew.org.uk/equality/diversityandequality_guidelines.pdf

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