July 31, 2003

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

    The experience of the liturgy at the Cathedral for the installation of Sean O’Malley as our new Archbishop was life giving, filled with hope, and signaled, I believe, the real possibility for healing in the church.  If you did not hear Archbishop Sean’s homily, I urge you to read it - it’s in the Thursday edition of the Boston Globe.  It is a masterpiece.

    There were many moments in the liturgy which were especially significant.  Two stand out in my mind.  First, there was the candid acknowledgement of our tragic story as the church of Boston as announced i: Cardinal Montalvo’s remarks at the beginning of Mass; in the letter of appointment from the Pope, read by Bishop Edyvean; and in the Archbishop’s homily.  There was no spin here - simply the unvarnished truth and an equally heartfelt and apologetic outreach to the survivor-victims and to the church at large.  The second moment that stays with me was the sustained applause of nearly 2,000 people in the cathedral when the Archbishop asked those assembled to remember the work of the priests of the archdiocese over the past 18 months.  The applause was not received as acclaim or praise by us priests, but rather as a very much needed healing balm.

    No doubt, you know that there were protesters outside the cathedral chanting “Shame!  Shame!” as the procession of clergy marched down the street and through the front doors of the cathedral.  I am glad they were there, as difficult as it was to hear their one word message.  I am glad for their presence because the crisis is not over; because things cannot, as Archbishop Sean declared, simply go back to business as usual; and because there are far too many serious pieces of this story that need to be resolved before the church can hold her head high, again.  The protesters are a vivid, uncomfortable reminder to me of how much is yet to be done.

    Finally, the announcement today that Archbishop Sean has made significant changes in legal counsel for the archdiocese is most welcome and promising.

    As the church of Boston rejoices over the installation of our new shepherd, the Vatican has released a document addressed to bishops and politicians regarding proposals to give legal recognition to unions between homosexual persons.  I find that arguments on both sides of this complicated issue tend to be simplistic and the questions to be far too complex to be resolved by a dictionary change in how we define the word marriage or by yet one more edict from Rome.

    My first reading of the most recent Vatican statement reveals that there is really nothing new here, except that it seems that each succeeding church document on the topic of homosexuality drifts further and further away from the church’s stance that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters "must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided."  The church seems to be of two minds here:  on the one hand we are encouraged to deeply respect our gays and lesbians but on the other hand, ecclesial language focuses more and more on what is absent in their lives and seems unwilling to take any note of what is God-given, present, beautiful, healthy and life-giving in their lives and relationships.

    There is a wisdom, a God-given, Spirit-driven wisdom in the people of God and in their experience of life and the world around us.  What is our experience here?  How is our experience changing?  What is our wisdom on this question?   How will we express and share that wisdom?  What is our experience of the gay and lesbian people with whom we work?  with whom we go to school?  with whom we are neighbors? with whom we pray on Sunday mornings?  What are we teaching our children about the gay and lesbian people we know and meet day to day?  I disagree with those who say that growing acceptance here is little more than political correctness.   Some may fashion their response on this basis, but I believe that most of us are learning from our experience that people we may have been taught to condemn, fear, shun and even mock with impunity are indeed, like the rest of us, children of God, beautifully made in God’s image, who struggle with the same problems we do - and a few more. 

    We already know how beautifully gay and lesbian parents can work at raising children born of a marriage to a straight partner.  We cannot ignore the truth our experience yields here. The new Vatican document questions the adoption of children by gay couples.  What is our experience here? our wisdom?  Gay and lesbian couples who adopt children are, like all parents, living signs of that love the gospel enjoins on us:  a love which reaches always beyond the self, seeking to empty itself out in service of the other.  If anything, the lesbian or gay couple who adopt are taking an extra step forward in love, a step that would not be theirs outside of a conscious, loving choice.  To suggest otherwise is insulting and ignores what we observe and experience in the lives of our neighbors and fellow parishioners.

    I don’t have many answers, but I do have many questions...

    - Might a clearer resolution of the many issues surrounding the question of gay unions be reached if the church would open itself to the experience of gay and lesbian persons (their relationships, families and struggles) as readily as the church is given to make pronouncements about the lives of people struggling as much as their straight neighbors to discern God’s will in their lives and to live in response to the gospel message?

    - Might Catholic legislators bring more of the church’s wisdom to bear on their work if that same church would seriously engage them in dialogue about the relationship between communities of belief and civil rights in a democratic society?

    - Might the local church community not benefit greatly if it were understood be a community in which gay and lesbian Catholics would feel free to be as honest about their lives and orientations as are their fellow straight parishioners?

    - Might the teaching church not reap a greater harvest of truth if it were more open to seeking out the God-given, Spirit-driven wisdom born of its people, a wisdom born of their experience?

    As I wrote at the beginning of the summer, I have no quick or easy answers to how the question of gay unions should to be resolved by either the state or the church.   I do know, however, how much the language of the new Vatican document can be read as insulting and hurtful by our gay and lesbian parishioners and neighbors, as well as by many straight people.  Our community and parish are richer for the presence, participation and ministry of our gay sisters and brothers.  Pray with me that our wisdom will overcome any prejudice we have so that we might be led where the truth draws us.

                                    Sincerely,
                                    Fr. Fleming

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