“Family Resemblance”

If I remember from seminary, the Greek words for Christian mean “little Christ”. Christians or followers of Christ believed that the sincerest form of worship was the imitation of Christ and his behaviors. In seminary, I preached on the verse John 13:35, it reads, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." The words belong to Jesus. So let us see if some modern day followers of Christ can stand up to Jesus’ standard for his disciples. Let’s look at the Catholic Church.

Equal marriage was set to become law in the state of Maine. The Catholic Church pumped money, people and misinformation into Maine and was able to get the issue on the ballot this past November. Prior to the ballot vote they used the media to spread misinformation to the people of Maine as to what equal marriage would mean for their state. They canvassed homes spreading lies and hate about Gay people. They were successful and equal marriage was voted down in the state. As a side note, the Catholic priest in the Ogunquit Maine parish is a frequent flier on piano night in one of the LGBT bars. I think scripture would attest that Christ would have been on the side of the minority and railed against the notion of the majority voting on their rights. Wrong done to a group is still wrong no matter how small the group. I can’t see the “little Christ" in the Catholics who helped defeat equal marriage in Maine.

In Washington DC equal marriage became law despite the Catholic’s efforts to stop it. This included threatening to remove Catholic Charities’ services from DC and a last ditch effort by conservatives to get a ruling by the Supreme Court. The church thought it was better to stop feeding and clothing the homeless than to let Gay and Lesbian people marry.

When they lost the battle, they showed their true colors. In order to not provide health care benefits to spouses of same sex married couples who work for Catholic organizations, they have decide to not provide these benefits to any new homosexual or heterosexual employee’s spouse. The same holds true for existing employees who have not yet signed up for spousal benefits. Essentially the church is saying that Gay people are not human enough to deserve health care and rather than provide it to us, it is better to harm all their employees. It is an attempt to demonize and incite anger against Gay people, and an attempt to hold a city hostage. I do not see the Christ like example here either but I might be blinded by the fire of hate and the clouds of hypocrisy.

In Boston, the church got out of the business of adoption. If they stayed in it, they would have had to help Gay couples adopt. Therefore, they feel it is better for homeless children to grow up without a home than to let loving same sex couples adopt. Where is God in that?

Also in the news were two couples and their children. One couple is Lesbian and one is a Gay male couple. Both have similar stories and both have children enrolled in Catholic run schools. Both couples have been notified by the schools that their children will not be welcomed to enroll next year due to their parent’s sexual orientation. I can’t find the image of Christ here either. I do think that the motives are apparent here, as the Catholic Church’s position seems to be stating that children of Gay and Lesbian couples are not entitled to the same education as children of heterosexual couples. Now it is our children, both Gay and heterosexual, who are made to feel the discrimination of this religious organization that claims to be Christ like.

To further point out the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church I could point to their attempted cover up of the child abuse scandal by moving offenders around to different parishes. I could also point to the more recent prostitution scandal discovered within the Vatican, but none of that is necessary to see if this church passes the test as a follower of Christ.

Remember the words of Jesus, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Do you see a love of people based on the actions of the Catholic Church? I think if Jesus was allowed to enter the Vatican, and today that is a big if, He’d slap a big red F on the pope’s head. He might even turn over some tables and boot a few people out the door. You know, he’s been known to do that kind of thing. In current times, we call it Direct Action and Civil Disobedience.

MT