Catholic League president William Donohue commented today on the way Catholic dissidents have been behaving lately:
“Catholic dissidents are hung up on sex. Consider the following.
“In its statement on the pope, New Ways Ministry, a pro-gay Catholic group, chastised the Holy Father for ‘making strong attempts to prevent same-sex marriage initiatives from being enacted in secular governments.’ Another pro-gay group, Dignity, lamented the pope’s unwillingness ‘to learn how God is speaking through GLBT [Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender] people to spread the gospel.’ Feminists like Sheila Durkin Dierks, author of ‘WomenEucharist,’ boasted that ‘Groups of women are gathering in their homes [to] celebrate the liturgy without an ordained presider.’ (The same is probably going on in the asylum, though regrettably she did not say.)
“Call to Action, a nationwide band of malcontents, wasted no time saying it hopes ‘the new pope recognizes the necessity of lifting the mandatory celibacy ban’; it also made a pitch for women priests. A group called Woman-Church Convergence said it ‘disagreed with the pope on a range of sexuality-related issues,’ adding that ‘We proclaim a new day is dawning in which the Roman Catholic Church will no longer treat women as second-class citizens.’ (It did not say why women attend Mass more than men.) We Are Church, another association of unhappy Catholics, likes abortion rights, which is why it called for upholding ‘the moral adulthood of the laity in decisions regarding reproduction….’ Similarly, Catholics Speak Out said the pope ‘denied that grown women and men should be able to control their reproductive lives without interference from the church or state.’
“None of this is new: the National Coalition of American Nuns has been openly pro-abortion for decades. What’s different this time is that their jig is up: a new pope will be announced next week, and once that happens, they will have to decide whether to walk or stay. It takes courage to walk, which is why the smart money is on them staying.”
