Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on offensive questioning of a Catholic priest by a Colorado legislator:
A contentious debate over a radical sex education bill in Colorado was made even more so by a transgender legislator’s mockery of a Catholic priest.
The Colorado Catholic Conference opposes the bill, with Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila warning that it would impose “a comprehensive sex-ed curriculum that contradicts human nature,” and would also force public schools to promote abortion.
Testifying against the legislation at a state House committee hearing January 30, Father Daniel Nolan of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parish in Littleton, Colorado said he opposed the legislation “because I do not believe that it addresses the root cause of the bill, that is bullying of LGBTQ youth.”
Presumably, that would be a concern shared by Brianna Titone, Colorado’s first transgender lawmaker. Yet instead of engaging Father Nolan on that point, Titone instead asked him, “As a Catholic priest, are you abstaining from sex?”
When Father Nolan affirmed that he is, Titone followed up with, “You seem to be an expert on the topic. How did you become such an expert on the topic?”
“I hear confessions,” Father Nolan effectively retorted. This led Titone to later belittle the sacrament of Penance in a tweet.
Incredibly, Titone found much of the testimony at the hearing to be “personally offensive.” Yet the legislator apparently saw no problem with directing personally offensive comments at a Catholic priest, or offending Catholics by subsequently tweeting derogatory comments about confession.
Also, as the hearing was about legislation affecting the education of children, most of those testifying were parents. Would they have been justified in asking about Titone’s sex life as it relates to parenting children? Or would the legislator have found that “personally offensive?”
But it’s okay, apparently, to question a priest about his sexual abstinence, in order to try to discredit his testimony.
