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Catholic Archbishop scraps gay Soho masses
Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols says LGBT services in London's gay village went against the Church's teachings
Masses for gay Catholics in London's Soho area will be scrapped after the Archbishop of Westminster deemed them 'inconsistent' with the Church's teachings.
The services at the Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Warwick Street were started six years ago to 'welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Catholics, their parents, friends and families.'
However, Archbishop Vincent Nichols announced today (2 January) that the 'Soho masses' were to end during the Lent period this year, claiming it was against the Catholic Church's beliefs.
The UK’s most senior Catholic cleric said: 'Over these years, the situation of people with same-sex attraction has changed both socially and in civil law. However the principles of the pastoral care to be offered by the Church and the Church’s teaching on matters of sexual morality have not.'
Nichols added that one of these principles was that a person 'must not be identified by their sexual orientation'.
'The moral teaching of the Church is that the proper use of our sexual faculty is within a marriage, between a man and a woman, open to the procreation and nurturing of new human life.
'As I stated in March 2012, this means "that many types of sexual activity, including same-sex sexual activity, are not consistent with the teaching of the Church. No individual, bishop, priest or lay-person, is in a position to change this teaching of the Church which we hold to be God-given."
'This is the calling to which we must all strive.'
Archbishop Nichols has been a vocal opponent of gay marriage, attacking the UK government's plans to legalize same-sex marriage during his Christmas Eve sermon.
He claims the government had ‘no mandate’ for introducing marriage equality in England and Wales.
In September, he also slammed a Catholic marriage counseling service after it helped same-sex couples prepare for civil partnerships.
Our Lady of the Assumption Church will now be given over to the ordinariate of Our Lady of Walshingham and pastoral care will continue at the Jesuit Farm Street church in Mayfair on Sunday evenings.
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Comments
http://www.submit-url.in You actually make it appear so easy with your performance but I find this affair to be actually something which I think I would never comprehend.
It is misleading to state that the so-called "Soho Masses" for London's LGBT Catholics have been shut down - although this interpretation is understandable, given the poor reporting in the MSM and conservative Catholic press.
From the words in the Archbishop's statement, it is clear that the present provision is not in any way being ended, but is simply entering a new phase. As one who has been actively involved in these Masses and their planning for the past eight years or so, I vividly remember some fears expressed six years back, when we moved from our previous base in Dean St to our present one - that we were being "co-opted", and would lose an important part of our character. Of course we lost something - but we also gained an enormous amount. The intervening years have shown that we have grown substantially - in numbers, in the degree of participation, in diversity, in the range of our activities - and in our self- confidence as LGBT people.
We will no longer be responsible for detailed arrangements for the Mass - but freedom from this burden will in fact free us up, to focus much more on other activities, including discussion groups and other opportunities to discuss openly and frankly our experiences as queer people of faith - and all that entails - something for which we have already identified a pressing need, and a direction in which we have already been moving. It will also be an opportunity to expand from just the present twice a month, to regular weekly meetings - and later perhaps, if successful, to extend the model to many more locations.
Some people will no doubt object that the organisers will find themselves simply instruments of the Vatican, parroting His Master's Voice. I do not believe that is the case. Archbishop Vincent's statement makes it clear that the present organizing team will continue to arrange these events and programs, and I for one have no intention whatsoever of speaking with anything other than frankness and candour, just as I do continuously at my blog, "Queering the Church" (http://queeringthechurch.com)"
Look closely, for this is what hatred looks like