Date: Wed, 7 Dec 1994 08:21:32 -0500 (GMT-0500) From: "Thomas W. Holt Jr." Subject: Catholic Seminar on Homophobia (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 6 Dec 1994 21:03:34 -0500 From: DENLEWIS@delphi.com To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: Catholic Seminar on Homophobia A nun and a priest were greeted by protesters when they brought their seminar on homophobia to Jacksonville's downtown Catholic church Monday. (From the Dec. 6 edition of The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville. Reprinted w/o permission.) -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Protesters at Catholic seminar By Lilla Ross Times-Union Staff Writer Protesters picketed a controversial nun-priest team who led a seminar in Jacksonville yesterday [Dec. 5] on building bridges between homosexuals and the Catholic church. Sister Jeannine Gramick and the Rev. Robert Nugent lead seminars in the United States and in Europe that examine church teachings and scripture and discuss how to minister to gays and lesbians. The seminars elicit protests from Catholics who fear the two are straying from traditional church teaching. About 15 Catholics carried signs with messages such as "Dissidents Concert" and "Compassion Yes, Error No" outside Immaculate Conception Catholic Church downtown, where the seminar was offered. "I want to set the record straight. They are absolutely opposed to Roman Catholic teaching," said protester Larry Kornblum, a member of Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Jacksonville. At times, the protesters and people who disagreed got into shouting matches. "This is sad," the Rev. Ron Luka, a missionary priest visiting from Chicago, told the protesters. "You should be in there listening and reading, but your minds are already made up. What they're trying to do is to reach out to those on the fringes of our society." The protesters were invited to the seminar but did not attend. "We don't know precisely what they're teaching," Hollman said, "but they've been banned in Boston, Newark and Washington, D.C." During the seminar, Gramick quoted from church statements that homosexual feelings are not sinful unless acted upon. Same-sex intercourse is "morally wrong" and those who engage in it are "guilty of serious sin," Gramick quoted from a statement by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. But the church also teaches that Christians should confront their prejudice and fear of homosexuals and extend them human dignity and civil rights, she said. Not all segments of the church agree with the Vatican's teaching, Gramick said. Many Catholic moral theologians say a loving, committed homosexual relationship is to be preferred to a reckless, irresponsible lifestyle, Gramick said. Is is that last statement that particularly infuriates the protesters. "It saddens me that none would come to the workshop," Gramick said. "I would like to build some bridges with them, but to do that, we would need to sit down and talk." Gramick and Nugent, founders of the Maryland-based Center for Homophobia Education, have worked with homosexuals for 20 years and are the authors of the book "Building Bridges." Their worldwide ministry has attracted the attention of the Vatican, which has investigated it four times. "When the Vatican gets serious complaints, they look into it," Gramick said. "Anyone in this ministry has to expect that. In the previous three investigations, we were found to be within the teachings of the church."