Inland GAY Catholics struggle with church teachings

Inland gay Catholics struggle to reconcile church teachings, their sexuality

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10:00 PM PST on Sunday, February 3, 2008

By David Olson
The Press-Enterprise

After Mike Neto came out as gay more than 25 years ago, he couldn't find a way to reconcile his sexual orientation with his Catholicism.

So the Palm Springs man searched for an alternative. He tried Christian Science, the gay-oriented Metropolitan Community Church and nondenominational Protestant churches that had liberal teachings on homosexuality. But he never felt comfortable.

His spiritual journey ended where it began. Neto, 59, again calls himself a Catholic.
"I was baptized Catholic, and I feel I'll always be Catholic," he said. "I still feel the Holy Spirit."

Neto's internal conflict is not unique. It is one familiar to many Inland gays and lesbians who were raised as Catholics and later found themselves pulled in two directions by their sexuality and their religion, which teaches that homosexual activity is a sin.

Neto's solution was to reject church teaching on homosexuality and to join Dignity, a nationwide group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics that sponsors Masses outside the Vatican's authority. The group has a growing chapter in Palm Springs.

Many gays remain within the Catholic Church itself, some attending a monthly Mass that the San Bernardino Diocese sponsors for gay Catholics and their families and friends. Others leave the church for liberal Protestant denominations. One man worships in a chapel he built in a shed behind his San Bernardino home.

Although they reach different destinations, many start on the same path: experiencing years of guilt and self-hatred that tear them apart and a feeling of being shunned by the church they love.



Bill LaMarche, a co-founder of Dignity Palm Springs, says the Vatican treats gay people as second-class citizens.


Read full article and see photos here.

Link: Benedict XVI The Worst Opponent of Same-Sex Marriage