Some PR for the Religious Left
Woohoo!! My people are making progress. Positive progress that is getting media attention, no less. A recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute suggests that the majority of American Catholics support gay marriage. I don’t buy into every poll that comes out, since you can often manipulate the data to draw whatever conclusion you want, but I love these results.
A friend recently asked if I consider it hypocritical to associate myself with an organization that aggressively and publicly promotes positions I don’t agree with, i.e. pro-life, anti-gay rights. My response was that I strongly identify with what I believe to be the real core values of the Church: compassion, social justice and a reliance on faith that helps to deal with life’s challenges. Rather than abandoning the Church to the reactive, myopic segment that gets the most media play, I hope progressively-minded Catholics stay with the Church and guide it to better days.
And in response... 
In the phrase made popular in the 90s… WWJD? He would love them anyway!
Agreed! The only point of clarification I would make is to take away the “anyway”. I don’t believe this is a “love the sinner, hate the sin” situation. There is nothing about homosexuality or gay marriage that presents a challenge to my faith or my God. Just my Church,…but we’re working on it.
And this is why I love you Jules 🙂
On the subject, you might be interested in these articles:
About the Vatican’s disagreement with the direction of Catholic nuns: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/02/us/nuns-speak-about-vatican-criticism.html
About feminists in the Catholic tradition: http://ideas.time.com/2012/06/08/the-catholic-contraction/?xid=rss-topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+time/topstories+(TIME:+Top+Stories)#ixzz1xCfNmIk8
Thanks for pointing me towards these articles. As disheartening as the Vatican’s treatment of Catholic nuns has been, I’m encouraged by their stalwart response. The unintended consequence of the Vatican’s judgements has been to raise the profile of Catholics, nuns or not, that remain dedicated to compassion and service as the central tenent of faith. This sentiment is best described in the Time article you mention.
“Still, nuns from Hildegard to Farley have always been able to focus on the light of the faith they follow and look beyond the shadows of the hierarchy they tolerate. Examples like theirs make it easier for Catholics like me to remain Catholics.”