GUEST COMMENTARY: Changing the Mormon conversation on homosexuality - Articles

(RNS) There is a groundbreaking new publication that has the ability to save lives. Its subject matter is far too important to be ignored or taken lightly, especially when we regularly read about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young people and adults who leave the Mormon Church, not to mention the senseless loss of many to suicide.

“Supportive Families, Healthy Children: Helping Latter-Day Saint Families with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Children,” co-authored by Caitlin Ryan, director of the Family Acceptance Project and Bob Rees, Ph.D, a former Mormon bishop, may well be the tool that gives Mormon families what they need to accept their LGBT children.

I am a physician and have provided clinical care to patients for 30 years. I am also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I love my religion. I recently was called to serve my third term as a bishop, and I have concluded that the way members of this church treat LGBT people, in many cases, is not in keeping with what I feel is the doctrine of Jesus Christ. This must change.

My wonderful ward (local congregation) in San Francisco is very diverse and may have the distinction of having more gay Mormon members than any other on the planet. Though I am straight, I have family members who are gay and who have patiently helped open the eyes of my understanding. It's clear to me that their only “choice” related to their sexual orientation is to be honest about who they are -- sons and daughters of God who are gay.

Mitch Mayne, my executive secretary (or top aide), is a wonderful member who is openly gay.  His recounting of the bullying he had to endure as a youngster has moved me more than anything in my memory.

Working as a bishop in the Bay Ward, I have heard firsthand the stories of members who are gay and felt their pain as I work to bring them back into activity in the church. The emotional pain and isolation of LGBT members rejected by parents, friends and loved ones after coming out is more severe than any other I have yet experienced, and it motivates me to continue in the work I am doing.

As a physician, I have learned the importance of evidence-based practice, and the critical role of science in informing our understanding about human development, interaction and care. There is an urgent need to provide evidence-based guidance for both Mormon families with LGBT children and more generally for our congregations.

These new educational materials from the Family Acceptance Project are aimed to help Mormon families and our church family support LGBT youth and adults, to reduce serious risk for suicide and HIV, to foster wellness and keep our families together. Readers need to take the time to carefully study these well-researched documents and consider their application in their lives.

We often use the term "closeted" when we talk about same-gender attraction. Because of the very real fear of bullying and prejudices, this concealing of identities and inclinations continues today -- especially among those who belong to our church.  Good, solid epidemiology makes the math quite simple: Multiply your total church membership by 4 percent and you will have the number of gay members in your ward.

It's clear to me that within the "culture" of our religion, widespread bullying is still occurring -- and this extends across all age ranges. It's often done without malicious intent, but none the less, it inflicts serious and unnecessary emotional wounds.

One of my family members who still has a strong and abiding testimony has not attended church in several years. "If they knew who I was, they would not want me there," he's told me. Unfortunately, that is a reality. This ought not to be. Is this what Jesus would do if he were a member of your ward?

As Elder Jeffrey Holland, a member of the LDS church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has said, "Some members exclude from their circle of fellowship those who are different. When our actions or words discourage someone from taking full advantage of church membership, we fail them -- and the Lord."

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Donald C. Fletcher, MD - Bishop - Bay Ward, San Francisco Stake. Credit: RNS photo courtesy of Renna Communications

With humble hearts, we all need to look inward to see if there are prejudices the Savior would have us cast off. Unconsciously, we, too, may be guilty of bullying.

(Dr. Donald C. Fletcher is a Mormon bishop in San Francisco for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)

KRE/AMB END FLETCHER

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Traditionalist SSPX calls Vatican offer ‘clearly unacceptable’ - Articles

(RNS) A breakaway traditionalist Catholic group on Monday (June 25) slammed as “clearly unacceptable” a Vatican doctrinal document that was supposed to lay the foundation for the group's reconciliation with Rome.

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Father Kevin Robinson distributes Communion during a traditional Latin Mass at St. Michael the Archangel Chapel in Farmingville, N.Y., June 17. The chapel is administered by the Society of St. Pius X. Credit: RNS photo by Gregory A. Shemitz

The move comes after three years of complex negotiations between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), and was revealed just as Pope Benedict XVI appointed a high-profile American archbishop to a key post to oversee relations with traditionalists.

A letter by the Rev. Christian Thouvenot, secretary general of the SSPX, to SSPX bishops and regional leaders was leaked on the Internet on Tuesday (June 26). Thouvenot later confirmed its authenticity.

The letter says that the SSPX superior general, Bishop Bernard Fellay, told the head of the Vatican doctrinal office, American Cardinal William J. Levada, that “he couldn't sign” the Vatican's doctrinal offer during a meeting on June 13.

Benedict has actively sought reconciliation with the group since his election to the papacy in 2005. In 2009, he lifted the excommunication of the four SSPX bishops and started doctrinal talks in the hope of healing a decades-old rift within the Catholic Church.

The negotiations led to a Vatican proposal that was delivered to Fellay last September. The “Doctrinal Preamble” was aimed at overcoming the doctrinal differences between the Vatican and the group, which rejects the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), including church acceptance of ecumenism and religious freedom, and its rejection of anti-Semitism.

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Father Kevin Robinson processes from the sacristy at the beginning of a traditional Latin Mass at St. Michael the Archangel Chapel in Farmingville, N.Y., June 17. The chapel is administered by the Society of St. Pius X. Credit: RNS photo by Gregory A. Shemitz

In his letter, Thouvenot writes that Fellay proposed his own version of the Preamble last April which, “according to several agreeing sources,” seemed to “satisfy the Supreme Pontiff.” But he added that cardinals in Levada's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith "amended" the text and it "now reintroduces, substantially, the propositions of September 2011.”

During his June 13 meeting with Levada, Fellay “immediately informed him that he could not sign this new document,” which he deemed “clearly unacceptable.” The SSPX will hold its general assembly in early July to discuss the issue.

Thouvenot also writes that Richard Williamson, the SSPX bishop who embarrassed the Vatican after he came out as a vocal denier of the Holocaust, will not be allowed to participate to the assembly on account of his “rebellion” and “disobedience.”

In recent weeks, there have been signs of a growing split within the SSPX, and the group's other three bishops wrote to Fellay that they were opposed to an agreement with Rome.

The Vatican refused to comment on Thouvenot's letter. Even so, Benedict signaled the importance he devotes to reconciliation with the SSPX by appointing American Archbishop Augustine Di Noia to the newly created position of vice president of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei," which is tasked with overseeing relations with traditionalist groups.

Di Noia, a native New Yorker, will work directly with Levada, and has worked with Benedict before and after his 2005 election, most recently as the No. 2 official in the Vatican's liturgy office.

A statement by the Vatican doctrinal office stresses that the “broad respect” that Di Noia enjoys in the Jewish community should help alleviate Jewish fears that the SSPX would not have to accept the Vatican II document that rejected anti-Semitism as part of a reunion with Rome.

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