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WHY BOTHER  WITH CHURCHES?

• Catholic Catechism  section  2357 to 2359

Are you comfortable with your tax dollars being spent on this?
  Michael's recent article in the Sydney Star Observer particularly addresses this. FOLLOW THE LINK
  There are many valid reasons why we Lesbian and Gay people may feel the churches are a lost cause.

But have you considered the following? :
 

Just like Lesbian or Gay couples holding hands in public to raise” the threshold of social acceptance”, we must be visible in the churches so they can see us, experience and know us. We want to challenge the churches; to rethink their outmoded views about sex and sexuality.  Do we give up or stand for our rights?		Here in Australia about 25% of all children are educated in Catholic schools and one third of all youth suicides, as in most Western societies, are due to kids who think they may be gay or lesbian. We want support structures and role models for these kids; to show them they are not alone.
The churches have considerable resources,  power and influence in our society. Do we leave and hand this over to the narrow minded or stand up for our rights? We are reminded of George Pell, archbishop of Melbourne who is attempting to turn the Australian Catholic Church back to the past.		The torture and murder of a gay man, Mathew Shepard, is a chilling reminder of what happens if people of good will remain silent. Read a response from Steven Charleston, Chaplain of Trinity College, Hartford, CT.
Present church views often provide a justification for homophobia and discrimination in our society.

 

The Catholic Church is now the largest private employer in Australia!!!   The Church's vast networks of schools, hospitals and social service organizations are funded by hundreds of millions of dollars of public money. The Church demands - and gets - total exemption from all anti-discrimination legislation. This means the Church can legally refuse to employ an openly gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered person in any capacity whatsoever - as a doctor, a teacher, a counsellor, a nurse, a youth worker, a gardener, a builder, a cleaner, a truck driver... The Church has a record of summarily sacking gay employees if their sexuality becomes public knowledge. It aggressively defends its legal exemptions and has ignored judgements and recommendations of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. The Vatican has officially stated its support for civil discrimination against gay people in areas like housing, spousal rights, and certain types of employment such as teaching, athletics coaching and the military. It is claimed that this is "not unjust discrimination". Internationally, Church leaders and organizations have called gay activists "the shock troops of the Culture of Death", spent hundreds of millions of dollars opposing same-sex marriages, lobbied the United Nations and the European Parliament to resist calls for gay rights, claimed gay relationships "undermine the fabric of society", and consistently opposed safe-sex education.

A reflection by one of our members, Jan. Her personal experience of a Sash event