''Homosexuality is not an illness. You shouldn't be treating it because there's nothing to treat.... We identify the church as the people in it, not the hierarchy that runs it. Besides, we've been Roman Catholics all of our lives. It's part of our lives. It's who we are.''
David McCaffrey, a founding member of Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities, objecting to a ''reparative therapy'' program that gay Catholics are allegedlyl being referred to in St Paul, MN. McCaffrey, here, is also answering why Catholics don't pick up and leave the church behind. Speculation is that the Church as a whole has taken a hard turn toward the conservative right because of Pope Benedict's wishes. Complaints arose last week that the Church is stepping over the line from being a religion and into a political organization when they were seeing complaining to Congress about abortion and the proposed Health Care Bill, and also in DC where they are actively trying to pressure the DC City Council from enacting a widely-supported gay marriage bill. (Star Tribune)
