Rochester NY Catholic Diocese Cancels Gay Men's Choir


A group in Rochester which holds music events at various places in the city had booked the local Catholic Cathedral. They had held other secular events there paying the Catholic Church. Then the local Bishop learned an event already booked was the Rochester Gay Men's Choir. The church said it could not host this event. There you have one of the main reasons Catholic numbers are dropping.

As one Christian pundit put it, "June is judgment month."  It's the month some Christians enjoy because they can point their fingers at others and call them SINNERS. As a priest who recently, "We are criticized for judging people and policies. Jesus gave that authority to St. Peter. He passed it to us. We are authorized to judge others." It's so funny it is show-business comedy material. What makes it even funnier is the way those "authorized" to judge others decided they get a better deal than those of us lessors.

The community musical event zeroed out by the Rochester Bishop featured several choirs. Apparently, straight choirs are not sinners so they could perform in the Cathedral. Or, sins are ranked and whatever sins the straight choir member commit are insignificant. Statistically, there had to be many atheists in all the choirs. The Rochester Diocese needs to check for atheists--I know their sins are not as terrible as those of the Rochester Gay Men's Choir but still, should they really be allowed in the Cathedral?

It's been repeated often, the anti-gay issue is a huge mistake by the Christian operatives who try to manipulate events to favor Christianity. Maybe it had a chance when conventional wisdom was sexual orientation was a choice. When evidence made it obvious it is not a choice that was the time to drop the "sin label." The deep dislike of homosexual people, however, took away this option. Those in the pews wanted condemnation. The imagery of priests was better if gays were condemned. They already had enough trouble with the child abuse issue.

In Rochester, a Lutheran church quickly stepped forward and said it would be please to host the choir event. It made a point to say it especially welcomed the Rochester Gay Men's Choir. Maybe Catholics lost a few members who went Lutheran. I hope so. 

 

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