My crazy Cajuns are at it again, showing the rest of America that we are all tolerant and stuff. Given the ScAlito hearings that started today, here's a little civil rights story from my neck of the woods to warm your heart.
In small town in south Louisiana, a "Popular priest tells parish he's gay, but celibate":
Deciding he had to practice the honesty he preached, a popular priest has told his family, his bishop and the people in his parish that he is gay.
The local reaction and my views on the flip...
The small town is Thibodaux, Louisiana. Population about 14,000.
I was born and raised exactly EIGHT miles from Thibodaux. I know Thibodaux. I spend a fair amount of time there now. During high school, Thibodaux was my friend because we didn't get carded and the bars stayed open til 4 a.m. at least (as was the case in much of south Louisiana). That means a lot to a 15-year-old Cajun. As I've said before we are a little
different from y'all, but even that fine tradition exists only as a memory, as we now adhere to somewhat standard drinking laws (drive-thru daiquiri shops notwithstanding).
Anyway, getting back to the story at hand (from WWL-TV's site, from an AP article).
The Rev. Jim Morrison said he had been working since October on the letter which he sent early this month to 300 members of the congregation at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church and 200 members of the student ministry.
Why did Father Morrison [note: that's not even a Cajun name, so that makes him extra courageous] decide to do it? He has been a priest for 18 years, after all. Why now?
He mailed the letter and handed his bishop a copy on January 2, about a month after the Vatican released a policy statement saying people with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies should be kept out of the priesthood.
And how did the good Catholic Cajun folk at his church react to the news?
Saturday evening, the pews at St. Thomas Aquinas were full.
As pastor, Morrison told the congregation, "I ask you constantly to trust me. I ask you come to me with your life, all the blessings, all the struggles." "But it's not a one-way street," he said.
And, as further evidence to not write off the south, yes, we have other gay folk here:
In the letter he said that for years, he had counseled people struggling with their sexual orientation to be honest about it with people they love.
Words from one parishioner:
"I thought it took a lot of courage," Winnie Faucheux [note: a bonafide Cajun name] of Thibodaux said after the Saturday evening Mass. "I love him. I think he's a wonderful person. I think the community's going to grow from him being honest."
And the reaction of the local Roman Catholic diocese:
Morrison said he has kept his vows of celibacy and is not in any romantic or sexual relationship. *Being celibate and gay is not against Catholic doctrine, so he does not plan to resign, he said.
Nor is he being asked to, said Louis Aguirre, spokesman for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.
"He's not being asked to do anything but to continue his ministry," Aguirre said.
In a written statement Saturday, Bishop Sam G. Jacobs said the Roman Catholic Church makes a clear distinction between homosexual actions and orientation.
The Vatican's statement says homosexual acts are intrinsically immoral, but people don't choose their sexual orientation and should not be discriminated against because of it, the bishop wrote. And, he wrote, people should be judged by their acts.
Excuse me while I take a moment to beam with pride and gratitude that I had the good fortune to be born a crazy Cajun..... In writing, no less.
Continuing on...
Morrison, a priest for more than 18 years, has been pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church at Nicholls State University for more than three. Students often drop by to chat, drawn by his warmth and wit.
He has led three other churches in Houma and Chauvin, and has been director of vocations and seminarians for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux. He also helped found a school for at-risk Terrebonne youths and creating a benefit race to support that school. He has traveled to Nicaragua to minister, mentored youths hoping to become priests and won awards for his service.
After Hurricane Katrina, Morrison welcomed storm evacuees with pets to the St. Thomas Aquinas Center when some other shelters wouldn't allow animals.
More words from Bishop Jacobs' statement supporting Father Morrison:
"As Jesus says, one judges a tree by the fruit it bears. A good tree does not bear bad fruit and a bad tree does not bear good fruit," Jacobs wrote. "In my short tenure as bishop of Houma-Thibodaux, I have known Father Jim Morrison to be a compassionate and energetic priest who has provided good pastoral ministry to the people he has served. Unless I discover otherwise, as with all of our priests, I support him in the good that he does for our people."
Oooohhh, I have goosebumps. As a female who was molested by HETEROsexual males as a child, I know bad fruit. Sounds to me like Father Morrison is good fruit (pun intended).
NOW will you non-believers believe me when I say we should not write off the south and that south Louisiana MUST be rebuilt???????????
Thibodaux (pop. 14,000+) is the parish seat of Lafourche Parish (pop. 92,000+). In the next parish over, Houma (pop. 32,000+) is the parish seat of Terrebonne Parish (pop. 106,000+).
Yes, those Parishes went 60% and 65%, respectively, for Bush last year. (I will have you know that MY home parish (Assumption), next door to the other two, went 52% for KERRY!) I'm telling ya folks -- we are NOT as red as those numbers make us out to be. Yes, Charlie Melancon lost both of those Parishes in the 2004 general election, but he was running against Little Billy Tauzin, who was trying to inherit the seat that his Daddy had held for 20 years. Charlie and Little Billy were competing "hometown boys", and Little Billy had Daddy's edge. I firmly believe Charlie will carry them this time, and he has incumbency and great post-Katrina work going for him. (To show that Louisiana is not as whacked out (eccentric, yes) as some other Red states, here is the diversity of third parties on the 2004 ballot, and each fielded a Presidential candidate:
Constitution Party, Libertarian Party, Louisiana Green Party, Prohibition Party [okay, so that's whacked out], Protecting Working Families Party, Socialist Workers Party, The Better Life Party
See, we like all kinds down here.
Seriously now, Father Morrison coming out will change "hearts and minds". Not so much in the sense that we Cajuns had real problems accepting gays, it's just that Cajuns who are gay do not feel entirely comfortable being out of the closet in such small communities, esp. gay males. Thinking back over the last 20 years, lesbians in the community have not felt as great a need to hide or move away. So, the gay males have been more likely to move to New Orleans, Baton Rouge or Houston as adults. Maybe this will allow a few more to feel okay about staying in the small towns instead, or at least allow more high school kids to come out of the closet without fear.
Will it lead to political sea changes and single-handedly turn all Cajuns back to blue? Not yet. Just as Cajuns can be great friends with their neighboring blacks and yet still use the n-word when talking with other Cajuns, they can also be great friends with openly gays and yet still use the f-word. (Both words make convenient cuss words in their minds, even when not talking about blacks or gays.)
But...it is further evidence that liberal issues are getting somewhere here, as this IS the land of Huey Long after all. Coming together to support each other, regardless of race, due to Katrina. Coming together to to support a beloved priest, who is now openly gay.
With us Cajuns, it's all good.
And, lastly, Thibodaux is the very same little Louisiana town that got targeted last year by that wingnut Kansas church (whose entire congregation consists of exactly 1 whacked out family Phelps). When the Phelps church showed up to protest, they were roundly ignored by the good people of Thibodaux, and the local paper (Daily Comet, a "New York Times" company!) and three local churches put out public statements calling for tolerance, including restraint so that the good Cajun folk would not go out and rip little Phelps' heads off of little Phelps' necks.
As I said, we are a little different from y'all.
And donate, donate, donate to Louisiana, if you can! Hey, why not start at Nicholls State University? (Among other reasons, it has the John Folse Culinary Institute, so that we can keep spreading the love with folks trained in authentic Cajun cooking!) And tell them why.