And the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops wants to clear up the confusion if you thought they did.
The USCCB didn't mean to call gay people the work of the Devil and the article that alleged this has been pulled from the archdiocesan newspaper, The Pilot. And the USCCB lobbyist who did call gays the work of the Devil wasn't speaking for the USCCB and is now "deeply" apologetic. From the Boston Globe:
The commentary by Daniel Avila, published in Friday’s issue of The Pilot, was deleted from the newspaper’s website late this afternoon. Avila’s apology will appear in the issue to be published this week, archdiocesan officials said.
“I deeply apologize for the hurt and confusion that this column caused,” Daniel Avila, a policy adviser at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, said in a statement.
Avila, who formerly worked as associate director for policy and research at the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, said his piece did not represent the official position of the Catholic bishops and that the column was not authorized for publication by the conference as it was supposed to be.
Background, and what could have promoted the swift turnaround after the fold.
On Friday the archdiocesan newspaper, The Pilot, printed“Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction,” by Daniel Avila. I wrote about it here, but frankly, John Becker did a much better job at Truth Wins Out here.
Avila was speaking not as a clergyman, but a layman. He is a lobbyist hired by the United States Catholic Bishop's Conference, and tasked with "defending traditional" marriage, which of late has concentrated on defending the Defense of Marriage Act from Judicial and Legislative challenges.
Aliva's thesis was God doesn't create gays, Satan does.
Acknowledging some of more recent scientific evidence that suggests same-sex attraction may find its origins in hormonal fluctuations in a mother's womb during pregnancy, Avila seemed to concede the point that orientation is immutable and fixed at an early age.
Unfortunately, Avila then went on to liken a change in utero hormones to a natural disaster, like a hurricane, a tsunami or a earthquake.
And also, he said, such a change was probably the handiwork of Satan.
Avila promised more enlightenment in a second column next week. It appears we'll be missing out on that.
Now, speaking as a gay person, I am ok with being accused of having a Devil-may-care attitude, a Devilish smile, and also being the "Devil you know." And I may well have even professed facetiously a time or two that "The Devil made me do it," but when pressed would certainly concede my own free will and stupidity around my own ill-advised actions.
But I do tend to feel a little offended when men (and women) of God profess in all earnestness my presence on this Earth is evidence of the existence of Satan.
That's not nice, is it?
And I like to think most Catholics, who love and value their LGBTQ family, don't much care for such talk.
I mean, Catholic parents of queers kids across the world probably don't like the thought that Satan was intimately involved in the gestation of children I am sure they love dearly and rightfully cherish as gifts from God.
That's not nice, is it?
Well, turns out a community of Catholics in Boston didn't think so either. And they wrote The Pilot to say so.
Both lay people and priests who didn't care for Esquire Avila's theological ramblings forwarded a strong letter of objection to publication. This letter circulated from the Catholic Paulist Center of Boston shortly after publication of the column in The Pilot:
Dear Community Members,
Recently the archdiocesan newspaper, The Pilot, published an article written by Daniel Avila entitled Some Fundamental Questions on Same-SexAttraction (10/28/11). The staff considers this article detrimental to the faith and well-being of GLBTQ Catholics and their families and we have sent the following letter to the editor of The Pilot. You can see a copy of the article by accessing www.thebostonpilot.com.
To the Editor and Staff of The Pilot:
As your colleagues in ministry, evangelization and information, we feel compelled to express our dismay at the article written by Daniel Avila, 10/28/11, entitled Some Fundamental Questions on Same-Sex Attraction. Beyond the highly questionable theology of this writer, pastoral ministry and care for GLBTQ Catholics, for any human person, requires first preserving their dignity as children of God. Our shared mission of outreach and pastoral care prohibits inflicting harm and pain on any human person. Yet this article directly and intentionally causes pain for gay Catholics, their families, especially their mothers, their friends and their worship communities. The article has no scriptural basis, vague Catholic theological constructs, and no connection with the Gospel of Christ.
We have removed this issue of The Pilot from the Paulist Center and will not be offering the next issue with part II of this article. We do not want to support Mr. Avila inflicting unnecessary and undeserved pain on members of our congregation. We call upon the editorial staff of The Pilot to immediately halt all such articles and publications, and concentrate instead on the Gospel of Love, to promote understanding, compassion and healing.
Looks like the folks at
The Pilot got the message.