On Wednesday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops took steps to ensure they remain an irrelevant force when discussing issues of sexuality. According to the
New York Times:
The nation's Roman Catholic bishops, acknowledging that American Catholics pay little heed to their teaching on contraception, launched an effort today to reinforce the ban on birth control and linked it to the anti-abortion campaign.
The Bishops also tackled issues surrounding same-sex marriage and masturbation. It is unclear if their statement will have any impact beyond the marginal contribution the Bishops will make to the economy when they have various pamphlets printed for distribution.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops took steps to ensure they remain an irrelevant force when discussing issues of sexuality. According to the
New York Times:
The nation's Roman Catholic bishops, acknowledging that American Catholics pay little heed to their teaching on contraception, launched an effort today to reinforce the ban on birth control and linked it to the anti-abortion campaign.
The Bishops also tackled issues surrounding same-sex marriage and masturbation. It is unclear if their statement will have any impact beyond the marginal contribution the Bishops will make to the economy when they have various pamphlets printed for distribution.
On the contraception front, where the teachings of the Church have been roundly rejected, even by practicing Catholics. Again, from the Times:
Archbishop Charles Chaput, leader of the pro-life committee, brushed aside worries that emphasizing teaching on contraception might alienate American Catholics.
"The church's teaching on charity is ignored by virtually all of us also," he said at a news conference. "The church teaches us a lot of things we don't practice. But it's the constant of the Roman Catholic Church that contraception is wrong, sinful and contrary to the meaning of married live."
His committee's statement made clear the bishops were aware how much American Catholics have long ignored church teaching on contraception. It said Catholics use contraceptives as much as anyone else, and that only 4 percent of Catholic married couples of childbearing age practice natural family planning.
Basically, this group of celebate old men knows they're being ignored, and they're actively taking positions that will make sure more people ignore them. Maybe they're a little out of step.
In a, "well, duh" moment:
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver said that the advent of contraception has led to a raft of social problems, such as same-sex relationships, divorce, and abortion, because it has separated sex from procreation.
The point of contraception was to separate sex from contraception. However, the moves the Archbishop takes to move forward are rather, well, silly. The pill caused same-sex relationships? Condoms cause divorce? The only divorce here is between Archbishop Chaput and reality.
In tackling other controversial subjects, the Bishops' statement on marriage also read:
"any sexual activity outside marriage with others or alone is always sinful," and the bishops began to discuss whether to vote on adding the word "genital" to be clear what form of sexual activity they were talking about.
So, self-stimulation of your nipples is acceptable, but don't go below the waist. Or, maybe not. That's going to opened up for further debate.
The bulk of the Bishops' time, however, was taken up reinforcing their position as one of the world's greatest forces for anti-gay bigotry. While spewing their usual, "love the sinner, hate the sin" b.s., the Bishops had an interesting take on denying same-sex couples marriage rights:
It is not unjust to deny legal status to same-sex unions because marriage and same-sex unions are essentially different realities. In fact, justice requires society to do so.
In their always fascinating logical gymnastics, the Bishops have declared that justice requires gay people's relationships be denied any sort of legal standing. Discrimination is just! But, of course, the Bishops don't favor all discrimination:
"Christians must . . . oppose as immoral both homosexual acts and unjust discrimination against homosexual persons."
We're just not sure what kind of discrimination is unjust.
Does anyone else think that having a bunch of celebate old men telling everyone else what to do with their sex lives is a bad idea? It seems that the Bishops are fighting an ongoing battle against their own marginalization. And on issues of sexuality, that marginalization is a very good thing.