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The New York Times
U.S.
Papal Visit Provokes
Array of Protests
By AP from
nytimes.com on the Web, April 13, 2008
NEW YORK -- Pope Benedict XVI
may not see them or hear them, but aggrieved Roman Catholic activists hope his
U.S. visit this week will help them draw attention to issues ranging from the
ordination of women and gay rights to sex abuse by priests and the Vatican ban
on contraception.
The groups have planned vigils, demonstrations and news conferences to press
their causes as the pope visits Washington and New York. On Monday
evening, the eve of his arrival, supporters of women's ordination will host what
they are calling ''an inclusive Mass'' at a Methodist church in Washington,
presided over by Catholic women -- including two who were recently
excommunicated.
''We cannot welcome this pope until he begins to do away with the church's
continuing violence of sexism,'' said Sister Donna Quinn, coordinator of the
National Coalition of American Nuns.
Participants in the service will include Rose Marie Hudson and Elsie McGrath,
who were excommunicated last month by Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis
because they were ordained as part of a women-priest movement condemned by the
Vatican.
''In the face of one closed door after another, Catholic women have been
innovative, courageous and faithful to the church,'' said Aisha Taylor,
executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference. ''They continue
to make a way where is none.''
Gay Catholic activists, who plan to demonstrate Tuesday along the papal
motorcade route in Washington, have compiled a list of statements by Benedict
during his career which they consider hostile to gays and lesbians. These
include forceful denunciations of gay marriage and of adoption rights for
same-sex couples.
''He has issued some of the most hurtful and extreme rhetoric against our
community of any religious leader in history, and we want to call him into
account for the damage that he's done,'' said Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive
director of DignityUSA.
Duddy-Burke said she hopes the protests will be coupled with celebration of the
gains made by gay Catholics in America in recent years. She cited the
growing number of parishes welcoming openly gay members and the dozens of
Catholic colleges that now have gay-straight alliances.
Another gay Catholic group, New Ways Ministry, hosted a news conference at which
speakers conveyed what they would tell the pope if they had the opportunity.
The speakers included Gregory Maguire, author of the best-selling novel
''Wicked,'' who along with husband Andrew Newman is raising three adopted
children as Catholics in Massachusetts, the only state to allow same-sex
marriages.
''We invite you to spend a day, a meal, a weekend with us,'' Maguire said in his
message to the pope. ''We don't want to serve as a poster-family for gay
Catholics. ... We will just be ourselves, in all our confusion, aspiration, need
and joy.''
Another divisive issue being raised this week is the Vatican's ban on
contraception. Gay rights groups and others say the ban undermines
programs promoting condom use to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.
In a conference call Monday organized by Catholics for Choice, four Catholic
theologians will be examining the impact of the 1968 encyclical ''Humanae
Vitae,'' which defined the Vatican's opposition to artificial birth control.
''Catholics wonder why there's this huge disparity between what the hierarchy
says we should do in regard to contraception and what Catholics on the ground
actually do,'' said Catholics for Choice president Jon O'Brien.
He termed the ban ''a great tragedy ... a policy that lacks compassion and
understanding.''
Asked about the prospects that Benedict might reconsider the ban, O'Brien
replied, ''I do believe in miracles.''
For many American Catholics, the most distressing church-related issue of recent
years has been clerical sex abuse. Thousands of molestation allegations
have been filed against Catholic clergy, and dioceses have paid out more than $2
billion in claims since 1950.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abuse by
Priests, said his advocacy group would not be mollified even if the pope meets
privately with abuse victims.
''Extraordinarily few Catholics and victims will be moved in any way by
gestures, words, tokens,'' Clohessy said. ''It's as plain as day that
three years into his papacy, Benedict has done literally nothing to protect the
vulnerable or heal the wounded.''
Clohessy said his group will make use of the papal visit to press for tough
disciplinary action against bishops who covered up abuses by their priests and
to urge pre-emptive steps by the Vatican against abuse by priests in other
nations.
Clohessy expressed disappointment that the pope was not visiting Boston, where
the scandal burst into the national spotlight in 2002.
''Showing a willingness to visit the epicenter of the crisis -- that would have
been one gesture that might have been effective,'' Clohessy said.
Voice of the Faithful, a Boston-based reform group which emerged from the
scandal, placed a full-page ad last week in The New York Times, costing more
than $50,000, to air its call for a transformation of the church.
The ad urged Benedict to meet with abuse victims, oust bishops who covered up
abuse and promote a greater role for lay Catholics in running their parishes.
The extent to which the pope addresses the varied grievances during his trip
remains unknown. But the Vatican's envoy to the United States, Archbishop
Pietro Sambi, said any dissent that might arise was regrettable.
''Even in the Catholic church, nobody has the right to instrumentalize the visit
of the pope to serve their personal interests,'' Sambi told the National
Catholic Reporter. ''The problem is that there are too many people here
who would like to be the pope ... and who attribute to themselves a strong sense
of their own infallibility.''
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