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Cardinal Likens Gay Rights Movement to KKK

Chicago's Francis George under fire

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 22, 2011 7:03 PM CST

(Newser) – Gay rights groups in Chicago are criticizing the city's Catholic cardinal for drawing a comparison between the gay rights movement and the Ku Klux Klan, reports the Chicago Tribune. Weighing in on a dispute between a local pastor complaining about the timing of a gay pride parade, Cardinal Francis George told MyFox Chicago he sided with the pastor: "You don't want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism."

Pressed by the interviewer, he didn't walk it back: “The rhetoric of the KKK and the rhetoric of some of the gay liberation people—who is the enemy? The Catholic Church,” he said. A Catholic coalition that works toward LGBT rights called Francis' choice of words "crude" and "further evidence of just how insensitive and out of touch the hierarchy is." A diocesan spokesman said the remarks were taken out of context.

Cardinal Francis George in a file photo.
Cardinal Francis George in a file photo.   (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 78 comments
imeanwhat
Dec 28, 2011 9:51 AM CST
Let me just call the kettle black here. Cardinal George had to settle a sexual harassment case between an unamed boy and a priest named Daniel McCormack who pleaded guilty in 2007 to abusing five boys (ages 10-12) and was sentenced to five years in prison. http://bit.ly/uni9Gr
Ned_Flaherty
Dec 27, 2011 3:54 PM CST
Historically, the rhetorical phrases most used by LGBT people are terms such as: "compassion, love, fairness, citizenship, equality, rights," and "justice." But the cardinal, his Pope, their employees, and official church policy all preach that LGBT people are "intrinsically disordered" and "immoral" and "evil." In calling an entire class of people irrecoverably flawed and lacking in morality and Satanically possessed, it is the cardinal who is spewing rhetoric, not LGBT people. This archbishop/cardinal wants to deny all citizens their human rights based on some supernatural assumptions belonging to a religious sect. He is a dangerous demagogue spewing religious rhetoric, trying to turn everyone else’s democracy into his own theocracy.
BishopWilkowski
Dec 24, 2011 8:28 PM CST
The Theology of Social Justice and Peace advocates the responsibility of all branches of the Catholic faith to provide the voice and, if necessary, the physical presence to counter any and all attempts to deny or prevent any person from their God-given rights and dignity.   With all due respect, I believe that Cardinal George’s comments have failed to witness these values and obligations which are held sacred by all catholic jurisdictions.   Sometimes these actions must go beyond writing letters to the Editors or posting personal Blogs.  It is the baptismal obligations of all Catholics, regardless of their jurisdiction to sometimes take strong and proactive stances to fight all forms of injustice to others.   The history of the pastoral administration of the Catholic faith is permanently stained by its many past acts of social prejudices and even the murders of others in the ‘name of the faith.’  These past sins of our shared history must be atoned for by this generation of all branches of Catholicism through the embracement of the sacredness rooted in the Theology of Social Justice and Peace.   As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior, we need not compare those who advocate peace and justice within the Kingdom of God on Earth to the KKK.  We need to compare the faith of these advocates, these modern workers in the vineyard - to that of our Holy Family.

 
gay rights • Catholic Church • Chicago • KKK • Cardinal Francis George

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