NIU Women's Resource Center: Catholics Come Home – unless you’re gay… then we don’t want you or your children

I imagine that by now, most people are aware of the current push by the Catholic Church to bring Catholics back to their faith, or as the ads put it “come home.” It is not my intention to bash religion, or to say that all religions, including Catholicism is unworthy of one’ times. However, sometimes, these institutions alienate more people with their actions rather than bring them “back home.”

One example of this was the Archdiocese of Denver decision to kick the two students out of school because their parents were in a same-sex relationship. The choice to kick out these young children, one a preschool student and the other in kindergarten, was supported by the Archbishop Charles Chaput. Chaput’s rational was, as change.org put it, “since the Catholic Church believed gay marriage was sinful, then they had every right to view the children of gay parents as unworthy of a Catholic school education”

Fortunately, many Catholics are not behind this outrageous decision. A Colorado Catholic group has developed an ad (see below) and campaign against the Denver Archdiocese’s decision.

This story hits close to home for me because I was raised on the Southside of Chicago in an Irish Catholic neighborhood and I am a member of the LGBT community. Although I am not a practicing Catholic, I know many people who had many personal qualms with how the Catholic Church dealt with LGBT issues. Many of my gay friends would try to ignore the Church’s views on sexuality, wanting to follow Catholicism. This most recent action taken by the Catholic Church alienates those trying to follow the religion even further even causing an uproar that crosses divisions of sexual orientation.