WHAT BIGOTRY ISN’T

National Review’s Rod Dreher is upset that a Catholic judge in the District of Columbia sympathized with some non-violent activists from the gay religious group, Soulforce. The three campaigners performed an act of civil disobedience at a recent gathering of Catholic bishops in a downtown hotel, by kneeling and asking for communion. The day before, all three had been denied communion at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception because the priests mistakenly believed they were members of the Sash movement, a group dedicated to the inclusion of gay people within the Catholic Church. The judge convicted the protestors of unlawful entry into the hotel but decided not to sentence them. In fact, as a Catholic, she sympathized with the protestors: “Tremendous violence was done to you … when the Body of Christ was denied to you,” she opined from the bench. “As a member of your church, I ask you to forgive the church.” For these reasons, Rod calls the judge “bigoted” and the decision “judicial Catholic-bashing.” I beg to differ. We’ve found in recent years that when the Church hierarchy covers up abuse, it is sometimes necessary for the laity to peacefully protest. And when the Church propagates doctrines that are cruel and discriminatory – such as the denial of communion to gay Catholics merely because they are openly gay – then it is also permissible for lay Catholics to express their sympathy for the victims of the Church’s actions. This is not bigotry. According to the Church itself, openly gay people are not to be denied communion. They are part of the body of Christ. And no-one is questioning the right of the Catholic hierarchy to enforce whatever doctrines they want. What the judge said merely amounted to bearing witness to what many perceive to be injustice. You may disagree and support the exclusion of openly gay Catholics from the sacraments, but it’s an over-reach to describe this conscientious objection as a form of bigotry.