They Cannot Even Speak Our Name, Ctd

A reader provides a glimpse of "when the Church COULD speak our name":

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the Catholic Church in Chicago welcomed openly gay men and lesbians. The Windy City Gay Men's Chorus was even invited to perform at the funeral of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin per his request before he died. I was in attendance when a sign in front of the cathedral prominently listed the chorus as one of the groups that would perform.

I worked for the Catholic Church in Chicago during the Bernardin years. I knew several gay members of the Catholic clergy who did not feel the need to conceal their sexual orientation from the cardinal and did not do so. The cardinal maintained close friendships with both gay and straight men. There was never even a hint that he lived anything other than a celibate life during his time in Chicago, but because of his openness to dialog and his pastoral approach, not only to the gay community, but to Chicagoans of all backgrounds, Cardinal Bernardin has been vilified in death by the conservative crackpot wing of Catholicism. He's been accused of being a Satanist, a secret Freemason, and an accomplice to child sexual abusers. In fact, Joseph Bernardin was years ahead of his fellow bishops, urging them to deal with an epidemic of child sexual abuse, but his pleas fell upon deaf ears.

Earlier parts of the Dish thread here, here, here and here. More readers are adding anecdotes on our Facebook page.