It's a serious question. We have experienced the brouhaha that surrounds the so called "Gay Masses" at the Church of The Assumption of Our Lady and St Gregory in London's Warwick Street.
But the feet of the Church seem firmly rooted in treacle.
No change, no development.
I do not like what takes place at these "Gay Masses" - it is an aberration but, those who follow the Soho Masses every Sunday surely deserve something better than this.
It's isolationist, prejudiced, discriminatory, it's a form of sexual apartheid - an entrance for blacks and an entrance for whites, homosexuals or heterosexuals.
We do not have this form of discrimination in Menevia Diocese, We do not know, or particularly care whether our congregation members are lesbians, homosexuals, bank robbers, adulterers or serial paper clip thieves, it's not really our concern, it is purely God's concern.
We embrace all who attend our Masses but then, we don't harp on about heterosexual issues in our bidding prayers, sermons or after Mass debates.
The Mass is for all and is set in a format for all. It does not need a rainbow banner draped across the sanctuary, or people wearing strange wrong sex garb.
It requires a dress code (yes, it does, even the OF Mass) and that code precludes men dressing as women or vice versa.
But Westminster Archdiocese appears content to corral these poor folk in a sort of sixties type time capsule where those who have this leaning appear as caricatures who stand outside the mainstream of what should be their Mother Church.
Bring them into the fold, do away with all this homosexual babble; if they wish to be accepted then accept them but they have to play their part, as part of the whole, not as freaks.
That means, of course, doing away with Masses that exclude, by their very nature, Catholic families or, even, young Catholic men and women.
Dedicate the Warwick Street Masses to Catholics (full stop), do away with the dated imagery and stop patronising this part of the community.
Better still, provide an EF Mass for all - I am sure that Our Lady and St Gregory would approve.
Bring these people in from the cold!
No change, no development.
I do not like what takes place at these "Gay Masses" - it is an aberration but, those who follow the Soho Masses every Sunday surely deserve something better than this.
It's isolationist, prejudiced, discriminatory, it's a form of sexual apartheid - an entrance for blacks and an entrance for whites, homosexuals or heterosexuals.
We do not have this form of discrimination in Menevia Diocese, We do not know, or particularly care whether our congregation members are lesbians, homosexuals, bank robbers, adulterers or serial paper clip thieves, it's not really our concern, it is purely God's concern.
We embrace all who attend our Masses but then, we don't harp on about heterosexual issues in our bidding prayers, sermons or after Mass debates.
The Mass is for all and is set in a format for all. It does not need a rainbow banner draped across the sanctuary, or people wearing strange wrong sex garb.
It requires a dress code (yes, it does, even the OF Mass) and that code precludes men dressing as women or vice versa.
But Westminster Archdiocese appears content to corral these poor folk in a sort of sixties type time capsule where those who have this leaning appear as caricatures who stand outside the mainstream of what should be their Mother Church.
Bring them into the fold, do away with all this homosexual babble; if they wish to be accepted then accept them but they have to play their part, as part of the whole, not as freaks.
That means, of course, doing away with Masses that exclude, by their very nature, Catholic families or, even, young Catholic men and women.
Dedicate the Warwick Street Masses to Catholics (full stop), do away with the dated imagery and stop patronising this part of the community.
Better still, provide an EF Mass for all - I am sure that Our Lady and St Gregory would approve.
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