Boy Scouts, “Bigotry” and the Catholic Culture Wars | Anne Hendershott | Catholic World Report
The progressive group, Catholic United, tries to smear a priest who cuts ties with the BSA
The decision by the Boy Scouts to include self-identified gay scout members has opened a new front in the Catholic culture wars as progressive Catholic organizations are denouncing the decision by a Bremerton, Washington, Catholic priest to cut parish ties with the Scouts following the release of their new policy. Calling the priest’s decision “bigoted” and “bullying,” James Salt, the leader of the progressive organization, Catholics United has organized an online petition asking Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain to “help bring healing to innocent kids and hurting souls who deserve better than bullying.”On May 26th, Fr. Derek Lappe, pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, posted a letter addressed to his parishioners on the parish website which criticized the Boy Scout’s decision. In his letter, Fr. Lappe advised parishioners of his intention to “part ways” with the Boy Scouts: “I do not feel it is possible for us to live out and to teach the authentic truth about human sexuality within the confines of the Boy Scout’s new policy.”
In his letter, Fr. Lappe questioned the new Boy Scout policy, which he believes is based on the idea that same sex attraction is genetic and unchangeable. He stated:
For many years we have seen headlines that proclaim a genetic origin for homosexuality. Various groups in concert with a willing media have tried to convince people that being “gay” is a genetically defined trait, as if being sexually attracted to a person of the same sex is no different an expression of DNA than one’s height or the color of one’s skin. The reality however, is that there is nothing scientific or logical in such a position.
But, Fr. Lappe wrotes “The genesis of same-sex attraction is
much more complicated.” He referred to Catholic Medical Association’s 2000
document, Homosexuality
and Hope, and its many references to
scholarly research studies supporting the opposing view that there may be
sociological and psychological factors to same sex attraction. Concluding
that the genesis of same sex attraction is “much more complicated” than those
promoting a genetic origin for homosexuality, Fr. Lappe said that his parish
would no longer participate in “offering a program of ratifying a label
of gay which the young man has placed on himself and which so many elements of
society also are happy to place on him.”
Fr. Lappe was accurately portraying Catholic teachings on homosexuality. But,
in an angry statement posted on the Catholics United website on May 31st by
James Salt, their Executive Director, the Catholic Church was attacked as a
“harbor for bigotry and shaming.”
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