In response to the critics of a Mass in Soho which is aimed at welcoming gay Catholics, Archbishop Nichols has issued a proper dressing down. He said:
"Anybody who is trying to cast a judgement on the people who come forward for communion really ought to hold their tongue.”
Hear hear, Archbishop. Though it's a shame a special Mass is required to make gay Catholics feel able to attend.
I can't help feeling that there is a huge problem with your comment about gay people feeling that they can't come to an ordinary Mass! The only reason why this could be true is open preaching against homosexuality. If this is not the case, should they not do what we all have to do and come to the Church as it is, for all its 'faults'? Or are we free to create the Church and its masses in our own images.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delay in responding Matthew - only just found the time! A few points in response:
ReplyDeleteI think there are more reasons than just the content of preaching for people's feeling of welcome (or otherwise) in a church community. People might feel uncomfortable because of things said by members of the congregation, by the attitudes of the people they meet. Ultimately, it isn't for me to say why someone does or does not feel welcome. If that's how they feel, that's how they feel.
I do think that we should come to the church with all our 'baggage', and we should feel like we're welcome, but that's an idealist statement; there's a lot of 'should' in there. In reality, we already have different services for lots of different sections of the community (family services, youth services, 8 o'clock said services etc) and there are missional reasons why this should be the case. How different is it to have a service for some people in another social group, who feel (for their own personal reasons) that they aren't welcome in the existing framework of services?
And finally, from what I read, the content of the Mass was much the same as one would encounter in any other church. It wasn't a different kind of liturgy, it was just attended by a particular group of people (as is any Mass).