It really is a daily occurrence. . .
The amazing Zack Ford over at ThinkProgress has just reported that George Lucas, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Omaha, Nebraska, is leading the charge to repeal the city’s sexual orientation nondiscrimination ordinance, which was passed in March.
An anti-LGBT conservative group called the Heritage Coalition is working to beat back the protections, which Ford notes they were able to do successfully last month in Lincoln.
Archbishop Lucas sent a letter to every parish priest in his diocese, explaining that the Heritage Coalition needs to collect 12,000 signatures in order to force a referendum on the ordinance in spring 2013, and that they should feel free to devote parish time and resources to the Coalition’s signature-gathering effort, should they so choose. A local conservative blog posted the text of Lucas’s letter, which I’ve reproduced in full below (emphases mine):
Dear Father,
You will soon learn from the local media about an effort that is underway to repeal the City of Omaha’s sexual orientation anti-discrimination ordinance. The sponsor of this initiative – the Heritage Coalition – must collect 12,000 signatures from October to November to place the ordinance on the spring (2013) mayoral ballot. The sponsor believes that if given the opportunity, Omahans will vote to repeal this ordinance.
Representatives of the Heritage Coalition may try to solicit your support. As pastor of your parish, you are free to exercise your discretion in determining if and how you want to involve yourself or your parishioners in this effort which addresses an important moral issue. Examples of your involvement may include speaking about the issue in your parish, giving petitioners access to your parish events, scheduling information nights at your parish to discuss the issue, providing informational handouts to your parishioners, etc. If you and your parishioners choose to participate in this petition drive, I ask that there be no undue disruption of parish liturgies, nor distraction from the important moral issues at stake in national and state elections this fall.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Archbishop George Lucas
What Lucas is doing here is essentially giving his blessing to a ballot initiative that seeks to re-enable anti-gay discrimination in employment and public accommodations in the city of Omaha. What could his motivation possibly be other than pure, unadulterated anti-LGBT animus?
The Catholic Church needs to be labeled an anti-gay hate group. There really is no getting around it anymore.
This petition asking IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman to Investigate the Catholic Church and Cardinal Dolan for violations of 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status violations already has over 4,000 signatures. Please sign the petition, and then re-post it:
http://tinyurl.com/7rbdmmg
I don’t know how these pieces of $hit who *pretend* to be acting like Christ can sleep at night.
ps..he looks another big closet case.
It’s funny, because Jesus taught “God is Love” and this man is smearing Christ’s message. It’s a disgrace.
Georgie boy is carrying on a campaign begun at least in the mid-seventies by the bishop of Wichita who attacked a non-discrimination ordinance in his diocese. It is a campaign waged in many cities around the country including in NYC.
Interestingly, George Lucas, Michael Sheridan, Tim Dolan and Robert Finn were all priests from the Archdiocese of St. Louis who were ordained bishops and sent around the country to carry the pope’s message of homophobia and discrimination far and wide. Hate and bigotry have no bounds.
The opposition of RC bishops to ANY civil protections of human rights for LGBT people is so strong and so strident, that I cannot help but think a huge percentage of them are closeted men who are playing out their self-hatred on a public stage. Little do they realize that in their attempts to hide their internal battles behind their red robes, gold jeweled crosses, fancy miters and jeweled rings, they are exposing their true selves for all the world to see.
[...] via Truth Wins Out – BREAKING: Nebraska Catholic Archbishop Spearheading Charge to Remove Housing …. [...]
One after another, these high level Catholic hate mongers are engaging in a vitriolic hate campaign against the LGBT community. I WONDER where the orders came from! These guys have no shame.
Kudos to John and Wayne for exposing these scoundrels.
So I guess discrimination is a good Catholic value? Christ woul be appalled!
I guess Lucas has decided that housing and employment aren’t included under the umbrella of “every sign of unjust discrimination.”
I just don’t get it: what is in it for the church and such organizations to foster this kind of discrimination? I have to assume it is a moral issue for them, but how it this moral? To deny housing to someone because you don’t like a personal trait. I don’t like Christians. How would any of these boobs like it if I refused to rent to them because of that? They’d have my a*s in court before I could think about it.
There is a sickness of heart and mind in these awful people and the church nurtures the sickness. Shameful.
On another note: why aren’t these churches taxed? Clearly, they are directly involved in political and politically motivated issues.
Okay, so the Catholic Church’s position is that society will be improved if gay people are unemployed, homeless, and denied service by doctors, restaurants, lawyers, wedding photographers, hospitals, contractors, hotels, or any other service provider. Good to know. Not really surprising.
The Catholic Church never cared about morality in any way. It exists for two reasons only: to accumulate power and money. There isn’t a crime they haven’t committed in that pursuit.
Thanks to Scott for the petition link.
Martin Luther was right. The Catholic Church is corrupt and needs to reform.
[...] Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha, Nebraska recently sent a letter to every parish priest in his diocese in which he gave them permission to devote parish time and resources to an anti-LGBT group that’s gathering signatures in order to force a referendum on Omaha’s sexual orientation nondiscrimination ordinance, with the goal of overturning the law. [...]
Discrimination and is alive and well. Lincoln city council passed such an ordinance and it was overturned by petition. The argument was that it should be by the vote of the people and the majority wins. No such outrage when discrimination was banned due to age or handicap by the city council. A very thin veil of hate.
If the Catholic Church wants to get political, then they should pay taxes. The Catholic Church is full of hypocrites. What happened to the teachings of Jesus Christ? Don’t judge. Love thy neighbor? Practice what you preach Catholic Church! This is one of the many reasons my wife and I left the Catholic Church. And, don’t give the argument about what it says in the Bible about homosexuality…we are not to judge. And, if your argument is that it’s a sin, well, a sin is a sin regardless of what it is. We all have sinned, so should we all hate each other then? The only person who never sinned was Jesus and Jesus loved all.
actually, if you read it more carefully, the Archbishop is giving each parish the CHOICE to participate or not. He has not given any opinion on how he feels himself. Quite the contrary, the fact that he has NOT mandated that the parishes participate in any way in this signature gathering is a very, very loud statement. Quiet your own backstories and read between the lines, people…
Wrong. It says to me he’s giving the passive/aggressive green light to the parishes to participate. Saying it without saying it. “I’m not telling you what to do, but…” wink wink. That’s how it reads.
this is one of the reasons I consider myself a recovering Catholic, because I am trying to block from my mind all the hypocritical nonsense they throw out to their church goers. Just gives me even more evidence that the church is nothing I want to be a part of.
I am very disappointed that the Omaha Archdiocese is taking this position. I had hope and faith in this new leadership but we continually seem to miss the point and miss an opportunity to make this world better with less discrimination, not more that is supported by the Catholic Curch. Shaking my head!
This breaks my heart. I thought christianity was about loving your fellow man…not opressing them. It saddens me to think that a man in a leadership position is willing to–and okay with making these kind of statements.
No wonder I have turned my back on the Catholic church-even if I believe (some of) their teachings are wonderful and are a positive influence on our society.
No Tim, christianity is about Jesus loving you and if you don’t love him back he’ll torture you for eternity.