Shepherds showing Spine

Now, how ironic is this?

The US Bishops call for a pastoral approach to people with same-sex attraction that

1. welcomes them as the people they are

2. reminds them that homosexual activity--not feelings or inclinations--is sinful.

Take a look:

The statement, "Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination," was adopted by a 194-37 vote, with one abstention, at a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The bishops also overwhelmingly adopted separate statements encouraging Catholics to obey the church's widely ignored ban on artificial contraception, and directing parishioners to examine their consciences to decide if they are worthy of receiving Holy Communion.

Anyone who knowingly persists in sinful behavior, such as gay sex or using artificial birth control, should refrain from taking Communion, the bishops said.

"To be a Catholic is a challenge," said Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the bishops' doctrine committee. "To be a Catholic requires a certain choice."

Presenting the gay ministry document at the meeting, Serratelli acknowledged that gay and lesbian Catholics "have a difficult task in this world, but this task is necessary and good."

"The tone of the document is positive, pastoral and welcoming," Serratelli said. "Its starting point is the intrinsic human dignity of every person and God's love for every person."

(snip)

The guidelines condemn discrimination against gays and say it's not a sin to be attracted to someone of the same sex - only to act on those feelings.

And how to gay catholic groups react?

Francisco DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, an independent outreach to Catholic gays that has run afoul of some church leaders, said the guidelines "do not reflect good science, good theology or human reality."

"This document proposes that lesbian and gay people be viewed not in the entirety of their lives, but in one dimension only - the sexual dimension," DeBernardo said. "No other group in the church is singled out in this way."

The activists that share Mr. DeBernardo's view express the very perspective that they condemn the Bishops for holding. They have reduced the lives of people with same-sex attraction to their sexuality--particularly, their sexual activity.

We are more than who we sleep with and how we do that. We are people before we are people engaged in every activity. The quest to justify activity by defining one's personhood on its practice hopelessly distorts who we are.

The US Bishops have done the right thing by reminding the Church in America of that.

Update: Descending Tabor agrees!

"Full to Starboard!"

The USCCB changes course: Less social pontification (making prudential judgements as a group as though they were doctrinal issues); more Catholic formation.

The WP has more:

At a national meeting starting today in Baltimore, the bishops are expected to make changes that adjust to their new circumstances. They plan to channel resources away from broad social pronouncements and focus more on defining Catholicism for an often-uninvolved flock.

"It's not that the bishops as a national organization will no longer be interested in sociopolitical issues," said Russell Shaw, a writer on Roman Catholic issues who spent more than 15 years as a spokesman for the conference. "But the emphasis is shifting to the life of the church itself and its own internal problems."

The new focus is clear from the agenda for this week's gathering.

The bishops will vote on documents explaining the church's ban on artificial contraception and worthiness for receiving Holy Communion. The prelates will also consider new guidelines on ministry to gay Catholics, which explain the theological underpinnings of church teaching that marriage should be limited to one man and one woman.

In addition, the bishops plan to take up a proposed restructuring of the conference's Washington headquarters to reflect their new priorities. Under the plan, American dioceses would send less money to the conference, which would cut jobs and committees.

Bishops have complained for years that the funds they turn over for conference work are badly needed in their home dioceses. Others consider the large staff unnecessary, a hangover from the conference's heyday in the early 1980s, when Chicago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin was guiding its work and the prelates undertook such ambitious projects as the pastoral letter on nuclear war called "The Challenge of Peace."

The "Spirit of Vatican II" may protest, but this is the right move. American Catholics today risk losing a fundamental understanding of the Faith. Less than 40% still believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist for example. If the USCCB continues to issue social proclaimations to an ill-formed Catholic Church in America, perpetual misunderstanding will be the only consistent fruit they harvest.

Hopefully, the USCCB refocuses their efforts enough in this vital direction. The Church in America needs it!