Gay group pickets at church school gates

by Paul Goodman
SENIOR church sources have claimed that the gay rights organisation Outrage! which this week distributed leaflets lauding homosexuality to pupils attending a London Catholic secondary school misunderstand the Vatican teaching on homosexuality.
Members of Outrage! ale,ading gay rights' campaigning body gave out the leaflets earlier this week to teenagers attending the Sacred Heart Secondary School in south London.
Headed "What should you do if a friend tells ou the are lesbian or gay?" they urged the pupils to "learn the facts about lesbianism and gayness so you can understand your friend's feelings". The back of the leaflet shows homosexual couples kissing.
It also contains a list of people alleged to have been homosexual, including Cardinal Newman, Pope Julius Ill, and Leonardo da Vinci.
Accompanying publicity accused the church of homophobia, criticised Pope John Paul II for launching a savage attack on homosexuals, and slammed Cardinal Basil Hume of Westminster for "im licitl blaming homosexual immorality for the spread of HIV".
Nicholas Coote, assistant secretary to the bishops' conference, said that Outrage! had failed to comprehend the church's differentiation between the homosexual orientation and homosexual acts, and had not quoted church condemnations of violence towards gay people in their publicity.
"It is absurd to condemn Catholic schools for following Catholic teaching," he said.
"The church draws a clear distinction between the homosexual orientation, which is not held to be sinful, and homosexual acts, which are."
He pointed out that a 1986 Vatican letter concerned with "the pastoral care of homosexual persons" issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and mistakenly attributed by Outrage! to Pope John Paul himself explicitly condemns violence against gay people.
It says that it is "deplorable" that homosexual people should be the object of violent malice, and goes on to say that "such treatment deserves condemnation from pastors.
"The intrinsic dignity of each rson must be res r ted in word, in action, and in law," the Vatican document says.
Mr Coote added that Outrage! had misinterpreted the church's teaching on sex outside marriage, and muddled the difference between chastity and celibacy. "Chastity within marriage, of course, does not mean abstention froin sexual relations," he said.
"While it is true that the church does not accept that homosexual acts are the equivalent of sexual acts expressed by married couples, this is no less true of heterosexual acts outside marriage."
Much of the controversy over the church's view of homosexuality centres around the phrase "intrinsic disorder." Gay rights campaigners claim that the phrase tags homosexuals as deviants. Church leaders emphasise that the phrase is a theological one, and that homosexuality is no more or less a disorder than many other aspects of the human condition.
On behalf of Outrage! Sarah Graham accused the church of stirring up intolerance against homosexuals. • "They give theological legitimacy to hatred and discrimination," she said.
John Jackson, also on behalf of the organisation, said: "Catholic schools are refusin: to show support and understanding to pupils who are homosexual.
"By teaching that homosexuality is 'evil', 'disordered', 'sinful', and 'deviant', Catholic schools are encouraging guilt. anxiety, and depression. Some lesbian and gay pupils are being driven to attempt suicide.
"We arc calling on the Catholic education authorities to stop using church schools to promote prejudice. We want them to adopt our leaflet officially as recommended teaching material for use in sex education classes."