The headline in The Baltimore Sun, “Vatican says Catholic Church can’t bless same-sex unions: God ‘cannot bless sin’” (March 15), was disappointing but, sadly, not shocking. The Catholic Church’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recently declared same-sex marriages a “sin” and a “choice.” Its statement was approved by Pope Francis, unfortunately.
The Catholic hierarchy is increasingly like the white male dominated Republican Party: out of touch, outdated, indefensibly dogmatic. They operate, pronounce and believe as if they are stuck in the bad old days.
There are no U.S. African American Vatican-recognized saints and only one Black cardinal from the United States in history. No women can be ordained as priests. And gays and lesbians are treated as less than in the Catholic Church’s official eyes. Where is God in that?
It is time for the Catholic Church to experience conversion. The values in its current pronouncements and its sordid history are reprehensible, but can be changed. I am 68 years old and was baptized at 3 months old. I attended nine years of Catholic elementary-middle school and four years of high school. I can remember the days of being told to sit in the back of the church. Some churches required that Blacks wait until all whites were served communion first before their fellow Catholics of color received it.
Why has there been a caste system within the Catholic Church for so many centuries? Why has it been tolerated or encouraged that folks could be racist, sexist and homophobic and considered good Catholics at the same time? We expect more and better from Catholic Church leaders. It is time for change.
Ralph E. Moore Jr., Baltimore
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