Gramick-Nugent case: Thousands protest, NCCB won't intervene

In a six-page New Ways Ministry ad in the National Catholic Reporter Nov. 19, 4,551 individuals and groups endorsed a plea (text in Oct. ChurchWatch) that the National Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in Washington "exercise their collegial right and ask the Vatican to reconsider the decision" that banned Sr. Jeannine Gramick and Fr. Bob Nugent from ministry to lesbian and gay Catholics.

The bishops failed to do so. Instead NCCB President, Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, issued a lengthy statement that admonished Gramick and Nugent to pray harder for the grace to accept official teaching. Fiorenza went further. He insisted that the Vatican ban wasn't meant to clamp down on ministry among gays, hadn't violated Gramick's and Nugent's privacy of conscience, hadn't intruded into the internal governance of their religious congregations. He even defended the description of the homosexual inclination as "intrinsically disordered," a phrase the NCCB's own documents try to avoid.

One benefit of Fiorenza's statement is that it provided Gramick and Nugent with yet another opportunity to speak out. Both did so in long press statements Dec. 1, refuting Fiorenza's claims and distortions point by point. They are also speaking out in public forums at every opportunity.
Thousands of CTAers are now involved in the struggle to get the ban overturned, and to widen, not diminish, compassionate ministry among lesbian and gay Catholics. Jeannine is scheduled to speak at a growing list of CTA regional conferences and events.

Stay plugged into this campaign through New Ways Ministry: 301 277-5674. www.newwaysministry.org