by Matthew Anderson
November 19, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A dissident group of Catholic nuns has released a statement criticizing the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for reaffirming the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman while failing to address the problem of homosexual teen suicide.
In the statement released Tuesday, the National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN) said that the bishops have acted like “blinded Pharisees” in reaffirming the Church’s teaching on marriage while having “failed to make a single statement regarding these tragic, preventable deaths.”
“Not one bishop’s voice was raised to condemn a culture where youths are bullied for being who God created them to be and are sometimes pushed by society’s judgments to attempt suicide.”
The statement refers to a string of homosexual teen suicides that occurred in early October. One of these suicides, Tyler Clementi, jumped off a bridge into the Hudson River after two fellow students broadcasted a homosexual encounter with him and another student on the internet. These two students have been charged with invasion of privacy.
The nuns’ statement came shortly after the USCCB decided to focus more of its resources on defending marriage. The Conference announced during its 2010 Fall General Assembly that the Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage was being made a permanent subcommittee of the Committee on Marriage and Family Life. The committee had been lead by Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, who was elected Vice President of the Conference during the meetings this week.
In the statement, NCAN urged all Catholics in the United States to “rise up” and say “Enough, enough!” “No more discriminatory rhetoric and repressive measures from men who lay heavy burdens on the shoulders of others and do not lift one finger of human kindness and compassion.
“We all need to work for a holy and just society and church.”
This statement is not the first time NCAN or any of its members have gone against the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Last year, it became widely known that Sr. Donna Quinn, a coordinator for NCAN, was serving as a pro-abortion “escort” for the ACU Health Center in Hinsdale, Illinois. After her involvement with the ACU Health Center was revealed, Quinn was rebuked by her superiors in the Sinsinawa Dominicans for violating “her profession as a Dominican religious.”
NCAN also released a voter’s guide during the 2006 elections that encouraged Catholics to vote for politicians who favor abortion and gay “marriage.” The nuns urged voters to “choose legislators who will recognize the right of women to make reproductive decisions and receive medical treatment according to the rights of privacy and conscience.”
The nuns went on to say, “We pledge ourselves to initiate, invite, and support deepening actions on behalf of social justice, particularly as these impact women, racial/ethnic minorities, and gay or lesbian persons.”
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