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Catholic priests vs The Boy Scouts of America: A fight THESE GUYS really want to pick?

BSA Pride flag
 
Just when I think that the Roman Catholic Church can’t possibly alienate any more people than it already has, another egomaniacal priest starts running his mouth.

Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D. is a hermit—no, literally!—who has a blog but no assigned parish and hence no parishioners of his own to bully. He still took the time to write a post on his now-private Wordpress blog, Holy Souls Hermitage about how he will not give communion to any male Catholic in a Boy Scout uniform now that the Boy Scouts of America have voted to allow gay boys to join as members but still ban homosexual adults as Scout leaders. Enough of his post was quoted before the blog was set to private that the highlights are available:

A Boy Scout has to swear, on one’s honor, before God and everyone, to uphold the revised Boy Scout Law of celebrating homosexuality. The BSA has made itself declared public enemies of the Church. So, no, I would not administer Holy Communion to any Boy Scout coming up in uniform. They are now just as bad as the Rainbow Sash crowd and all other militant homosexualists. They would have to renounce their membership first and not wear their uniforms.

Since Father Dumbass can’t be bothered to use The Google, here is the full text of the Boy Scout pledge:

On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

Byers is also ignoring the U.S. Catholic Church’s top liaison to the BSA, Edward P. Martin, chairman of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting, who already told Catholic Scout leaders and troop sponsors in a May 29th letter that the new policy “is not in conflict with Catholic teaching.” If Martin’s intention was to reassure Catholics that it was okay to support the Scouts, it was a serious failure. 

Parishes are cutting ties with the Boy Scouts left and right—even their own long-standing parish troops—and telling them to find another home and sponsorship.  A priest, Rev. Brian Grady, at a suburban Chicago parish said this in a letter to the BSA:

As a former Boy Scout, I know how uncomfortable it would have been to have to be in close proximity with boys that would perhaps be looking at me as more than just a friend.

Dave, a Chicago area lawyer and blogger at Dave’s Corner Tavern, wrote in response:

The worst aspect, of course is this: How does a guy employed the Catholic Church, an institution that’s notorious for priests who’ve sexually abused minors, including (but not limited to) boys, and even more notorious for covering up the sexual abuse of minors, and for shuffling abusive priests around from parish to parish, THEREBY EXPOSING EVEN GREATER NUMBERS OF MINORS TO ABUSIVE PRIESTS…how the hell does a guy affiliated with that organization have the brass ones to say that the Boy Scouts, merely by refusing to discriminate against gay members, expose children to danger.

Catholics United collected 5,500 signatures for a petition asking Archbishop J. Peter Sartain to formally condemn a Seattle area priest, Fr. Derek Lappe, for disbanding his parish’s Boy Scout troop. Lappe said in an official statement that it would be wrong for him to “be involved with a group that has decided to ratify or approve the self-identification of a 10-18 year old boy as ‘gay’ or ‘homosexual.’”

Catholics United’s executive director James Salt said:

Imagine you’re a gay kid, or the parent of a gay child, who worships at Fr. Lappe’s parish. What message is this priest trying to send to you? Fr. Lappe is saying your child is fundamentally ‘disordered,’ and that this ‘disorder’ is so profound and dangerous he must cancel the Scouting program because of it. With leadership like this, it’s no wonder young people are fleeing the Church.

Below, Journey Free’s Steps to Recovery From Religion:
 

Posted by Kimberly J. Bright
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07.15.2013
10:27 am
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