B NDINGS Vol. 30, No. 2 A Publication of New Ways Ministry Summer 2010 Children denied Catholic schooling, lesbian couple speaks out By Tom Fox Police have been called in to patrol the long haired dog playfully rolled on the coverage and by the support they have National Catholic Reporter school grounds for the safety of the chil- living room carpet before us. received by friends and family. They said March 15, 2010 dren. Division has emerged within the The couple explained they agreed to they are not political activists and have no parish though many Catholics – and speak with NCR because they wanted to agenda other than providing for the safety Two Boulder women have been at the others – here ask themselves how this clear up misconceptions in the media of their children. For this reason they center of a firestorm of media attention could possibly have occurred in their and specifically wanted Catholics to asked not to be identified by name. here for the past ten days since news progressive, welcoming community. better understand their situation. Following is their story, as they told broke that their daughters would no longer Referred to as "the mothers" by The women, members of the Sacred it together. For the sake of the report I be welcome at the Sacred Heart of Jesus those who do not know the couple and Heart parish, describe themselves as distinguish between them, when neces- parish school because their mothers are by those who do and want to protect practicing Catholics eager to raise their sary, using the names Mary and Martha. lesbians. their identities, the women have avoided children in the faith of their parents and "People are making assumptions Local media have been covering the all media contacts and interviews – until grandparents. They say they attend Mass about us that are flat wrong, completely story seemingly around the clock. Televi- now. They also asked that they not be weekly at the parish with their children wrong, and we felt it was time to clear up sion crews have come to the school. Arti- photographed. and continue to believe Sacred Heart of some of these misconceptions," Mary said cles, letters to the editors, and opinion I sat down with the women, both Jesus school, which includes a pre- as we began the interview. pieces, including one by Denver professional physicians, in the living school and kindergarten through eighth From the time they first enrolled at Archbishop Charles Chaput in support of room of their home here, walls covered grade, excels in education and Catholic Sacred Heart three years back they never the expulsion, have appeared. Protesters with framed photographs of their five- formation. hid the fact that they are a lesbian couple, have shown up outside the church with year-old and three-year-old daughters. The women, meanwhile, said they banners calling shame on parishioners. As we spoke for more than an hour, a have been overwhelmed by the media Continued on page 6 Robert Carter, Priest and Gay Activist, Dies at 82 By Dennis Hevesi University of Chicago, he read James New York Times Joyce’s semiautobiographical “Portrait of March 16, 2010 the Artist as a Young Man.” It introduced him, he wrote, to “the centrality of Ca- The Rev. Robert Carter, who in the tholicism in the history of Western civili- early 1970s was one of the first Roman zation.” Catholic priests in the country to declare He graduated in June 1946 and the publicly that he was gay and who helped next day was received into the Catholic found the National Gay and Lesbian Task Church. Three years later, he completed a Force, died on Feb. 22 in the Bronx. He master’s degree in Greek studies at his was 82. alma mater, and in 1953 he received his His death, at a Jesuit health care facil- doctorate there. He entered the Society of ity, was confirmed by the Rev. Thomas R. Jesus in 1954 and was ordained in 1963. Slon, executive assistant to the provincial Father Carter went on to earn a mas- of the New York Province of the Society ter’s degree in social work from Columbia of Jesus. in 1981. By 1985 he was counseling Father Carter’s coming out was a AIDS patients at Lincoln Hospital in the very public one. In October 1973, Dr. Bronx; he later became a supervisor of the Howard J. Brown, a former New York outpatient AIDS program at the Bellevue City health services administrator, an- Hospital Center in Manhattan. nounced that he was gay and that he was (L to R) Fathers Dan McCarthy, Bernard Lynch, John McNeill, and Robert Carter lead For him, there was no contradiction forming a civil rights organization for Dignity in New York’s gay pride march in the early 1980s. (Courtesy: Brendan Fay) between homosexuality and Christianity. homosexual men and women. Then called In his memoir, Father Carter wrote: the National Gay Task Force, it later be- “Since Jesus had table fellowship with came the National Gay and Lesbian Task Rev. John McNeill, he hosted the first Robert Earl Carter was born in Chi- social outcasts and sinners, those rejected Force. meeting of the chapter at the Jesuit cago on July 27, 1927, the son of Earl by the religious establishment of his time, An article about the group in The chapel on West 98th Street in Manhat- and Ila Grace Smith Carter. His father I consider myself to have been most fully New York Times said: “A number of ho- tan. managed several music stores. He is a Jesuit, a ‘companion of Jesus,’ when I mosexual and lesbian organizations were “I refer to him as the heart of Dig- survived by his sister, Nancy Glader of came out publicly as a gay man, one of represented on the board. One member nity,” Father McNeill, the author of Prospect Heights, Ill. the social rejects of my time. It was only was the Rev. Robert Carter, a Jesuit priest “The Church and the Homosex- Father Carter’s parents were Protes- by our coming out that society’s negative and professor of historical theology.” ual” (Beacon, 1976), said in an inter- tants who worshiped in a series of de- stereotypes would be overcome and we Soon afterward he was visited by a view. “I was doing all the writing, but nominations as he grew up. Then, at the would gain social acceptance.” sub-provincial of the Jesuit order. “It he was on the front line, meeting with seems that they were afraid I had had a people, counseling people.” psychotic break or something,” Father When the Catholic authorities said Carter wrote in an unpublished memoir. Dignity could not meet on church prop- Newark Archbishop questions plan for Although there were calls for his ex- erty, Father Carter celebrated Mass in pulsion by irate “Jesuits, parents and apartments all around Manhattan. He led Seton Hall University gay marriage class alumni of our schools,” Father Carter con- blessing ceremonies for gay couples. He tinued, he was not disciplined. In those testified in support of the gay rights law By Kelly Heyboer Myers said news that Seton Hall stu- days, the church and the Jesuit order were proposed by Mayor Edward I. Koch New Jersey Star-Ledger dents will be studying gay marriage somewhat more accepting of gay people. before it was passed by the City Council May 3, 2010 “troubles me greatly.” The church continues to hold that in 1986. He urged Dignity to march in In a statement, the archbishop said while homosexual attraction is gay pride parades and marched himself, Seton Hall University’s governing the church teaches that marriage should “disordered,” gay people who are celibate in his clerical collar. board is debating whether to cancel a only be between a man and a woman. are not inherently sinful. In 2005, how- Although he was a classics scholar, course on gay marriage after Newark “This proposed course seeks to pro- ever, the Vatican issued a document say- he was also a trained social worker who Archbishop John J. Myers said the class mote as legitimate a train of thought that ing the church would not admit to a semi- counseled gay priests and hundreds of conflicts with the teachings of the is contrary to what the Church teaches. As nary or ordain “those who practice homo- lay Catholics. “As I sought to reconcile Catholic Church. a result, the course is not in synch with sexuality, present deep-seated homosexual being gay and Catholic,” Brendan Fay, a The course is scheduled to begin Catholic teaching,” Myers said. tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay longtime gay rights activist, said in an next fall for upperclassmen in any major “Consequently, the board of trustees of culture.’ ” interview, “Bob Carter helped me move on the South Orange campus, university Seton Hall have asked the board of re- Father Carter helped found the New from self-hate to self-acceptance and officials said. It is designed to explore gents to investigate the matter of this pro- York chapter of DignityUSA, a support then to a place of gay activism. He was the controversial issue without advocat- group for gay Catholics. In 1972, with the like a Catholic Harvey Milk.” ing for either side. Continued on page 3 Page 2 BONDINGS Vol. 30, No. 2 B NDINGS Catholic gay rights groups purchase ads Pages protest student ejections from Sacread Heart of Jesus school Summer 2010 Vol. 30, No. 2 By Samantha Abernethy Associated Press Francis DeBernardo, Editor Melo. There have been other issues with parents and indi- March 12, 2010 viduals in "discord with Catholic teaching" that did not Board of Directors involve homosexuality, she said.