On one hand, I see nothing wrong with it. \u00a0We are to welcome \u2013 everyone. Even Trump supporters! \u00a0As long as the goal is to guide us toward righteousness, to help us overcome sin, and to lead us to a closer walk with Christ, have at it. \u00a0Again, as long as that\u2019s the goal.<\/p>\n
The main problem I had is with this little quote from Jesuit Fr. James Martin:<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty much everyone\u2019s lifestyle is sinful,\u201d Father Martin said. \u201cUnless the Blessed Mother shows up in the communion line, there is no one sinless in our church.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Well, er, yeah. \u00a0We\u2019re all sinners, but we\u2019re all called to confess our sins and so we do. \u00a0It\u2019s not that I\u2019m suddenly immaculately conceived and deserve\u00a0communion more than everyone else. \u00a0But if I\u2019m openly living in sin, if I\u2019m flagrantly indulging in that which the Church teaches\u00a0against (or, FWIW, not indulging in\u00a0what the Church teaches we should do), then I ought not take communion.<\/p>\n
His statement seemed too frivolous, too \u2018eh, everyone\u2019s a sinner, so sin and sin boldly!\u2019 \u00a0Not that he meant it that way. \u00a0But again, context. \u00a0This is 2017. \u00a0Know your audience. \u00a0Assuming you\u2019re not trying to use a stealth maneuver to justify that which the Church teaches against, we might want to consider a statement that seems less dismissive of sin. \u00a0Or worse, suggesting that if everyone else is sinning, I have a blank check.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0We are to welcome – everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-9894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-and-america","tag-faith"],"yoast_head":"\n
Welcoming Gay Catholics with Open Arms<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a0We are to welcome - everyone.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2017\/06\/welcoming-gay-catholics-open-arms.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Welcoming Gay Catholics with Open Arms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0We are to welcome - everyone.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2017\/06\/welcoming-gay-catholics-open-arms.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daffey Thoughts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-15T13:02:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-19T03:39:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2017\/06\/welcoming-gay-catholics-open-arms.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2017\/06\/welcoming-gay-catholics-open-arms.html\",\"name\":\"Welcoming Gay Catholics with Open Arms\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-15T13:02:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-19T03:39:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\"},\"description\":\"\u00a0We are to welcome - 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