Why should we use "LGBT" or "LGBTQ" in the church? Because people have a right to name themselves, and this is the name many choose. And there is such a "thing" as an "LGBTQ Catholic" and a "transgender catholic." They are members of the Body of Christ. catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/10/0… I understand Archbishop Chaput's point but this member of the Body of Christ deserves a name, and this is the name that many, if not most, choose. (Likewise, we don't say "Negroes," we say "African Americans" or "Blacks.") Individuals and groups have a right to name themselves.

Gospel: Today Jesus is critiqued for being a "friend of tax collectors and sinners." Interestingly, Harrington and Donahue, commenting on Mark, note that apart from Levi, "there is no indication that the toll collectors abandoned their profession after contact with Jesus." 1/ "This practice of Jesus...amounted to a simple message that God loved these people, and that they would be part of God's kingdom being inaugurated by Jesus." 2/

Thread: 1/15) Dear friends: Like you, I am sick about what is happening in our church. Like you, I’ve prayed about how best to move ahead. Our church will survive. The “gates of hell” will not prevail against it, as Jesus Christ himself promised us. 2/ But Christ, through the Holy Spirit, urges us to act: to rebuild the church and help his holy and faithful people. Without certain steps, people will flow out of the church, never to return, like water from the side of the Crucified One on Good Friday.

Thread: 1) The most shocking aspect of last week’s coordinated attack on Pope Francis (thanks to Archbishop #Vigano’s “testimony,” which is being discredited by the hour) is how former champions of the papacy rushed to attack, condemn and attempt to delegitimize Pope Francis. 2) It ended caused immense pain among the faithful, at a time when many, if not all, were demoralized by the latest sex abuse crisis.

Here's a helpful (brief) overview, as a follow-up from an earlier tweet, from a psychologist on sex abuse in the Catholic church. psychologytoday.com/blog/do-the-ri… Four points: "1) No empirical data exists that suggests that Catholic clerics sexually abuse minors at a level higher than clerics from other religious traditions or from other groups of men who have ready access and power over children (e.g., school teachers, coaches)."

Breaking: Pope Francis answers: What would you say to a parent who has a gay child? "You are my son or daughter, as you are." 1/ More: "I would say first to pray, don’t condemn, dialogue, understand, make space for them. Let them express themselves. Then, at what age does this concern ('inquietudine') of the child express itself? Its important. 2/

Dear friends: Prayers welcome! God willing, I'll be leaving tonight for the World Meeting of Families in Dublin, where I'll be giving a lecture, at the invitation of the Vatican, entitled, "Showing Welcome and Respect in Our Parishes to LGBT People and their Families" @WMOF2018 1 I'm grateful for the invitation and for the opportunity to remind parishes that LGBT Catholics are as much a part of the church as anyone else. Thanks to the pastors, pastoral workers and parishioners who helped me craft this talk of insights and "best practices" for parishes 2

More and more I think what is needed is for every diocese and religious order to open their files on abuse. Imagine going to confession and telling the priest, "I'm only confessing the sins that I'm being forced to confess." The alternative: eventually every attorney general... 1 ...in every city and state will be emboldened by the success of the Pennsylvania AG to ask grand juries to unseal the records in their cities and states. Does the church truly want this? The rite of reconciliation includes: confession, a firm purpose of amendment and penance. 2

Thread: The connection between sex abuse and homosexuality in the Catholic priesthood, in light of the Cardinal McCarrick case, and some ill-informed and outright homophobic comments: 1/ Being gay (or, more broadly, being LGBT) does not make a person a pedophile, an ephebophile, or any kind of sex abuser. How do we know this? 2/

My take on the awful revelations about Cardinal McCarrick's preying on seminarians and young priests, in today's @nytimes. Looking at two questions: Why would seminarians and priests not have spoken out earlier? And how could he have risen in the ranks?americamagazine.org/faith/2018/07/… I also know the feeling of shame that I mentioned in the article as a reason for the lack of reporting. When I was a young Jesuit I told my superior about a priest, now removed from ministry, who had touched me inappropriately. My superior, who is now dead, took me seriously...

The Catholic Church should vigorously support this bill. The Catechism states "Every sign of unjust discrimination" against homosexuals "must be avoided" (2358). And a 1986 document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith calls violence against gays "deplorable" (10).

https://twitter.com/RepJoeKennedy/status/1017790250352103427

1) "Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2358) vatican.va/archive/ccc_cs…

Naked cruelty, sheer stupidity and gross incompetence lead to the disgraceful mistreatment of these children. We treat our pets better than this. But that's no surprise: migrants and refugees have for so long been described as animals. The sin here is immense. 1/

https://twitter.com/aflores/status/1009591887831937026

Here we see the malign effects of such a grave grave sin. Motivated by selfishness (Go back where you came from!), magnified by cruelty (They got what's coming to them!), cloaked in lies (We didn't say that!), we see the results: physical suffering, misery, confusion, despair. 2/

Like many, I've resisted using this word but it's time: the deliberate and unnecessary separation of innocent children from their parents is pure evil. It does not come from God or from any genuinely moral impulse. It is wantonly cruel and targets the most vulnerable. 1/ Its use has been cloaked in lies, another clear sign that it does not proceed in any way from God or from a genuinely moral impulse. And the results--misery, anguish, physical suffering, division and despair--are also unmistakable signs that this is an evil. 2/

On #FathersDay please remember all the fathers in Central America who are fleeing poverty and persecution in search of a safe life for their families. This is why parents come to the border with their children. Because they want a decent life for them. Because they love them. 1/ For two years I worked in Kenya with refugees who had migrated from all over East Africa: Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia. All were fleeing violence, famine and poverty. All wanted to stay in their homelands, but they couldn't. Neither could their children. 2

Thread: You know that feeling of anger when you read about children being taken away from their parents at the border, in your government’s name? 1/10 You know that awareness of deep injustice that comes when you realize the immoral path our country is taking? What is that? It’s your conscience speaking to you. That’s how it works. 2

Thread: Early in my time working with refugees in Kenya in the 1990s, I noticed that many were “asylum seekers,” and had not yet gotten all the UN papers they needed to stay in the country permanently. I never had a problem with that. 1/ The director of @JesuitRefugee Service/East Africa said one day, “If you believe that people have the right to a safe place to live, and you don’t give it them, then do you really believe it?” 2

About #RoyMoore, accused of the sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, of minors, and who has been likened by some supporters to Mary and Joseph, because Mary was a teenager and Joseph an adult, and whose brother has just compared him to Jesus. Let me say this... /1 First, sexual abuse is a crime. Any comparison between the loving relationship that existed between Mary and Joseph and sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, is monstrous, even blasphemous. /2