Love thy neighbor, except if they happen to be a gay couple

Once upon a time I considered myself a Catholic. And when the church disappointed me, my father would always remind me that it wasn't about the people who ran the organization, it was about faith.

So when I realized I had lost faith, I understood that I no longer had to identify as RC.

Happily so, more today than ever. What's with my former fellow communicants? The Catholic Church is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to retain the right to turn gay couples away.

In the most sincere sense, for chrissakes! Who would Jesus blacklist?

The Catholic Church of my youth spent a lot of time avoiding the Bible. I think they felt it's a bit too controversial a book to expose impressionable minds to, nonetheless I occasionally paid attention to the gospel at one of those required Lenten or First Friday masses, and I think I heard them tell me that Jesus said:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
- Matthew 22:37-39

Doesn't seem like there's much wiggle room there.

Of course, religious conservatives point to a New Testament reference to "homosexuals" in Corinthians. Still the interpretation of operative Greek words "malakoi" and "aresenokoitai," are still so unclear as to make the conservative argument laughable. More than likely "aresenokoitai" refers to a temple prostitute, and how this applies to gay marriage escapes me. BTW, the Corinthians verse also seems to say that masturbators ain't going to inherit the kingdom of heaven, which leaves a lot of us (c'mon Catholics, fess up), out of luck.

Just so we're clear. There seems to be many devoted Catholics who follow the philosopy of Jesus with an understanding of the commitment and compassion required. Listen to the interview with Father John Dear, who appeared yesterday on Democracy Now! and you'll get an idea about the kind of Catholic one could aspire to be.