Fr. Gary Meier, an openly homosexual priest, said in an interview with the Huffington Post that Pope Francis is “softening the tone” of a Church hierarchy that has been “anti-gay” and “hostile” to gay people.
Father Gary Meier, a Catholic priest who has offered counseling on LGBT issues for the past 15 years, joined HuffPost Live’s Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani to discuss where religion fits into the discourse on sexuality. While Pope Francis has certainly been vocal about gay people, Meier said the conversation needs to extend into the church’s teachings.
“It’s interesting to note that what he’s not doing is changing the teaching. That tone is rooted in the teaching, we’ve got to change the teaching. We’ve got to get this out of the realm of morality,” Meier said. “Homosexuality is not a moral issue. You’re gay or you’re not gay. You’re bisexual or you’re not bisexual. We don’t go around asking people if heterosexual people are morally correct. … It’s not an issue. We need to get the conversation away from the morality because it’s no longer that.”
Talking down the Church is the best way to get the HuffPo to love you.
Fr. Meier, on his own website, states that he works as an LGBT counselor.
For the past fifteen years, I have counseled individuals towards self acceptance. Knowing and accepting who we are can be difficult especially for members of the LGBT community. As author of the book, “Hidden Voices, Reflections of a Gay Catholic Priest,” I offer a unique perspective on this struggle and have used this perspective to help others. Whether you identify as LGBT or have a family member or friend who is LGBT, I can help you work towards acceptance, love and peace.
April 29, 2014 at 12:02 pm
Homosexual behavior is immoral. Homosexual orientation is an act of God. Do not confuse the two.
April 29, 2014 at 12:13 pm
Keep it in your trousers, Father Meier. And grow up.
April 29, 2014 at 12:14 pm
I wonder if the author of this blog has ever commented on this: http://youtu.be/uA4EPOfic5A
April 29, 2014 at 1:14 pm
"Homosexuality is not a moral issue. You’re gay or you're not gay.
You’re bisexual or you're not bisexual. We don’t go around asking peopleif heterosexual people are morally correct. … It’s not an issue. We need to get the conversation away from the morality because it’s no
longer that."
History tells us otherwise. The history of both Ancient Greece and Rome indicates that culture played an integral part in perpetuating their gay and bisexual life styles. This is especially true amongst the patrician and upper classes. One of the biggest changes to the late Roman Empire once Christianity spread was the almost total disappearance of the hedonistic bisexuality and homosexuality of the populace. Monogamy and heterosexuality quickly replaced bisexuality and homosexuality. The Church has always treated sexuality as a moral issue.
April 29, 2014 at 1:53 pm
Homosexual orientation is environmental. Humans cause it.
Not God, God wants us to multiply,
April 29, 2014 at 2:05 pm
All of us?
April 29, 2014 at 2:59 pm
Wolf in sheep's clothing.
April 29, 2014 at 4:39 pm
He counsels? Can we imagine any prejudice? What a disgrace! Funny how people who demand recognition of sinful lifestyles want the Church to change to form to their opinions. And the thing is that they can find any number of 'churches' where they will be made comfortable and welcome with their sin. The Roman Catholic Church cannot and will not change the Truth.
April 29, 2014 at 5:10 pm
"Keep it in your trousers." What are you, 12? Sounds like you have some issues to deal with yourself, Mack.
April 29, 2014 at 5:11 pm
Care to give, y'know, a speck of evidence that "homosexual orientation is environmental" and "humans cause it"? Or do you just like to make stuff up on the Internet?
April 29, 2014 at 6:41 pm
Father Meier (if you read this),
Are homosexual acts immoral?
April 29, 2014 at 6:42 pm
Because the human genome study found no "gay gene". With that, twins studies show that sexual orientation can be different in identical twins.
Parents of your same sex being emotionally distant and events of childhood form sexual orientation. Science is finding more and more causes, none of which are genetic.
April 29, 2014 at 7:45 pm
Pray for him.
April 29, 2014 at 8:12 pm
Sorry, Netmilsmom, you're completely wrong and this "science" you speak of doesn't exist. It sounds as if you have no experience with real scientific inquiry on the matter. Perhaps you should explain you're referring to your personal opinion or what you learned from church friends instead.
http://www.yalescientific.org/2012/03/do-animals-exhibit-homosexuality/
Homosexuality exists in many, many species. Oddly, homophobia exists in just one.
April 29, 2014 at 8:25 pm
Disappointing this site censors those who present opposing views.
April 29, 2014 at 8:30 pm
No it isn't.
April 30, 2014 at 1:40 am
I had the most difficult time reconciling homosexuality being in accordance with the Church's teachings. Truth is, a person with homosexual desires can be a faithful Catholic. How? Easy: offering up your sexuality to God. This is explained in this video very well.
The beginning of the video might be hard to witness and seem like an appeal to sensationalism, but I promise that it is not so. You will need to watch the whole video to grasp the message. Please, watch the whole video. I very much want your take.
http://vimeo.com/93079367
April 30, 2014 at 1:44 am
Getting sooooooo tired of another "unique" perspective rant.
Either your faithful to the integrity of the Roman Catholic priesthood, Father. Or your not. Everything else, in between, up, down, over or under…is vanity, relevant to the last four things.
Nothing new to see here.
April 30, 2014 at 4:28 am
If God wants us to multiply, then explain the priesthood, nuns, brothers, and consecrated lay persons. Explain Christ himself! Are they defying God's design to multiply by not having offspring? Certainly not.
God uses our identity to order our lives. God doesn't use an order (ie, to be fruitful and to multiply) to define our identity (sexuality). Christ and many of the saints would then be against God's will if this were so. rather, our identity defines how God wants us to order out lives in accordance to God's will for us.
May 1, 2014 at 1:42 am
Yes, as a species we need to reproduce, but not all INDIVIDUALS should:
"For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others–and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it." (Matt 19:12)