BY MARY E. HUNT DECEMBER 23, 2021
Competition was keen, but the award for the Most Egregious Religious Idea of 2021 resulted in a tie between that of Supreme Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett and that of Bishop John F. Doerfler of the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan. The award does not apply to any single individual but is given for a concept or ideology that does serious damage.
Judge Barrett’s flabbergasting claim came in oral arguments in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization when she implied that adoption was the cure-all for abortion. She stated: “both Roe and Casey emphasize the burdens of parenting. And insofar as you and many of your amici focus on the ways in which forced parenting, forced motherhood, would hinder women’s access to the workplace, and to equal opportunities, it’s also focused on the consequences of parenting and the obligations of motherhood that flow from pregnancy—why don’t the safe haven laws take care of that problem?”
The idea is that in some unfathomable context it’s acceptable to force people to give birth because after nine months of gestation the baby can be dropped off at the neighborhood fire station for someone else to raise.
Bishop Doerfler offers an equally preposterous idea in his statement, “Created in the Image and Likeness of God: An Instruction on Some Aspects of the Pastoral Care of Persons with Same-Sex Attractions and Gender Dysphoria.” His solution is “pastoral accompaniment” by which he means creating the conditions by which same-sex loving and trans Catholic people will be insulted, disenfranchised, and effectively driven from their faith community.
According to this document, LGBTQ people cannot be baptized, confirmed, or received into full communion without giving up their relationships or repenting. Nor can they serve as sponsors for Baptism or Confirmation, teach, administer communion or, God forbid, even serve on the parish council or count the money. Students in Catholic schools are to be called by and treated according to their birth pronouns regardless of their current status. The fundamental idea is that Catholics have to be heterosexual and cisgender, or be celibate and quiet about their lives.
Read the article HERE.