Media missed the real story behind bishop's comments on 'gay lobby'

Published on Sunday 16 March 2008 20:25

Bishop Joseph Devine has done nothing more than repeat Catholic teaching on homosexuality in his lecture, while pointing out that the UK is now effectively a "gay" state where dissent from the new social and sexual mores is simply not tolerated (Opinion, 13 March).

Of course, as usual, the media misses the real story here, which is not that Bishop Devine propounded Catholic teaching on a moral issue such as homosexuality and exhorted a Catholic audience to recognise this vice for what it is; that's what Bishops must do.

The real story is that he chose to do so from a platform which is an annual launching base for a series of assaults on the Church under the guise of pseudo-intellectual "lectures" run by the Jesuits in Glasgow, thereby giving credibility to these "lectures" and appearing to endorse the dissent which is their hallmark. That, conversely, is what bishops, according to canon (Church) law, must not do.

PATRICIA McKEEVER

Editor, Catholic Truth

Sandyford Place

Glasgow

Bishop Joseph Devine's bizarre opinions, outlandish conspiracy theories and scary views on parenting cause me, and I suspect many others (Catholics and non-Catholics), a great degree of alarm. It is ironic that he invokes the Holocaust to demonstrate what he says: the Jews were demonised by the Nazis; what followed their demonisation is all-too-well known.

Conspiracy theories demonise, as his does. It is alarming to think he can speak as he does without seeming to care what results.

Many gay Catholics are self-hating, shame-ridden and marginalised, and made to feel unwelcome in the Church; there's no surprise here, when senior churchmen speak like Bishop Devine. I have written to Bishop Devine to ask him how he can reconcile what he says with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

(FR) ED HONE CSsR

High Street

Edinburgh

As a Catholic, I was outraged by Bishop Devine's comments on Tuesday evening. Isn't it ironic that he chose to attack and marginalise the gay community in a lecture where he was also discussing the damaging effects of sectarianism?

If sectarianism teaches us anything, it is that setting groups against each other leads to hatred and division. He is completely out of step with mainstream opinion, even among the rest of the Catholic community in Scotland.

As a former pupil of St Aloysius' College – where the lecture took place – I also hope that they choose to distance themselves from his comments. Bishop Devine's statements represent an extreme of Catholic opinion and not the kind of sentiment I remember from a school that taught me to challenge prejudice and work for the good of others.

MARTIN McCLUSKEY

President, Oxford University Student Union

Bonn Square

Oxford

I am less surprised by the puerile, uncivilised, bigoted ramblings of Bishop Tom Devine than by the media's persistence in reporting the predictable (if strangely amusing) diatribes on homosexuality from Bishops Devine, Conti, and O'Brien.

The media does not ask binmen for their views, although they would probably evidence a greater degree of intelligent and mature theological reflection than the average Scottish Roman bishop seems capable.

PAUL MIDDLETON

High Street

Lampeter, Ceredigion