My E-mail to Catholic Care

Following yesterday's post about Catholic Care and gay adoption,  I realised I might be being unfair. After all, I am only hearing one side of the issue, and I'm hearing that through a very biased filter. As far as I'm concerned their decision is an attack on me. They are suggesting that as a gay man I am unfit to raise a child, as if I'm socially and psychologically imparied, and any child in my care would be permentatly damaged.

But this seems to not be a moral battle, but a financial one. It seems that Catholic care would lose their church funding if they go against catholic teachings. And so realising there are other issues that I may be overlooking, I decided to write to Catholic care to see if they would give me an insight into their own points of view. Are they simply upholding the view of their financiers, or do themselves hold the view that homosexuality is immoral and dangerous for our children?

Dear Rev Roche,

I'm would like to discuss the recent ruling by the Charity Commission and convey your opinion, and your side of the story, to a wider audience

First, a confession. I am a gay, UK atheist who blogs at www.spiritualatheist.co.uk. I, and the majority of my readers, disagree with you on this issue. 

However, It has occurred to me after writing a post short, bitter post discussing this,  that I may have the situation completely wrong. The more I read about this story, the more I see that this may be a financial problem, rather than a religious one, and I, and my readers would like to hear your views on the matter more directly. 

Of course, I am far from unbiased. As a gay man I feel you are discriminating against me personally, as if I am unworthy to raise a child. But I aware of my bias and I am eager to try to understand why you feel you must now close, rather than offer adoption to gay couples. 

My blog readership is small, but the gay and atheist online community are well connected and I am confident that I will be able to fairly, and accurately, convey your point of view to a large audience. At a time when the reputation of the Catholic Church, and Catholicism, is suffering, it may be beneficial to help your strongest opponents understand your point of view. 

I would happy to carry out this discussion by telephone. MSN or E-mail and keenly await your response.

Yours

Simon 

I do not, of course, expect a personal response. They have not been responding to direct requests by news Journalists, so I hardly expect them to respond to me. But I hope they at least send me a short form e-mail explaining their position.

What do you think? Are Catholic care simply reliant on funding from the Catholic church, or is this their own Moral objection to Gay Adoption? Are the Catholic Church right to withraw their funding if it they violate catholic Teachings?

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"Joyous atheists: the ultimate oxymoron?" says bigoted Cathoilc

A writer at the Catholic Herald believes she has discovered a new oxymoron

"I heard the expression ‘joyous atheists’ the other day and it struck a tinny note against my lexical eardrum. Indeed I refudiate it on the grounds it is an oxymoron. ‘Joyous’ has spiritual connotations and atheists have rejected the life of the spirit. They can of course be ‘happy’ – a word that is much lower in the hierarchy of the emotions."

What a daft thing to say. She might as well say that Atheists can't do crossword puzzles for all the sense it makes. Joy is an emotion, a feeling of extreme happiness. Not believing in God doesn't mean I don't believe in Joy. The way I see it this is probably felt more by Atheists than by believers anyway.

I feel joy everyday, knowing that my life is my own, that the world is a wonderful place and that I am deeply connected to it. I can feel joy knowing that my only goal today, and every day, is to live the most worthwhile life I can.

I wonder how many believers truly feel joyous when there is the constant fear of a vengeful god watching your every move ready to punish you when you go wrong. How many feel joyous with a life full of contradictions, having to constantly struggle to make theirs beliefs and the real world agree? How can they be joyous when their Church is got in the deeply embroiled in a scandal, over the way it's leaders have betrayed the trust of, and deeply scarred, hundreds of children?

With all that you'd think it would be difficult to be a joyous catholic.

I can be a joyous person. And my joy comes from something real. The experience of being alive. If my joy came from a sense that I would one day live forever in heaven, at the cost of living half a life now, I don't know how rewarding that joy would be.

What do you think? Is joyous a word reserved only for believers?

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