liberal catholic church

[Anonymous]

I grew up Episcopalian, and we welcomed SO many people leaving the Catholic church. I don't say it to be snarky, but if you're looking for "liberal Catholic", I think Episcopalian might be your best bet. My own dad, who was a daily communicant as a young man, is happy in the Episcopal church. Avoid the Falls Church, though. They're the ones who've aligned themselves with the Nigerians over the gay issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The Catholic church is one of the few that says it isn't a sin to be gay.

If I understand correctly, the Catholic church might not say it's a sin to BE gay, but the church does believe it's a sin to ACT on those feelings... so according to the church, you can have gay desires without sinning, but as soon as you actually have gay sex, too bad. It's not a supportive stance.

As soon as you have unmarried sex it too is a sin. Many other churches say that just being gay, in and of it's self, is a sin.
There are so many other things to hold agains the Catholic church, but this isn't one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - to answer your question PP - a liberal catholic church would more then likely have a pastor on staff that isn't dead set on strictly following all the "rules" of the church to the nth degree....and they do exist.

i am catholic and my husband is not. he is divorced, hence we were were not married in a catholic church. however, i would like to have our son baptized in the church. and rather then approaching every extremely conservative catholic church in the area, i would like to know where to best start my search, to find a pastor that might understand.

Was your husband previously married in the Catholic church? If he wasn't and married in the Catholic church when he married you, the church counts that as his first marriage. Not too many priest carry the excommunication thing that seriously any more, so I wouldn't worry about that.

My aunt married an abusive man, and wasn't able to get an annulment. She however was allowed to continue to receive communion, because the priest who knew her situation saw that it was the way God would have wanted it.

[Anonymous]

We commute from NoVa to Holy Trinity. You wouldn't believe the stream of traffic on 66 on Sunday mornings heading to Holy Trinity.

[Anonymous]

Catholic mom here married to a non-Catholic. While I totally agree that the Catholic church in NoVa is very conservative, I have found that in general they are a bit more liberal when it comes to Baptism. Put it this way, they are not going to turn away a single mom who is trying to get her baby baptized, so they are not going to turn away someone who was not married in the church. In fact, although the parents need to take a class, they are most concerned that one of the god parents be a practicing Catholic. That being said, they can be sticklers for making you get the baptism done at your local parish -- they frown upon people getting sacrements at other parishes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - to answer your question PP - a liberal catholic church would more then likely have a pastor on staff that isn't dead set on strictly following all the "rules" of the church to the nth degree....and they do exist.

i am catholic and my husband is not. he is divorced, hence we were were not married in a catholic church. however, i would like to have our son baptized in the church. and rather then approaching every extremely conservative catholic church in the area, i would like to know where to best start my search, to find a pastor that might understand.

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to baptize your child in the church. Is it because it's a second marriage for your DH? We were not married in the church, but it was a first marriage for both, only one of us is Catholic, our child was baptized with no problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The Catholic church is one of the few that says it isn't a sin to be gay.

If I understand correctly, the Catholic church might not say it's a sin to BE gay, but the church does believe it's a sin to ACT on those feelings... so according to the church, you can have gay desires without sinning, but as soon as you actually have gay sex, too bad. It's not a supportive stance.

As soon as you have unmarried sex it too is a sin. Many other churches say that just being gay, in and of it's self, is a sin.
There are so many other things to hold agains the Catholic church, but this isn't one of them.

But many other denominations do not say that being gay is in and of itself a sin, and many go far beyond that and actually embrace LGBT people: United CHurch of Christ, for instance. Episcopalian churches now do commitment ceremonies, which the Catholic church says are abominations.

If you want to be a part of the Catholic CHurch that's fine, but it is nowhere near the tolerant end of the spectrum on this matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The Catholic church is one of the few that says it isn't a sin to be gay.

If I understand correctly, the Catholic church might not say it's a sin to BE gay, but the church does believe it's a sin to ACT on those feelings... so according to the church, you can have gay desires without sinning, but as soon as you actually have gay sex, too bad. It's not a supportive stance.

As soon as you have unmarried sex it too is a sin. Many other churches say that just being gay, in and of it's self, is a sin.
There are so many other things to hold agains the Catholic church, but this isn't one of them.

But many other denominations do not say that being gay is in and of itself a sin, and many go far beyond that and actually embrace LGBT people: United CHurch of Christ, for instance. Episcopalian churches now do commitment ceremonies, which the Catholic church says are abominations.

If you want to be a part of the Catholic CHurch that's fine, but it is nowhere near the tolerant end of the spectrum on this matter.

Let's just get this straight. It's not that I want to be part of the curch, it that I am Catholic and therefore part of the Catholic church. There are many, many priests who ebmrace the LGBT people, I am actually related to a priest who is a huge supporter.

There are many other christian churches that believe that being gay, is a sin. The Catholic churc does not. I just get so upset when people look down upon Catholics the way you are doing. Just because they are Catholic doesn't mean that they agree with ever single teaching of the church. I personally don't know any who are gay bashers, protest outside abortion clinics, heck most I know are pro-choice.

Unless you clearly understand the views of the Catholic church, and Catholic people, back off. Accept that not everyone has chosen your belief system, and that in this country there is a little thing known as religious freedom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The Catholic church is one of the few that says it isn't a sin to be gay.

If I understand correctly, the Catholic church might not say it's a sin to BE gay, but the church does believe it's a sin to ACT on those feelings... so according to the church, you can have gay desires without sinning, but as soon as you actually have gay sex, too bad. It's not a supportive stance.

As soon as you have unmarried sex it too is a sin. Many other churches say that just being gay, in and of it's self, is a sin.
There are so many other things to hold agains the Catholic church, but this isn't one of them.

But many other denominations do not say that being gay is in and of itself a sin, and many go far beyond that and actually embrace LGBT people: United CHurch of Christ, for instance. Episcopalian churches now do commitment ceremonies, which the Catholic church says are abominations.

If you want to be a part of the Catholic CHurch that's fine, but it is nowhere near the tolerant end of the spectrum on this matter.

Let's just get this straight. It's not that I want to be part of the curch, it that I am Catholic and therefore part of the Catholic church. There are many, many priests who ebmrace the LGBT people, I am actually related to a priest who is a huge supporter.

There are many other christian churches that believe that being gay, is a sin. The Catholic churc does not. I just get so upset when people look down upon Catholics the way you are doing. Just because they are Catholic doesn't mean that they agree with ever single teaching of the church. I personally don't know any who are gay bashers, protest outside abortion clinics, heck most I know are pro-choice.

Unless you clearly understand the views of the Catholic church, and Catholic people, back off. Accept that not everyone has chosen your belief system, and that in this country there is a little thing known as religious freedom.

PP here. I am not looking down on Catholics, and nothing in my post relates to how Catholics or individual priests feel. I described the doctrines of the Church itself. The Pope has been very clear in stating the Church's position. My mother was raised Catholic and I currently work in the field of religious liberty law. I understand the Church's viewpoint completely, and I understand that you are free to embrace it or not. By the way, freedom of religion means freedom from the government restricting or imposing religious belief; not freedom from reading another person's accurate statement that the Catholic Church as an institution is nowhere near the most LGBT-supportive denomination. They just launched a witch hunt to get rid of gay seminarians within the last month.

Sorry you don't like reading the truth. Yes, there are denominations with even more archaic and unforgiving views, but many religions are more tolerant and realistic too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The Catholic church is one of the few that says it isn't a sin to be gay.

If I understand correctly, the Catholic church might not say it's a sin to BE gay, but the church does believe it's a sin to ACT on those feelings... so according to the church, you can have gay desires without sinning, but as soon as you actually have gay sex, too bad. It's not a supportive stance.

Correct - it's immoral to act on homosexual tendencies, but identifying him/herself as gay is not a sin.

Sorry to digress from your posting, OP, with the above statement, but Holy Trinity in Georgetown might be your best bet. It's outside of the conservative Arlington Diocese.

[Anonymous]

To get back to the OPs question, I know that Arlington is a conservative diocese, but I've felt really welcomed at St. Charles in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Arlington Diocese is one of the most conservative in the nation. That is per the church that married us. The "Couples weekend" we attended for Pre-Cana was shockingly conservative to me. And offensive. But, our priest warned us ahead of time . . .

That being said, St. Charles in Arlington is a liberal church with wonderful people there. We don't attend b/c of where we live now (and really, don't consider ourselves practicing) but if I had to recommend a Catholic Church in NoVA that would be it. The priest at the time was a wonderfully accepting man, who placed adoptive children with disabilities (he was in the process of placing an autistic boy with a gay couple!) This was several years back. The church overall preaches the dogma but is very accepting of everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The Catholic church is one of the few that says it isn't a sin to be gay.

If I understand correctly, the Catholic church might not say it's a sin to BE gay, but the church does believe it's a sin to ACT on those feelings... so according to the church, you can have gay desires without sinning, but as soon as you actually have gay sex, too bad. It's not a supportive stance.

As soon as you have unmarried sex it too is a sin. Many other churches say that just being gay, in and of it's self, is a sin.
There are so many other things to hold agains the Catholic church, but this isn't one of them.

But many other denominations do not say that being gay is in and of itself a sin, and many go far beyond that and actually embrace LGBT people: United CHurch of Christ, for instance. Episcopalian churches now do commitment ceremonies, which the Catholic church says are abominations.

If you want to be a part of the Catholic CHurch that's fine, but it is nowhere near the tolerant end of the spectrum on this matter.

Let's just get this straight. It's not that I want to be part of the curch, it that I am Catholic and therefore part of the Catholic church. There are many, many priests who ebmrace the LGBT people, I am actually related to a priest who is a huge supporter.

There are many other christian churches that believe that being gay, is a sin. The Catholic churc does not. I just get so upset when people look down upon Catholics the way you are doing. Just because they are Catholic doesn't mean that they agree with ever single teaching of the church. I personally don't know any who are gay bashers, protest outside abortion clinics, heck most I know are pro-choice.

Unless you clearly understand the views of the Catholic church, and Catholic people, back off. Accept that not everyone has chosen your belief system, and that in this country there is a little thing known as religious freedom.

PP here. I am not looking down on Catholics, and nothing in my post relates to how Catholics or individual priests feel. I described the doctrines of the Church itself. The Pope has been very clear in stating the Church's position. My mother was raised Catholic and I currently work in the field of religious liberty law. I understand the Church's viewpoint completely, and I understand that you are free to embrace it or not. By the way, freedom of religion means freedom from the government restricting or imposing religious belief; not freedom from reading another person's accurate statement that the Catholic Church as an institution is nowhere near the most LGBT-supportive denomination. They just launched a witch hunt to get rid of gay seminarians within the last month.

Sorry you don't like reading the truth. Yes, there are denominations with even more archaic and unforgiving views, but many religions are more tolerant and realistic too.

Why don't you keep your catholic bashing self off this thread.

[Anonymous]

Why don't you keep your catholic bashing self off this thread.

I'm not the quoted PP, but s/he was hardly bashing anyone. If you don't like your church's stance on an issue, take it up with the church, not with people who accurately articulate that stance.

[Anonymous]

Holy Trinity in Georgetown.