Florida Bishop Blames Orlando Massacre on Catholic ‘Contempt’ for Homosexuality
I expect many were disappointed but not surprised at the rhetoric suggesting Christians were somehow to blame for a killer pledging allegience to ISIS slaughtering a gay nightclub. But to hear this from a Catholic bishop really leaves me stunned that the divide people fear among people in the United States is being willfully generated from within the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Bishop of St. Petersburg, Fla, has blamed Catholic disapproval of homosexual acts for the brutal slaughter of 49 people in the Pulse nightclub on Sunday.
In a blogpost Monday, Bishop Robert Lynch said that Catholicism “targets” and “often breeds contempt for gays, lesbians and transgender people.” The seed of contempt, he said, turns into hatred, “which can ultimately lead to violence.” Unless this attitude changes, he states, “we can expect more Orlandos.”
In his post, the bishop made no attempt to explain how a 29-year-old Muslim who never stepped foot in a Catholic Church would have been motivated to carry out his deed by a supposed Catholic “contempt” for homosexuality.
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, the Catholic Church teaches that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered” but that homosexual persons “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” and that every “sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”
It is “religion,” Lynch wrote, “including our own, which targets, mostly verbally, and also often breeds contempt for gays, lesbians and transgender people. Attacks today on LGBT men and women often plant the seed of contempt, then hatred, which can ultimately lead to violence.”
Regarding the shooter’s affiliation with Islam, the bishop said that Muslims wishing to enter the country should not be treated differently than people of any other faith, which would be “un-American,” adding that there are “as many good, peace loving and God fearing Muslims to be found as Catholics or Methodists or Mormons or Seventh Day Adventists.”
Through its media outlet Amaq, the Islamic State has publicly taken responsibility for Sunday’s massacre.
In his statement, Bishop Lynch also takes issue with...
In a blogpost Monday, Bishop Robert Lynch said that Catholicism “targets” and “often breeds contempt for gays, lesbians and transgender people.” That's wrong. Catholic doctrine never teaches contempt. There is alway love and sympathy for the ones not following God's will. The bishop is a heretic. When will the truly Catholic bishops finally stand up and publicly denounce such heretics?
He is out of touch. Bishop Lynch, being an apologist (he's not alone) for Islam/Muslims, exemplifies one of the major reasons that the Catholic Church is hemorrhaging membership. How anyone could take this poser seriously is beyond me. Incidentally, I had to link to a non-Catholic site because, as far as I can tell, Catholic news sites have not published Bishop Lynch's obvious affront to the Catholic …More
He is out of touch. Bishop Lynch, being an apologist (he's not alone) for Islam/Muslims, exemplifies one of the major reasons that the Catholic Church is hemorrhaging membership. How anyone could take this poser seriously is beyond me. Incidentally, I had to link to a non-Catholic site because, as far as I can tell, Catholic news sites have not published Bishop Lynch's obvious affront to the Catholic faith.
I only know that the diocese of Saint Petersburg, Fla, was known in Rome for being a nest of the "lavender mafia". Here Bishop Lynch shows that he stands with the homosex mafia against the Catholic. Let us hope that this will not qualify him to become a Cardinal...
