Pope Francis’ election over one year ago brought a wave of anticipation of change in the Catholic Church. Today, Palm Sunday, Faith in America, an organization that educates the public about the immense harm caused by religion-based stigma and hostility, and Carl Siciliano, the Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center, an organization serving homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth in New York City, are requesting the Pope make a very specific change within one of the world’s largest religions.
In a letter delivered to the Pope, and published today in a full page ad in the New York Times, Siciliano recognizes the Roman Catholic Church as “the largest and most influential Christian organization in the world” and asks Pope Francis “to recognize that the condemnation of homosexuality is also cruel and wrong, and rooted in a primitive, obsolete understanding of human sexuality.”
Siciliano highlights the stories of multiple youth who have found refuge in the Ali Forney Center after they were abandoned by parents and their lives were “devastated and made destitute by religious rejection.” He mentions Terry who was “set aside as someone ‘possessed by demons'” before eventually “his mother threw him out, she said that she would rather he die in the streets than live in her home if he was gay.” Faith in American studies show that “last year at least 200, 000 LGBT youths experienced homelessness in the United States. LGBT youths make up 40% of the homeless youth population in this country, despite comprising only about 5% of the overall youth population.”
In July 2013 Pope Francis sparked criticism when he refused to judge priests for their sexual orientation declaring, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”
It’s no secret that many readers of Red Letter Christians have differing views on LGBT marriage and the role of individuals who are gay and lesbian in the Church. However, when our beliefs lead to the abandonment of children and a feeling of isolationism, depression, and suicidal thoughts, we have encountered bad religion. As Siciliano concludes, “Surely God loves his children more than teachings.”
Please take a minute to read Siciliano’s full letter to Pope Francis and the accompanying press release, both are below:
Press Release:
ON PALM SUNDAY, LETTER IN THE NEW YORK TIMES CALLS FOR POPE FRANCIS TO END HARM LGBT YOUTH
Roman Catholic Executive Director of NYC’s Ali Forney Center Invites Pope Francis to See Real Impact of Teachings and Meet Homeless LGBT Youth
New York, NY, April 13, 2014 – Faith in America, an organization that educates the public about the immense harm caused by religion-based stigma and hostility, and Carl Siciliano, the Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center, an organization serving homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth in New York City, today delivered a letter to Pope Francis and published the content of the letter in a full page ad in The New York Times.
The letter asks Pope Francis to stop church teaching labeling being gay as “intrinsically disordered” and categorizing “homosexual conduct” as a sin, citing statistics and numerous stories about LGBT young people who have faced violence, parental rejection, homelessness and other devastating losses because of the teachings. The letter, published on Palm Sunday, comes before Pope Francis holds a global meeting of bishops in October 2014 to focus on “Pastoral challenges to the family in the context of evangelization.”
The full letter is available below.
Faith In America launched a Change.org petition where supporters can also send a message to Pope Francis.
News release and background information is here.
Siciliano, a Roman Catholic who lived in two Benedictine monasteries and has spent over 30 years serving the homeless, also invited Pope Francis to the Ali Forney Center to meet LGBT young people who were abandoned and had their lives devastated because of their parent’s religious beliefs influenced by the Church’s harsh stands and teachings against being gay. In 2012, Siciliano invited Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, to meet LGBT youth at the Ali Forney Center. Dolan, however, replied to the letter and did not accept the invitation to meet some of his young constituents.
In today’s letter, Siciliano writes:
I write to you on behalf of the homeless LGBT youths I serve. I ask you to take urgent action to protect them from the devastating consequences of religious rejection, which is the most common reason LGBT youths are driven from their homes. At the heart of the problem is that the church still teaches that homosexuality is a sin. My hope is that if you come to understand how this teaching tears families apart and causes the suffering of innocent youths, you will end this cruel teaching and prevent your bishops from fighting against the acceptance of LGBT people as equal members of society.
I hope that you will open your eyes and heart to the suffering of our youths. As LGBT youths are finding the courage to speak the truths of their hearts at younger ages, epidemic numbers are being rejected by their families, and driven to homelessness. The number of youths enduring this cruel fate is staggering; last year at least 200, 000 LGBT youths experienced homelessness in the United States. LGBT youths make up 40% of the homeless youth population in this country, despite comprising only about 5% of the overall youth population.
Siciliano also lists examples of devastating consequences by such teachings:
A teaching’s wisdom and efficacy must be judged in part by its outcome. The teaching that homosexual conduct is a sin has a poisonous outcome, bearing fruit in many Christian parents who abandon their LGBT children to homelessness and destitution. How could a good seed yield such a bitter harvest?
For me this tragedy has many human faces. I think of Justin, whose mother summoned her priest who held him to the ground and tried to drive the devil out of the 16 year old boy. Or Terry, who was sent to a catholic religion class where the instructor set him aside as someone “possessed by demons”. I think of Maria, whose family drove her to a forest far from her home and tossed her from the car, because being a lesbian made her “evil”. I think of the boy whose name I never learned whose father was so disgusted by homosexuality that he threw his son out of his home and said he would kill him and bury him in the backyard if he tried to return.
“When we see young people being harmed we have a moral obligation to respond, ” said Siciliano. “As a Catholic, I feel that I need to let my faith leaders know the harm I see my young people suffering because of the damaging influence of the Church’s teachings. I hope that youth who were born LGBT and are now struggling with religious rejection will see adults from every faith tradition taking a stand to protect them.”
The ad in The New York Times was paid for by Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams Home Furnishings. Mr. Gold has been an outspoken advocate for vulnerable youth for over a decade and has published a book, Youth In Crisis, about growing up gay in America.
Critics might wrongfully assume that we are attacking religion when in fact we are merely appealing to religious values of universal human dignity and asking Pope Francis to extend a hand and an embrace to all of his followers, including LGBT youth, ” said Brent Childers, Executive Director of Faith in America. “Pope Francis has the opportunity to lead faith communities around the world in gifting parents of LGBT youth with an unconditional spiritual embrace, a gift which most surely will bring peace to these lives and these families.
According to a 2010 study by Dr. Caitlin Ryan of the Family Acceptance Project of the State University of San Francisco:
- Family accepting behaviors towards LGBT youth during adolescence protect against suicide, depression and substance abuse.
- LGBT young adults who reported high levels of family acceptance during adolescence had significantly higher levels of self-esteem, social support and general health, compared to peers with low levels of family acceptance.
- LGBT young adults who reported low levels of family acceptance during adolescence were over three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts and to report suicide attempts, compared to those with high levels of family acceptance.
- High religious involvement in families was strongly associated with low acceptance of LGBT children.
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Carl Siciliano’s Full Letter to Pope Francis:
Your Holiness,
I write to you as a Roman Catholic, a former Benedictine monk and as a gay man who has spent over 30 years serving the homeless, first as a member of the Catholic Worker Movement, and now as the founder and Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center, America’s largest center for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth based in New York City.
I write on behalf of the homeless LGBT youths I serve. I ask you to take urgent action to protect them from the devastating consequences of religious rejection, which is the most common reason LGBT youths are driven from their homes. At the heart of the problem is that the church still teaches that homosexual conduct is a sin, and that being gay is disordered. I hope that if you understand how this teaching tears families apart and brings suffering to innocent youths, you will end this teaching and prevent your bishops from fighting against the acceptance of LGBT people as equal members of society.
I hope that you will open your heart to the suffering of our youths. As LGBT youths are finding the courage to speak the truths of their hearts at younger ages, epidemic numbers are being rejected by their families, and driven to homelessness. The number of youths enduring this cruel fate is staggering; last year at least 200, 000 LGBT youths experienced homelessness in the United States. LGBT youths make up 40% of the homeless youth population in this country, despite comprising only about 5% of the overall youth population.
A recent study of family rejection found that parents with high religious involvement were significantly less accepting of their LGBT children. Over the past decade thousands of LGBT youths have come to the Ali Forney Center seeking safe shelter, from across our nation and the globe, bearing witness to having been driven from their homes by religious parents who believed they were evil and sinful.
What these youths endure is horrific. They endure the torment of being unloved and unwanted by their parents, combined with the ordeals of hunger, cold and sexual exploitation while homeless. LGBT youths who are rejected by their families are eight times more likely to attempt suicide than LGBT youths whose parents accept them.
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest and most influential Christian organization in the world. By teaching that homosexual conduct is a sin, and that the homosexual orientation is disordered, it influences countless parents and families in societies across the globe to reject their children. In the name of these children, and in light of the love and compassion at the heart of the message of Jesus, I ask that you end this teaching.
Jesus Christ is never recorded as having said a word in judgment or condemnation of homosexuality or of LGBT people. He spoke of a loving, compassionate God, and commanded his followers to act with love and compassion. Jesus spoke of God as a loving parent who would never abandon his children.
There are biblical writings endorsing conduct now recognized as wrong; passages endorsing the rape of enemies’ wives and the murder of their children, endorsing slavery and even genocide. None of those biblical instructions are maintained as church teachings, as they are recognized to be cruel and immoral, and reflective of the ignorance of more primitive times. I ask you to recognize that the condemnation of homosexuality is also cruel and wrong, and rooted in a primitive, obsolete understanding of human sexuality. I ask you to join the growing number of church communities and religious denominations who have chosen to welcome and embrace us with love and acceptance.
A teaching’s wisdom and efficacy must be judged in part by its outcome. The teaching that homosexual conduct is a sin has a poisonous outcome, bearing fruit in many Christian parents who abandon their LGBT children to homelessness and destitution. How could a good seed yield such a bitter harvest?
For me this tragedy has many human faces. I see Justin, whose mother, before throwing him out of his home, summoned a priest who held him to the ground and tried to drive the devil out of the 16 year old boy. Or Terry, who was sent to a Catholic religion class where the instructor set him aside as someone “possessed by demons”. When his mother threw him out, she said that she would rather he die in the streets than live in her home if he was gay. I recall Maria, whose family drove her to a forest far from her home and abandoned her, throwing her from the car, because being a lesbian made her “evil”. I think of the boy whose name I never learned whose father was so disgusted by homosexuality that he threw his son out of his home and said he would kill him and bury him in the backyard if he tried to return.
I greatly respect you as a leader who has shown deep concern for the plight of the poor. I invite you to the Ali Forney Center, to meet our abandoned youths and see for yourself how their lives have been devastated and made destitute by religious rejection. I believe that there is no more compelling witness to the harmfulness of the condemnation of homosexuality than the consequent suffering plainly visible in the eyes of our homeless LGBT youths.
We share a belief in a God of love. I know in my heart that what my kids have suffered is ultimately a violation against love. How tragic it is that the church, through it’s teaching, would contribute to such a violation. Surely God loves his children more than teachings.
I hope that you will take up my offer to come to the Ali Forney Center and meet the youths we serve. And I hope that we can find common ground in seeking that they be protected and loved.
Sincerely,
Carl Siciliano
Executive Director
Ali Forney Center
224 West 35th Street, 15th Floor New York, NY 10001
Photo Credit: giulio napolitano / Shutterstock.com