Jon O'Brien, President, Catholics for Choice

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to speak with Jon O’Brien, President of Catholics for Choice. The interview took place first thing on a Monday morning and, I have to say, listening to this activist’s enthusiasm and morally courageous approach to his work was the perfect way to begin my week.

Catholics for Choice (CFC) is an organization that seeks to represent Catholics who “disagree with the dictates of the Vatican on matters related to sex, marriage, family life and motherhood.” Jon states that the goal of CFC is to “be an example of Catholicism as lived by normal people” with “an understanding of the world in which we live.” Jon states the leadership have “misunderstandings about sex that have nothing to do with how people live.”

CFC is largely concerned about ending poverty and does a significant amount of work overseas. Jon points out that the Vatican’s attacks on choice do not make as deep an impact in the U.S. as they do internationally. For instance, in the U.S. a Catholic can easily practice the “right to disagree” with the leadership over birth control by going to any drug store to buy condoms or taking the pill, however those in the global south do not have such luxuries. This is why so many Catholics find it so offensive for the church leadership to lobby the UN against the distribution of condoms.

Although the “uber conservative” Catholic world vision states Catholics must obey leadership regardless of their views, Jon says that is not a Catholic teaching. In fact, Jon informed me that as a Catholic, “you are required to follow your conscience.”

Galileo

I asked Jon to give me an example of such a heritage in the Catholic faith. “Imagine how Galileo’s mother felt,” he said to me. After all, “it took the Vatican 1000 years to forgive him for having scientific integrity and speaking the truth.”

Jon also gave the examples of Ted Kennedy and Kevin Dowling, a priest in South Africa who believes that the Catholic hierarchy must change their teachings from one that claims to be “open to life” to one that tries to prevent death.

Similar to Dowling, Kennedy, and Galileo; CFC has come under severe scrutiny from the hierarchy of the Church. However, Jon derives his moral courage comes from the “knowledge that what we are saying is the truth.”

Having come from a religion with similar troubling positions regarding women and sex, I was curious where CFC stands on working with Catholics who choose to leave the faith. Jon says he is “deeply hurt” to hear of people who have been wounded by the leadership of the church, especially women and gays. However, Jon says that he respects “the moral courage involved in saying ‘I need to go.’”

Bishop Kevin Dowling

According to Jon, those who have left the faith “have a great sensitivity of how the institution hurts people” and “of course” they can stay involved in the movement.

On the other hand, Jon says that he and others at CFC stay in the Church not because they are afraid to leave, “but because we are the Church. The Church is a community of people, the hierarchy and ownership does not reside in the Bishops.”

Jon joked that CFC should be given a retainer for all those who have remained in the faith because of the presence of the organization. Jon meets Catholics all the time who have been struggling about “how to stay Catholic” given their views. People often express relief after discovering CFC and remark how great it is to have “representation” after feeling alone in their views for so long.

I was touched by Jon’s dedication to his religion despite the seemingly many roadblocks to his faith. It all seemed to come together, however, when he put it this way: “We are each asked to stand up. If we don’t, there will be nothing left to stand up for.”

During their 2009 Churchwide Assembly, August 17-23, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) adopted a social statement entitled “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust.” Though the word “marriage” is never used, the statement includes resolutions allowing same-sex relationships to be blessed by individual congregations. Another resolution permits openly homosexual pastors to have committed relationships, while in the past they were only ordained on the condition of celibacy (one-night stands of both the hetero and homosexual kind remain frowned upon).

Predictably, many congregations responded to these gentle nudges towards greater acceptance with anger, withdrawal of financial support, and literal cries of heresy.

The ELCA “has fallen into heresy” said Rev. Paull Spring at the Annual Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Reform) meeting, according to a piece by Ken Kusmer of The Associated Press. The meeting convened soon after the resolutions were announced, and Spring’s statement earned him a standing ovation. He later described the experience as bittersweet. “That’s a very sad thing, to be a church that you belong to your entire life, that now really has fallen in heresy” [there’s that word again!].

A standing ovation strikes me as a strange way to express sadness, but there isn’t much about the opposition to these resolutions that I understand.

I am not a stranger to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. I was baptized, raised, and confirmed in an ELCA congregation. Of all the Lutheran sects, the ELCA is one of the most inclusive of women, allowing and even encouraging them to become pastors. I have always appreciated that I was raised in a church that understood no one should be held back from fully participating in their faith simply because of their genetic makeup, which is why some of the congregants’ response to “Human Sexuality” is so disappointing.

I know that this is a difficult issue for many, and part of me wants to be sensitive to that. At the same time, this fight has gone on for far too long, and quite frankly, I’m sick of it.

First of all, the idea that God has a strong position on whether or not your genitals match when you engage in intercourse sounds flat-out ridiculous to me. Of all the things to condemn, I just cannot conceive of a God that would get all hung up on that one. And if matching genitals are of such great consequence, how is it that they never made it into the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount? So long as your sexual activity is centered on consenting adults and doesn’t break any vows of fidelity, I’m pretty sure you’re in safe territory.

Secondly, it is not anyone’s place to judge the sexual orientation of their fellow parishioner or their minister. “Judge not lest ye be judged” (Matthew 7:1), “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord” (Romans 12:19), “Get over thyself and for heaven’s sake stop putting condemnations in thy Maker’s mouth” (okay, that is my own interpretation, but the sentiment is the same). If you must see yourself as a member of the “winning” sexuality team, then you must. But leave the eternal damnations to God.

Thirdly, say you just do not approve of these resolutions and you never will-so what? There is no rule within the ELCA’s statement demanding that every church hire a gay minister to perform gay commitment ceremonies. All they say is that the option is there for those who want it. It’s a gesture of inclusion, not exclusion. Your personal relationship to the church and your place in its community hasn’t changed at all.

Not unless you decide to make it so.

Fortunately, Lutheran youth seem to be keeping a healthier perspective than that exhibited by many of their elders. As reported by the ELCA News Service, the board of the Lutheran Youth Organization (LYO) of the Lower Susquehanna Synod sent a letter to its council regarding the fractions occurring within the church. They stated that they saw the ongoing discussions about the resolutions as an “enormous opportunity to share the love that we have been shown” by God. “We understand that people have different opinions, and we as a board were very split,” said Sarah Embley, synod LYO president. “We think it is more important to look past our differences and keep the unity of the church and keep God in main view.”

Amen kids.

By Dana Gallagher

Arsham Parsi

Arsham Parsi is the founder of the Iranian Queer Railroad (IRQR), an organization that supports Iranians who have fled their country due to Iran’s harsh punishments against gays and lesbians. IRQR provides support ranging from safe houses and funds to education about rights. The organization operates out of Canada, where Arsham settled after escaping Iran out of fear for his own safety.

I chose to write about Arsham because of the impressive way he has taken a stand in his community, despite the backlash that caused him to flee his country of birth. Besides the retaliation he faced from Iran’s government, Arsham has also confronted hostility from some in the Iranian queer community itself.

He explains that many Iranians don’t understand the concept of volunteer work or activism in the way North Americans do.  Many don’t believe that he would strive so hard out of sheer passion. So he’s often accused of trying to benefit himself.

After nine years of activism, Arsham still receives regular threats against his safety and reputation. However, he points out that while dealing with backlash is a constant part of his work, the negative messages “are nothing” compared to the supportive messages that he receives.

Arsham says that while negative attacks are personal, he tries to take them in stride: “It’s not all about me anymore; it’s about all of those who are looking forward to my activities in order to have a little bit more freedom. I can tolerate it when some people say something harmful against me. Because it is not just my rights, it is everybody’s rights.”

While IRQR operates without any paid staff, it boasts an impressive success rate. More than 70% of IRQR’s clients have gained refugee status or are in the middle of the resettlement process. IRQR is quite successful in assisting refugees with financial support from private donations.

IRQR recently gained official nonprofit status in Canada and is working to expand  its visibility and impact.  For example, the organization would like to boost its use of volunteers in the next
year to help with writing reports. And the more fundraisers that supporters can organized, the better!

If you’re interested in helping IRQR, email them here.

The idea of an “underground railroad” for queer Iranians is a brilliant update to the underground railroad used by American slaves in the 19th century. This analogy is just another way of understanding that human rights truly are universal. The strategies for securing those rights can cross borders, and centuries, too.

I asked Arsham what he would say to other young activists who, living in an era of instant gratification, are easily discouraged by the lack of immediate results.  He replies eloquently: “Defeat, defeat, defame, but finally success — if we learn from our mistakes.”

For our midterm we were asked to write a “manifesto” to describe how we will apply the concept of moral courage in our lives.Here is a small excerpt from my manifesto:

• I vow to continually bear witness, “like a woman bears a child, with all her might, born out of the greatest pain, into a Grand Canyon of light” (Ani DiFranco).  I will protect my ability to bear witness by refusing to accept moderation when it comes to my core beliefs and morals.

• I vow to give emotional shelter to others who display moral courage and have faced backlash for doing so. When given the opportunity, I will mother, support, and comfort those who have been rejected by their own.

How can I learn to be morally courageous?

I sensed a lot of ambivalence from my classmates about completing the assignment. I think this exercise taught many of us that we need to better understand how we individually exhibit moral courage in our lives, if at all.

Through my experience with the class, and my later experience as Campaign Manager for the Moral Courage Project (MCP), I have become interested in how to help people “learn” to be morally courageous.

I believe that one of the best ways to encourage people to be bold and speak truth to power is to expose real stories about how every day people all over the world are doing it. If the MCP can show through these stories how empowering if can be to speak truth to power I am sure a chain reaction will start with people applying these concepts in their lives.

Why is it so hard to pin-point moral courage? Perhaps it is because moral courage is more than mere bravery. It is more than joining a movement or marching in a demonstration. Those with moral courage bring the movement to their own communities and explore how we are perpetuating injustice locally. Moral courage requires one to act even in the absence of a movement.

The notion of “grassroots organizing” has become very popular in the U.S. in recent years. I often wonder, though, if those who use the term really know what is meant by it.  By definition, grassroots activism is undertaken to effect change by those who stand to be most impacted by the change. It cannot be effectively demonstrated without the presence of moral courage, without the willingness to confront your community, and yourself, for that is where the prospect for the most change lies.

I look forward to using this blog to explore the variety of ways that people exhibit moral courage in their lives. And I welcome you to share your thoughts with me about who should be featured on this blog.