After Noon
Cardinal , the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, has sacked a press officer, Mr Stephen Noon -- a committed Catholic -- after discovering that the aide is gay.
According to , Mr Noon's long-term partner visited him at work one day and was introduced to the archbishop. Unfortunately, no one had the foresight to take a picture of the Cardinal's face when, mid-hand-clasp, the word 'partner' was uttered. A missed opportunity. It's alleged that the Church has paid the aide £20,000 to leave quietly (i.e., say nothing more about it).
Contrast this story with latest difficulties. Ms Kelly, the cabinet minister with responsibilty for equality, is also a committed Catholic -- indeed, she is a member of the controversial conservative group . But in a Five Live interview last week with Nicky Campbell, a straight question about whether she believes homosexuality is a sin. She contends that her personal moral views are not, in any way, inconsistent with her role as a minister within a government that has a commitment to champion the rights of gay and lesbian people.
Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor rallied to Ms Kelly's support last Thursday in the Letters page of . This is part of what he said:
St Thomas Aquinas taught that not every sin is necessarily a crime, and not every crime is necessarily a sin. From this stems the Church’s defence of human rights. Homosexual people are first of all persons, and have the same entitlement to legal rights as anyone else. The Church has consistently spoken out against any discrimination against homosexual persons, and will continue to do so. Every politician needs to balance the demands of his or her conscience with the need for collective responsibility in Government.
On reading those words this week, Stephen Noon may well have thought to himself, 'What's good for the goose is good for the gander.' But that is merely speculation on my part. Mr Noon is not available for interview.
Comments
Conjunto Casino [a Cuban Band of the 1940's and 1950's] released a Bolero in 1956 with verses such as "When God created the World, his plan was that every man would have a woman".
Roberto Faz [Cuban Big Band Leader of the 1940's and 1950's] recorded a song in 1940 about "Father, Mother, Son, and Daughter".
Willie Colon [New York Latin Singer and Salsa Musician] : Puerto Rico sang [in his Christmas Album for the Latin Peoples] about how the Latins looked at Anglo North America and found out that "the Emperor did not have clothes"
St Paul in the Bible talked about Man and Woman and how anything else may do away with society.
While Western Society debates about Homosexuality and Sinfulness, it must read the history of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. These societies did not fall because of an invasion, they fell because of an erosion of values.
Attempts by Europe and Anglo North America to force an ideology based on greed, immorality, and lust to the rest of the world has earned it a status of being pariahs on a gradual basis. I myself think the USA will last maybe 200 years more.
Michelangelo, who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in St. Peter's, where the election of the Pope takes place, is widely thought to have had a homoerotic temperament, even if he was not a practicing homosexual. Oscar Wilde was fascinated with Catholicism all his life and converted to it on his death-bed. The Church has many complex situations like these to deal with.