This is an article I found in The Sydney Morning Herald today. Read and weep.
Protesters disturb peace of longtime gay Catholic mass
JACQUELINE MALEY
February 27, 2010
ON FRIDAY nights, gay Catholics from across Sydney attend St Joseph's in Newtown. Like all Catholics, they take Communion during mass and tea after it.
They have done so for years, with the quiet support of the deeply conservative Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell.
But this week St Joseph's gay ministry was threatened by a Catholic group set up on Facebook who vowed to stop its ''sacrilegious gay masses''.
Last night the group protested at the church, bringing attention to this small forum of compromise forged between the doctrine that condemns homosexuals' sex lives and the faith they love.
The dispute highlights a global dilemma faced by the church. While social attitudes soften towards gays, Catholic catechism is firm: under no circumstances can gay sex acts be approved.
St Joseph's priest, Father Peter Maher, said ''there is nothing in the Catholic faith that says gays and lesbians don't have rights to take communion''.
But last night's protesters, who rallied support via a Facebook page, say the mass undermines Catholic teaching on ''human love and the family''.
Father Maher said the weekly 8pm mass was a normal service where gay and lesbian parishioners were welcome. It is advertised on the website of Acceptance Sydney, a gay Catholic group.
The Herald understands Cardinal Pell was initially concerned the service was being promoted as a ''gay mass'' but after a discussion with Father Maher he gave it his support.
The Herald was unable to make contact with the protesters.
Cardinal Pell said: ''Everyone is welcome to attend any public Mass.''
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