Bishops to Gays: 'Shut Up and Stay in the Closet!'

I know its hardly news that the Catholic Church isn't the most gay friendly of organizations. The country's Bishops are doing their best to reinforce that image. A recent story describes the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' 194-37 vote to adopt new guidelines to "support gay parishoners." Their advice: Stay celibate and don't make "general public self-disclosures" about your sexual orientation in Church. Boy, that's helpful -- you'd think that they'd mention some helpful redecorating tips to make your closet feel more comfortable, as they'd like you to stay in there.

It seems as if the Church is doing everything it can to make itself even less relevant. For example, American Catholics reportedly ignore the Church's teaching on birth control -- only 4% of Catholics in this country reportedly adhere to "natural" birth control. Apparently, the Church wants to alienate any remaining gay parishoners -- perhaps they'll be able to duplicate the 4% level with gays.

Clearly, the Church prefers to ratchet up its attempts at social control above all else. Bishop William Skylstad, leader of the U.S. Conference, describes the atmosphere in the Church these days -- "The point seems to be not to seek the truth or to build up the Body of Christ, but to strive for a sort of victory by overcoming others, preferably by crushing those who disagree." I think the Church might as well quit fucking around and bring back the Inquisition.