The Best and Worst of 2011?
As 2011 comes to a close, you’ll be reading lots of year-end reviews on different topics: movies, sports, books, news, deaths, music, TV, and so on. Some times you’ll see these articles as “best of 2011” or “worst of 2011.”
So, we ask our readers: what were the top events and news stories in LGBT issues and Catholicism for 2011? What were the best and the worst? We’ll take all your suggestions, and perhaps add some that may have been forgotten, and post them as the year comes to a close.
Can’t remember too well what happened in 2011? Here’s an easy way to remind yourselves. New Ways Ministry’s website archives past issues of our tabloid newsletter, Bondings (for which this blog is named), and in it we chronicle events, issues, and opinions from around the nation and the globe. Click on any of the past four issues, and you can read news stories about what has happened this past year in the arena of LGBT issues and Catholicism. That might spark your memory a bit! (The final issue of the year, vol. 34, n. 4, will be posted shortly, adding a fifth source for you to scour.)
Please make comments by December 26, 2011, so that we will have time to glean the responses.
–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry
For the best of 2011: New York’s passage of marriage equality for gays and lesbians. Despite the strong opposition of New York’s Catholic hierarchy, Governor Andrew Cuomo (of Catholic roots) deftly led the measure to successful passage.
For the worst of 2011: The collapse of Maryland’s marriage equality law for gays and lesbians, when it appeared so close to passage in the state legislature. A coalition of conservative Christian leaders, including Catholic bishops, effectively promoted messages of fear to flip key legislators at the last minute to defeat the measure.
But there is hope for next year as Catholic Gov. Martin O’Malley has already come out to say that he will fight for this measure in Maryland with the New Year. May the inspiring leadership of New York’s governor provide O’Malley with a model of success to emulate.
One of the best things this year was the ‘more than a monologue’ series.
One of the worst… oh, pick a bishop statement- any statement. ArchB Dolan’s interview on ETWN was I thought – the worst.
“we will get boo’ed if we don’t hire these people”…
The best: the overwhelming support from Catholics for equal rights for the LGBT community.
The worst: Daniel Avila’s column, and the failure of bishops to recognize that same sex marriage — outside of the Church — has legal ramifications and is therefore a social justice issue.
One of the best of 2011:
The New York Catholic governor, lieutenant governor, and state senators who made the difference in making same-sex marriage legal in NY.
One of the worst of 2011:
The revised Eucharistic prayer that now says, “… my blood … will be shed for you and for many ….” instead of “for all.” Despite the insistence of those responsible for this change that it doesn’t contradict Catholic teaching that Christ died for all, most who actually listen to the plain English of this prayer will hear “not all.” As they wonder who is NOT among the “many,” will they be influenced by the insitutional church’s opposition to extending legal rights to LGBT people and conclude that “those people” must be among the excluded?.