“We are trying to find a language that does not betray the teaching of the church, but will perhaps express it in ways that are not so offensive.”
— Francis Cardinal George, Vice-President US Conference of Catholic Bishops
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual meeting is set this week in Baltimore, 
Maryland. In this meeting, the bishops will review the guidelines on ministering homosexuality. This, though, does not mean that the guidelines they will set are breakthroughs in the acceptance of homosexuality in this faith. This also does not mean that the rules of the Church have changed. The Roman Catholic Church still continues to stress that relationships between people of the same sex are immoral.
What does this mean for gay American Roman Catholics? This means that they would not have to change their sexual orientation. Also, should gay couples decide to raise their children in the Catholic faith, these children may be baptized in — as the new guidelines encourage the clergy to do so.
Another hot item to discuss is denying communion to any member of the Catholic faith who does not agree with the Church. The Church will likewise currently allow gay members, but will not bless same-sex unions or marriages, and will not ordain priests with “strong homosexual tendencies.”
Does this affect gay Roman Catholics here in the Philippines? I doubt it. In my observation though, the Catholic Church here allows homosexuals to enter the church, attend services, receive communion, etc. I may be wrong 
but the existence of homosexuals in the Church still remains an elephant in the room. I guess our local clergy is more accepting and open-minded than that of other nations’.
I haven’t yet heard of any gay man or woman denied communion because of their sexuality here — unlike in the US where a lesbian couple were denied communion earlier this year.
What makes the local clergy different from others? Attend a mass or any church activity and you sure will see active participation of our members of our kind. You have the choir members, lectors, commentators, charismatic movements, musicians — all these sure have noticeable participation (with exceptional results) from homosexuals. If our local Roman Catholic Church is not as open to our kind, as I think they are, then church activities will not be as great as they are with gay men and women taking part in them.
At the end of the day, I guess all that matters, and all that should matter, is one’s faith.
