Back in March 2012, after several complaints, Archbishop Vincent Nichols reassured homosexual Catholics that the 'Soho' Masses would be continuing as long as they didn't "confuse" Church teaching.
At the time complaints were made because, "bidding prayers read by [a] transgendered person ... referred to celebrating 'diverse sexual orientations'" as well as claims that, "before the bidding prayers the priest said they celebrated 'being proudly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and proudly Catholic.'" (see here)
The Masses have been a hot topic of debate in the Church, with traditionalists trying to ban them. According to an in-depth BBC article, a group prayed the rosary, kneeling in the road outside the church where these services took place (read more here).
A service, but not Mass, would take place for the homosexual community but the Archbishop is said to believe that the pastoral care of the lesbian and gay church community should now be uncoupled from the sacrament of Mass, and that the community should not be singled out to have "special" masses.
Some have claimed that it has caused a major division with the Church in Rome and this is the end result.
However a statement from the Soho Masses Pastoral Council indicates that the move in location offers even greater opportunities to minister to this particular community (read it here). As such the debate may well run...
Do you think homosexuals should be allowed their 'own' Mass? Why do you think homosexuals found comfort in this Mass? What issues can you see with homosexuals having their own Masses? How do you think this reflects upon the Church?
It seems that in all these types of cases- society wants institutionalised religion to remove its deepest principles. I would want to ask back, what does it achieve if we make every religion become unprincipled on such issues and instead implicitly give a prescribed a set or societal values we must all adhere to without regard to our vantage point?
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