Quote of the day: bishop says no to homo tourism at Vatican
ETN asked the Bishop [Janusz Kaleta of Holy See, the Apostolic Administrator of Atyrau] if the Vatican’s stand was clearly against [gay] tourism, and the Bishop answered: “The church teachings are from the Bible. If we change this teaching, we will not be the Catholic Church. Don’t expect the Catholic church to change these issues, because it is our identity.” When asked if the Vatican is open to dialogue about welcoming such homosexual groups of tourists in the future, Bishop Kaleta responded that “such demonstrations are just not ethical.”
Publisher Steinmetz clarified that what was meant by gay travel was traveling for the purpose of a visit, not as a demonstration. To this the Bishop replied, ”I consider if someone is homosexual, it is a provocation and an abuse of this place. Try to go to a mosque if you are not Muslim. It is abuse of our buildings and our religion because the church interprets our religion that it is not ethical. We expect respect of our church as we expect to respect that a person does not have to belong to the Catholic Church. If you have different ideas, go to a different location.”
(h/t Pandagon [w/its emphases], cribbing from eTurboNews)
AbsurdBeats 
Wow. So I guess a whoooole lotta priests won’t be going to the Holy See anytime soon.
WTF?
As tough as it is being a Jew these last few years (or, at least, a liberal, peace-loving Jew), I really feel for liberal Catholics of good will and abiding faith. It is rough out there, man!
Yeah. So much for the whole God-is-love thing.
I’d expect that good-faith Catholics (i.e., those less interested in boundary enforcement than in living the faith) of whatever ideology will do what they’ve always done: keep on keepin’ on.
And even I, apostate-heretic-universalist(-on-days-I-believe)-agnostic-committed-secularist, feel sympathy for folks of good faith, whatever their faith, when their leaders are more interested in enforcement than, well, God.
It is a very weird quote. I am not a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Catholic or Jewish yet I have been to places of worship for all of these. Sometimes I am supporting a friend at a time of importance for them, sometimes I am admiring the architecture or art. Belief is not a pre-requisite. Respect and courtesy are.