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The Catholic Bishops Conference habe asked the general public to love and respect homosexuals since they are also children of God and created in His own likeness.
This quashed an earlier reports that the Catholic Bishops Conference are instigating violence against the members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) community.[ads2]
A statement from the conference published by peacefmonline reads that, “Even though the declaration of the Bishops clearly states that the dignity of LGBTQI people should be respected because they are also children of God created in his image and likeness, the author(s) of the said response stated repeatedly that the Catholic Bishops were against LGBTQI people. What the church disapproves of are homosexual acts which she considers as intrinsically immoral. The inherent immorality of homosexual acts makes it impossible for the church to accept public advocacy and promotion of homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle. People with homosexual inclinations are subjects of the Church’s pastoral care as anybody else in the Church and outside of it. The long-held teaching of the Roman Catholic Church has been that while homosexual people, i.e., those who have an erotic inclination towards others of the same sex, are to be loved and respected and not discriminated against, homosexual acts are intrinsically immoral. It is for this reason that the Church does not approve of “unions between people of the same sex”.[ads3]
” Following the example of Jesus himself who came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance (cf. Luke 5:32 [NRSV]), the Church in her pastoral care is solicitous about the salvation of all God’s children and endeavours to show them God’s love and mercy,” they clarified.
The Bishops gave this response in a rejoinder to The Interfaith Diversity Network of West Africa (IDNOWA).
Following an earlier declaration by the Catholic Bishops against the LGBTQI group, IDNOWA released a statement condemning the position of the Bishops.
“At the beginning of lent, the GCBC should come up with a message of reflection and repentance for the people of faith. Instead, it instigates violence and hate crimes against LGBTI people by using words such as ‘crusade’ against LGBTI in an affirmative way,” Davis Mac-Iyalla, the Executive Director of IDNOWA stated.[ads4]
The Bishops, in their rejoinder and copied to peacefmonline expressed disappointment in The Interfaith Diversity Network of West Africa over their statement saying ”the impression created by the response of IDNOWA that the Bishops are instigating violence against LGBTQI people is incorrect and therefore quite unfortunate”[ads5]
