Should the Pope change the rules—and save
200,000 homeless children?
CURRICULUM: Responsibility to Others: People Not Like You & Me
Summary: As God's representative on earth, the Pope exerts a great deal of power over Catholic families. For these families, acceptance of an LGBTQ child's lifestyle contradicts church policy and Papal doctrine. For these children, neither home nor church may provide comfort. While parents struggle with questions about beliefs, parental responsibility, children leave home and place themselves in harm’s way.
Basic Understanding:
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Relationship between parenting and supernatural / sacred / religious beliefs is as old as humankind
Powerful belief in religion institutions and their leaders, writings, interpretation (slow to change)
Historical conflict between “what God says” and “what I or my family needs
Parent’s legal responsibility to child, society (includes law re: runaways)
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How and why children determine they are homosexual; what they chose to disclose, and when
Statistics: homosexual teens; homeless homosexual teens; trends
Life of a homeless child or teenager; add these issues
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Progress: for many years, in many cultures, LGBTQ behavior was punishable by death
Situations change over time—but that’s not meaningful to a fourteen year old with a problem
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Teachings of the Bible and the Church re: homosexuality
Who wrote the scripture, who has the right to definitively interpret?
What is the role of the Pope in Church policy?
Issues:
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Several conflicts in child’s/teen’s conscience: unconditional love by mother and father, follow your dreams, make your own decisions, honor thy father and thy mother, obey the laws of the Church, “my roof, my rules,” “just don’t do that in the house,” “you know you can always come home”
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Limited available options: cope, deal, do the best I can under the circumstances; struggle with intolerance; be strong, lean on others (including community members; eventually leave “because anything is better” - personal rights for children; children divorcing parents, etc.
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Conflicted community attitudes: take care of the children; expectation of privacy; possible punishment (make the situation worse); follow Church doctrine so services non-existent.
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Role of individual church members, role of community
Church, religious organizations, friends, community organizations, LGBT community
What is the expectation?: that all Catholics adhere to policy?
Is this typical—that Catholics adhere to policy, or do most people make personal choices?
Are these positions common across many religions, or specific to Catholic religion?
Open Questions:
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A Parent’s Love - Is a loving household a right or a privilege?
Unconditional love for child; compassion, as interpreted by parents and contemporary society
Conversation Pit: Possible Topics
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TV Show: What Would You Do? Father confronts transgender child coming out at Prom[1]
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Old TV ad — Beware of the Homosexual[2]
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Uganda set to pass new anti-gay legislation[3]
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ADD MORE
Notebook Contents
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So your Bible says homosexuality is wrong? The West Wing episode where the President questions only following ONE verse.[4]
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ADD MORE
Examples of Web Assets
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Parent’s rights and responsibilities[5]
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Pope Francis’ comments about gays change tone but not religious doctrine[6]
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20% of Miami teens are kicked out after sharing their secret with their parents[7]
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Carl Siciliano discusses hard realities of life on the streets in NYC for LGBT teens[8]
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Chart comparing views of past and present religions on homosexuality[9]
Scholars, Books, Other Sources
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Carl Siciliano-- Founder and Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center—the nation’s largest and most comprehensive housing program for homeless LGBT youth.
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Scholar - the role and responsibility of the Pope (and senior leadership in other religions)
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Scholar/author - teenagers
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Dr. Jay Michaelson, author, activist, and academic on LGBT issues. Adjunct Professor at Chicago Theological Seminary, Director of the LGBT Global Rights Initiative at the Democracy Council, and a weekly columnist for the Forward and the Daily Beast.
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Scholar/author - homelessness
Creative / Educational Opportunities
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ADD MORE
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtytuVs-Kks
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcy_6anmVUc
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65X1he-IuJ4
[5] http://www.empirestatecoalition.org/main/legal/parents.html
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4z08d-8G1c
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8NyAn9RPJc
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRGXERBKVt8
[9] http://www.religionfacts.com/homosexuality/comparison_chart.htm