Topic: CNSNews.com
A July 15 CNSNews.com article by Michael W. Chapman promotes an apparent threat made by a Catholic bishop in the Dominican Republic against an "openly gay" Obama administration nominee as ambassador to the country:
President Barack Obama’s openly gay ambassadorial nominee to the Dominican Republic, James “Wally” Brewster,” faces strong opposition from the conservative and largely Catholic island nation, where Bishop Pablo Cedano says if Brewster becomes the U.S. ambassador, “he is going to suffer and will have to leave.”
On Monday, Catholic, evangelical, and other opponents in the Dominican Republic organized and took part in what were billed as “Black Monday” protests, whereby participants donned black clothing and set black decorations on cars and buildings to protest the nomination of Brewster, who is a long-time homosexual activist and fundraiser for the Democratic Party and President Obama.
Monsignor Cedano, who is the auxiliary Catholic bishop of Santo Domingo, said in early July that the selection of Brewster showed “a lack of sensitivity, of respect by the United States.” Cedano also, in reference to opposition against Brewster, according to the Associated Press, said, “I hope he does not arrive in the country because I know, if he comes, he is going to suffer and will have to leave.”
Chapman did not make any attempt to explain what Cedano meant by claiming that Brewster "is going to suffer and will have to leave," but it sure sounds like a threat, doesn't it? One gets the feeling that Chapman seems quite OK with that.
Chapman also hid an anti-gay slur voiced by the Dominican Republic's Catholic cardinal. He writes:
Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, the archbishop of Santo Domingo, also expressed disappointment with the nomination of Brewster. As reported first in the Dominican newspaper La Opinion and then the Associated Press, Cardinal Nicolas said, “We don’t have to do anything. It’s the government’s job to accept them [homosexuals]. They’re interested in advancing their agenda, but they have to know there are many people in the world who are against that, both in Christian and non-Christian governments.”
“Ask the Muslim world what they think about that, in addition to Christians and Evangelicals,” said the cardinal.
But the Daily Mail reports that the cardinal has expressed much more than "disappointment": He also referred to Brewster as a "maricón" -- slang for "faggot" or "sissy" -- during a press conference. Chapman made no mention of this in his article.
If Chapman has no problem with a bishop threatening a gay man, why would he get all squemish about an anti-gay slur? Perhaps he's trying to protect the Catholic Church from folks who might look askance at a man of God using such vile language.
