No place for bigotry against gay people in Catholic Church, says Sydney’s new Archbishop

No place for bigotry against gay people in Catholic Church, says Sydney’s new Archbishop
Image: Archbishop Anthony Fisher (Source: Parramatta Catholic Diocese website)

SYDNEY’S next top Catholic has told the Star Observer he will not stand for homophobia in the church, but he stopped short of distancing himself from comments made two years ago when he said same sex marriage would lead to polygamy.

Former Parramatta Bishop Anthony Fisher (pictured above) will be sworn in as the new Archbishop of Sydney in November, replacing George Pell who has taken up the post of the Vatican’s finance secretary.

Pell had little positive to say on LGBTI issues and, on a 2011 episode of ABC’s Q&A, compared homosexuality to the “flaw” in a carpet maker’s otherwise perfect carpet.

His successor, who was raised in the south west Sydney suburb of Lakemba and worked for a time as a lawyer, has previously rallied against marriage equality.

In a speech to the St Thomas More Forum in 2012, Fisher acknowledged gay couples could love one another as much as straight couples.

However, he said anything other than heterosexual marriage, in order to bring up children, would inevitably lead to polygamy and even parents marrying their offspring.

“If marriage is just about feelings and promises, it obviously can’t be limited to a man and a woman: two men or two women might love each other. But on the same logic so might more than two,” he said.

“If polygamy is irresistible on the ‘all that matters is that they love each other’ line, so is marriage between siblings or between a parents and their (adult) child.”

In the same speech, Fisher also said that Christian schools would face “enormous pressures” to teach children “that [same sex marriages] are the equal of real marriages and thus that homosexual acts are the equal of conjugal ones”.

The Archbishop-elect, who will oversee Australia’s largest Catholic diocese, struck a more conciliatory tone with the Star Observer.

“I look forward to leading the church in Sydney and serving all Sydneysiders in the years to come,” he said.

“As a “Sydney boy” who has lived and worked all over this great city, and as leader of the world’s most multinational institution, I value the wide variety of backgrounds of Sydney’s people. It’s part of our rich culture and one of our great strengths.”

Fisher added that he would not tolerate discrimination: “The Catholic Church teaches that God is love and that all He has created is good, God loves everyone and there is no place for hatred and bigotry in His Church towards people with same sex attraction.”

However, he declined to say whether his previously-reported views on same sex marriage remained current.

Nevertheless, Catholic Church insiders have said Fisher’s approach is likely to be less hardline than his predecessor and more in step with Pope Francis.

In a recent interview with Fairfax Media, Fisher said he and Pell were “different personalities” and he would bring change and “a slightly more contemplative posture” to the role.

Earlier this year, Pope Francis seemed to suggest same sex unions had some validity.

“One needs to see the different cases and evaluate them in their variety,” he told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Former parish priest and member of Inclusive Catholics, Greg Reynolds, said conservatives stacked the ranks of Australian bishops.

“The old guard still have significant influence and they tend to be very loyal to the official teachings and the institution as opposed to loyalty to the spirit of Jesus,” he said.

“Only time will tell if a different breed of bishops will emerge as new men are appointed.”

Still battling to overcome the scandal of child abuse in the church, Reynolds said the Australian hierarchy remained “fairly quiet about gay issues”.

However, any crackdown on gay priests could backfire, Reynolds said, as they were “over-represented among the clergy” and could lead to a lack of candidates for vocation.

(Main image credit: Parramatta Catholic Diocese website)

You May Also Like

13 responses to “No place for bigotry against gay people in Catholic Church, says Sydney’s new Archbishop”

  1. I am a spiritual person but I can never believe any Catholic figure when they start talking about LGBT tolerance in any form. I believe they do this to simply score brownie points with the masses or to make Catholicism appear to be “for the people” – Catholics know they are not popular in modern times, their numbers are decreasing so this is all a ploy to soften Catholicism’s tarnished reputation. You know allot from someone’s eyes and smile and well… This guy just creeps me out.

  2. Let us not forget that during World Youth Day in 2008 in Sydney, Anthony Fisher shut down the gay-affirming Acceptance, Jesuit, & Marist forums attempting to address GLBTIQ youth at World Youth Day. Let us also remember that in 2012, Anthony Fisher was principal celebrant at the “Courage” Conference which invited speakers from now-defunct & disgraced group Exodus International to speak to leaders of “Same-sex attracted Catholics” ministry across the Oceania region. See Pages 13 & 22 in http://www.parra.catholic.org.au/catholicoutlook/_resources/download-catholic-outlook-september-2012-in-pdf-format.pdf

  3. I am 100% glad to be an atheist, because I am sick and tired of Catholics using the usual line of “love the sinner, hate the sin”!

    Hey Catholics, gay people are EVERYWHERE, build a bridge and get over it!

  4. First of all, good riddance to that spiteful, hateful Pell, the incessant anti-gay lobbying and needless suffering he caused to innocent gay people are blood on his hands and a taint to his soul.
    Secondly, the RC church is in crisis, and its days are numbered unless it corrects its totally stupid and ignorant doctrine about homosexuality, abortion, contraception and women’s equality.

  5. Saying that homosexual acts are very sinful is NOT bigotry. Using the “logic” of pro-homosexual “marriage” folks, marriage should be allowed for polygamists, beast marriages, etc. Or are you “bigoted” against polygamists, etc. ? I love my homosexual brothers and sisters so much that I don’t want them to die from AIDS, STDs or go to hell. Ever wonder why their life span is shorter than heterosexuals, especially married heterosexuals ? And yes, I am a sinner, but that doesn’t mean I can’t correct my brothers. We should welcome our repentant homosexual brothers and sisters. But they should repent and so should I.

  6. Isn’t it strange that despite the claim of the omnipotence of God, it would seem that God is such a laggard, taking his cues from mere humans.

    How many of us already knew long ago what this Catholic diocese is only now learning?

  7. Dear Archbishop,
    The teachings of Jesus and his Apostles are more important than worldly attitudes and actions and of what the world thinks about us. Jesus wants us to be in the world but not of this world.
    Far too many priests – paedophiles and homosexuals – have done much damage to our people and also to the Lord’s Church.
    The fate (eternal) of many souls is in your hands. Please do not let them be lost by compromising the life-giving teachings of the Lord. What does it profit a man who ….

  8. The argument against marriage is now limited to the location only. It hardly matters what this arch-Bishop Anthony Fischer does now as he is talking to echoes in a big empty church. Like many people, I cannot take seriously a church that abused orphans, and even killed some, let alone the disgraceful comments it has made about my family and that of my friends. If the church wants to ramble to echoes, we live in a free society and I wish it well.