You are absolutely right; in fact, that was the message of this evenings mass at the USCCB. We were reminded that Jesus sought out the sinners whereas the sick were brought to him. On one occasion, a sick man asked to be cured, at which Jesus responded: "Your sins are forgiven." Afterwards, he cured him.
Would that such a program be established in the gay community with an expected outcome of abstinence along with a return to the church and its sacraments. Unfortunately, with the exception of Dignity, most of these diocesan programs are self serving. Take for example the Rainbow Sash movement, born in the Rochester diocese. Like the Cleveland program, it began with a positive intention but has now been caught up in the "homosexual agenda".
Members of the international Rainbow Sash Movement wear the sashes while seeking to receive Holy Communion. In some cases, they have been denied communion.
Joe Murray, a Chicago resident who is national spokesperson and U.S. convener for the RSM, said sash-wearers believe the "gift of sexuality is just that, it is a sacred gift. How we individually express that gift is up to the individual and their conscience," he said.
Murray, who has been with his lover 22 years and considers himself a practicing Catholic, acknowledged that church teaching maintains that any sex outside of heterosexual marriage is sinful.
"We want to see that teaching developed," he said, "so gay sex within a loving union would be permissible."
Nevertheless, Murray asserted, "our issue is not sexual activity per se." It is church conservatives, he said, who "can only look at an openly gay person in sexual terms."
"We’re proclaiming our orientation," he said. "We do have people who are lovers, we do have people who are celibate."
Last Nov. 13, a group of sash-wearers showed up for Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington during the annual meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. When the group sought to receive communion, they were turned away.
Sister Maryann Walsh, speaking for the bishops, said the sash-wearers were rejected for communion because "they were using the occasion to express public disagreement with the teaching of the church" on homosexuality.
The decision was made, she said, by Cardinal James Hickey, head of the Archdiocese of Washington.