Gays will never enter heaven according to Cardinal Barragan

Jesus said that "many of the first will be last,  and the last will be first":  Meaning,  it was not for us to judge, who would enter heaven or not,  but for Jesus,  who alone is able to penetrate the human heart.  What this man above says is quite UNChristian,  and the reason many young people become atheists.  

 Unchallenged belief systems is a real problem, smk! The indoctrinated mind is blind! Thanks for reading, commenting, and for the recommendation!

You are most welcome,  and yes,  dogma is not open to change,  or to accomodation.  

I think what is disturbing to about this,  is that it is for "The Pastoral Care of Health Care workers"-----so if one is Catholic, and dying of aids, and goes to a Catholic hospice,  one will be told one is barred from heaven.  Very regressive;  a step back into the past,  it would seem............

I think this is just awful

 The cardinal is absolutely right for there is no heaven nor hell. Him and I and all the gay and straight people out there will after death end up in exactly the same place blended back into nature in some form or another.

Have no doubt that SMK is in heaven! HA!

Ah, if heaven existed one may be surprised who is there and who is not.

"Gays will never enter heaven according to Cardinal Barragan"...  Whoever wrote that should be reported.  The Cardinal never said that at all, and the title is misleading.  All he said was that homosexual acts are a sin, and that God will judge them......  It is against the Catholic teachings to say that anyone will go to hell, or is in hell, even if it's Hitler or Bush or anyone.  ..........................  If the Cardinal did actually say what your "headline" says, he would likely be excommunicated from the Catholic Church.........  be careful what you say from now on, you obviously don't know much about Catholicism.

Well if that is the case, then most will be in good company, as Freddie Mercury once said,Who wants to go to heaven, nothing interesting goes on there! I prefer hell.

Thanks everyone for reading, great comments:) and the recs! As I said at the beginning, IMO, this is absurd!:) And, I am being polite:)

I'd like to know what his views are on those priests who have been removed from the priesthood for their predatory behavior of altar boys. Are they automatically damned to Hell? It seems to me that one of the reasons why the Catholic Church did little to deal with these priests or alternatively turned their heads and looked the other way is because the Church also subscribes to concepts of forgiveness. Where does that factor into this?

He-he-he......religious posts are a sure way to get lots of comments/reactions around here (just like the centuries past when people debate or just kill each other). If this doesn't show man is a spirit and long after spiritual things, nothing does.

Just to throw in my dice, the Bishop/Cardinal basically stated what the Bible teaches about homosexualism. Nothing wrong with being open with your convictions. No need to crucify him on that. You don't like it, just block your ears (or close your eyes). Ahhh....you feel better now, don't you?

So God has the right to judge people? I guess I am a little confused by this since the bible says that no one should judge anyone. Everyone has the right to be themselves and you can not judge a person for being themselves. Homosexuals have the right to be treated like anyone else. A gay person's life does not revolve around their sexuality. He has no right to say that a gay man or woman are not allowed to walk the streets of heaven.

If old idiots like this cardinal will go to heaven, i'll gladly go to hell......rom

Just the sort of stuff that I expect from a catholic priest, it's the sort of statement that restores my faith in good, old-fashioned stoneage ideals.

Thank you for this RJM, a confirmation of my beliefs - that my tolerance is better than the bandwagon the zealots will leap on.

Who the hell do these catholic abominations think they are.When the catholic church is destroyed it will be a better world.I'm certainly not gay but this religious shit has got to go.They still have not apologized for the inquisition and they should all die for it...

This is the Cardinal's opinion~the right to an opinion is a given. Paul's epistle is not Law, it is another opinion. One that was appropriate,( as he saw) for the 'era' and practicality of the time and situation. He observed a a detriment to the development and advancement of a community he wrote about it. Perhaps combining historical writings about that specific community, and combining it with Paul's epistle will enlighten all of us.  As with Moses (change agent) in the desert ~cultural change was for the time and it took a few generations to 'meld' the Israelites into a community of solid citizens with values and skills that were of value.

I am gay. I was raised in a wonderful Mormon family. I was treated with love and respect my whole life, and was taught good family values. My parents were always there, never beat me, or abused me, or sexually abused me either. There was nothing in my upbringing that lead to me being homosexual. We went to church every sunday, I went to sunday school every weekday morning. I was baptised in the Mormon church at 8, From the time of my understanding anything about sexuality or boy/girl differences, I knew that I didn't like girls "that way". Kissing girls, touching girls, or hearing about anything to do with girls seemed, "un-natural" to me. I did not partake in the usual guy (sexist) conversations about girls. I respected opposite-sex unions as a fact of life and did not feel any different about my own sexuality... ... until I was told by MAN, that it is wrong. Man reads scriptures through tainted glasses called "Prejudice" and we read into the Bible what we want it to say to make ourselves feel better. Its no different than gays reading the Bible to say that it accepts homosexuality. Anyone can read anything into the Bible. Thankfully, we will be judged by God, and not by Men. You can make gay people's lives miserable in this world by oppressing them all you want, but in the end, it will not change anything but perhaps your own judgement, for having been a bigot and having oppressed many of God's children and having harbored evil thoughts against them.  

Cardinal Barragan Said "Homosexuals and Transsexuals will not go to heaven." "One is not born a homosexual. One becomes a homosexual. It is for various reasons, such as education, or for not developing one's own proper identity in adolescence; perhaps they are themselves not responsible, but acting against the dignity of the human body, certainly they will not enter Heaven. All that goes against nature and against the dignity of the human body offends God." Obviously, Cardinal Bigot hasn't read the Holy Bible for all that's in it.  His comment lets me know for sure that this oddball doesn't know what's really in the Holy Bible.  Let's refer to Matthew 19:1-12. matthew 19:1-12 1When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.     3Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"     4"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."     7"Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"     8Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."     10The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry."     11Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it." Isaiah 56:3-5 (3) Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely separate me from his people"; and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." (4) For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, (5) I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Cardinal Barragan needs to read it and weep. "For some are eunuchs because they were born that way;"  Hmm.  I can only wonder what that means.  The word "eunuch" could mean many other things, besides a castrated person and a celibate person who has no sexual interest in women.  I suggest you do some research, especially if you've been offended about Cardinal Barragan's heresies.  Last time I heard, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is what determines if you go to heaven.  Neither Homosexuality, Transsexuality, nor identity determines if you are a Christian!  If you ask me, people aren't perfect.  Since the fall of Adam and Eve to sin, there has been abnormalities and birth defects throughout history to this day.  That includes Gender Identity Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Hermaphroditism, etc.  God knew this would happen. He's not focusing on outward appearance, He's looking at your heart.  We are justified by Jesus Christ, not by sexual identity or sexual orientation, and if this Cardinal fool believes Jesus Christ will turn away someone because of their inborn traits, then "NO HEAVEN FOR CARDINAL BARRAGAN.". I'll mince 1 Corinthians 6:9 in a later comment.

My goodness Bruce, you sure know how to give someone a verbal blugeoning!  Anyway, I'm heterosexual and I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior August 17, 2008.  I also have Autism Spectrum Disorder, and most severe, Gender Identity Disorder.  It's more of a late onset; I progressively started wanted to be seen and accepted as a female since I was 15.  I'm 20 now, and this gender issue came to the surface in November 2009.  I've been praying to God to lead me in the right path, and to speak to me.  I'm seeing a counselor for depression (has been treated thanks to Citalopram) and have been talking to her about my gender dysphoria.  I'm definitely seeking a sex change, with finances being the primary obstacle.  Let's get to brass tacks now! I didn't feel like spending hours making up a huge comment on this, so I just decided to copy and paste this article from "Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook" 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:8-10 Two Indeterminate Texts By Fr. Daniel Helminiak, Dignity/Houston BBS The meaning of these texts, said to exclude homosexual people from the Kingdom of God, hinges on the meaning of two Greek Terms, `malakoi' and `arsenokotai.' Throughout history these terms have been translated variably (masturbatory, practicers of heterosexual anal sex, sodomites, catamites and the like). Suggested translations today still vary (morally loose, masturbators who waste their property, boys and their pederast partners, temple prostitutes serving men and women, gold-digging gay hustlers who pursue the elderly). No one really knows what these terms mean. There is no good reason to suppose they apply to consensual, respectful, homosexual acts per se, especially since such an interpretation would be in conflict with all the rest of the Bible. I CORINTHIANS 6:9-10 and I TIMOTHY 1:10 by Bill Sklar <86730@LAWRENCE.BITNET> "References on Homosexuality and the Bible" I CORINTHIANS 6:9-10 reads: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate [malakoi], nor homosexual offenders [arsenokoites], nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. I placed two words in brackets. The first one, "malakoi", Scroggs (p. 14) says "literally means 'soft' and is no technical term for a homosexual." It apparently refers to young boys who would take the "recepient" position in anal sex, often for money. It's also translated in some Bibles as "morally weak". "Aresenokoitai", on the other hand, is clearly a sexual term but, according to Scroggs: Since... the New Testament occurrences are the earliest appearances of the word, it is not easy for us to be sure what it means. John Boswell in his recent study denies that it refers to a homosexual person in general but rather specifically to the male prostitute who could serve heterosexual or homosexual clients. At any rate, the sin is prostitution, not homosexuality in itself. (p. 14) These words are the words used both in Corinthians and in I Timothy 1:10 which are commonly translated into modern bibles as "homosexual", "effeminate," and "self-indulgent." In these enlightened times, however,there is no indication that such terms are in any way connected to homosexuality in itself. In fact, according to Is the Homosexual my Neighbor by Letha Scanzoni and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott: the idea of a lifelong homosexual orientation or "condition" is never mentioned in the Bible... Bible writers assumed that everyone was heterosexual and that in times of moral decay, some heterosexuals peopled did some strange and unnatural things with each other. Since the Bible is silent about the homosexual condition, those who want to understand it must rely on the findings of modern behavorial science research... (p. 71) In summary, despite common interpretations of the words "malakoi" and "aresenokoitai" in modern times, there is no clear evidence which links them unquestionably to homosexuality in itself. Instead, in every case in which they are used, there is an implied connection with either prostitution or child molestation. Modern research shows us, however, that such connections are fallacious. There is no research which clearly demonstrates that there is any correlation between homosexuality and the "sins" referenced alongside it in Corinthians and Timothy. Lexicography and St Paul by James Alan Hall s883334@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au "Biblical arguments and homosexuality" (most of argument, and some text, taken from chapter four of John Boswell Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, confirmed by Hall in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible) I Corinthians 6:9-10 reads, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." "Effeminate" is a poor translation of the Greek word "malakos" which means "soft". The word is not translated as "effeminate" anywhere else in the Bible. It is the same word that is translated as "soft" in Matthew 11:8 ("But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses"; similarly Luke 7:25). In a moral sense, "malakos" just means "licentious"; Aristotle in the _Nicomachean Ethics_ (7.4.4) says specifically that "malakos" refers to unrestraint in respect to bodily pleasures. The translation as "effeminate" seems awfully gratuitous. "Abuser of himself with mankind" is a translation of the Greek word "arsenokoites"; this word has changed meaning several times over the centuries, so it's perhaps understandable how it got translated as it did; but in Paul's time, and in fact until well into the fourth century, it seems to have simply meant a temple prostitute. (Corroborating this indirectly is the fact that a great deal of contemporary homoerotic Greek writing has survived and not once in any of it does the word "arsenokoites" appear.) I Timothy 1:10 refers to "them that defile themselves with mankind"; this is a translation of the same Greek word "arsenokoites" as appears in I Corinthians. from WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY by Wilfrid R. Koponen, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.A.R., M.A.) 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10. The key words are translated differently in different versions: from 1 Cor.: "catamites, sodomites" (Moffat); "effeminate, homosexuals" (ASV); "homosexual perversion: (New English Bible); "Male prostitutes, homosexual offenders" (New International Version) etc.; 1 Timothy is also variously translated. However, there was no noun in Greek for homosexual; apparently the translations condemning homosexuals are inaccurate. The Greek words suggest not "homosexual" but "effeminate" or "morally weak or soft" or "cowardly." P.S.             About homosexuals and transsexuals "not being born that way".  I believe some are born that way, and some are not.  Only them and Jehovah God can really know that.  Also, as far as damaging the dignity of the body, God isn't nearly as concerned about the dignity of the body as he is about your heart and your relationship with Him, through Jesus Christ.  Also, who is he to say that homosexual/transsexual people did not develop their own proper identity during adolescence?  He doesn't know a thing about people's "proper identity".  That's God's job to determine people's proper identity.  Cardinal Barragan, what a crock!