The Recovering Choir Director

People have been posting elsewhere about Bill Stein, the choir director fired from Holy Family Catholic Church for not renouncing his active (read: unchaste) homosexuality. (Read story.) I’ll cast my lot.

Church leadership told him he could keep the full-time choir job he had held for five years if he took a vow of chastity, Stein said. But for him, the vow would be a lie, something he could not do as a Christian.

Notwithstanding the fact that the life being lived is a lie. The answer for both is sacramental Confession and much prayer. When one falls and can’t get up, one gets help. That help is the Lord who made us, taught us how to pray, and gave us the Sacraments for our spiritual and moral fortitude.

“When they asked me to make that promise, with all my dignity as a child of God, I could not do that,” he said. “I was fired from a position that I truly loved.”

To me, this statement screams out “despair borne of prideful attachment”. As one who has experienced something close to this, it’s not fun.

Parish officials referred calls to the Diocese of Rockford. Diocesan officials declined to comment on Stein’s dismissal.

But generally, said diocesan spokeswoman Penny Wiegert, the church does not condemn homosexuals, just homosexual behavior. Wiegert said a person working for the church is supposed to be a model for other Catholics.

This statement is significant and one that the enemies of Holy Church—both outside her walls and within them—have loathed for a long time. Not only because it’s true, but also because we, her members, have not lived up to this truth due to, among other things, muddy catechesis and our own human action or inaction.

Lord, have mercy on our hypocrisy as we present Your Truth that exposes it. May You grant all of us the grace to repent and follow the Truth faithfully.

For another take on this story, see these two posts on Touchstone Magazine’s blog. [ I | II ]