Cardinal Timothy Dolan is being called
on to support gay homeless youth.
Earlier this month, Dolan's response to
a homeless shelter in New York City dedicated to gay youth prompted
Joseph Amodeo to resign from the junior board of the city's Catholic
Charities.
On Monday, Amodeo launched a Change.org
campaign calling on Dolan “to support LGBT youth in need.”
Carl Siciliano, who heads the Ali
Forney Center, started the conflict when he sent a letter to Dolan, a
vocal opponent of the state's gay marriage law, in which he stated
that Dolan's “loud and strident voice against the acceptance of
LGBT people” creates “a climate where parents turn on their own
children.”
“As youths find the courage and
integrity to be honest about who they are at younger ages, hundreds
of thousands are being turned out of their homes and forced to
survive alone on the streets by parents who cannot accept having a
gay child,” Siciliano wrote.
Dolan denied the claims in a letter
dated March 28.
“For you to make the allegations and
insinuations you do in your letter based on my adherence to the clear
teachings of the Church is not only unfair and unjust, but
inflammatory,” Dolan wrote in his letter. “Neither I nor anyone
in the Church would ever tolerate hatred of or prejudice towards any
of the Lord's children.”
The action led Amodeo to quit his seat
on the executive committee of the junior board of the New York branch
of Catholic Charities.
“With Vatican insiders and
international media outlets speculating that Cardinal Dolan could
become the first Pope from America, join me today in calling on
Cardinal Dolan and the Archdiocese of New York to meet with leaders
from the LGBT community and homeless LGBT youth,” Amodeo's
petition reads.
“Ask Cardinal Dolan to hear their
stories, and collaborate in responding to the epidemic of LGBT youth
homelessness.”
Amodeo said the petition would be
delivered to Dolan's office on the Feast of the Ascension, Thursday
Mary 17.