Abstract. This article exam the negotiatn of sexual and relig inti among gay and lbian stunts on a Catholic universy mp. We explore
Contents:
- THE POPE’S ‘SHOCKG’ STATEMENT ON GAY MARRIAGE IS G AN UPROAR AMONG CATHOLICS
- WHAT SHOULD A GAY CATHOLIC DO?
- LIVG S? HOW GAY CATHOLICS MANAGE THEIR CONFLICTG SEXUAL AND RELIG INTI
- THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WILL BLS GAY PEOPLE AS LONG AS THEY DON’T GET MARRIED
THE POPE’S ‘SHOCKG’ STATEMENT ON GAY MARRIAGE IS G AN UPROAR AMONG CATHOLICS
When to gays and lbians, the Gospel valu of love, mercy and passn are the buildg blocks of all church teachg. * gay traditional catholic *
(CNS photo/Pl Harg)Sce Buildg a Bridge, a book on misterg to lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Catholics, was published, I have been asked—at Catholic parish, retreat centers, lleg and universi and nferenc—a few qutns that recur over and over. Buildg a Bridge tentnally steered clear of issu of sexual moraly, sce I hoped to foster dialogue by focg on areas of possible monaly; and the church hierarchy and the majory of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Catholics rema far apart on the issu. As an asi, sce the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a pendium of church teachg on var topics, do not addrs bisexual or transgenr persons but rather “homosexual persons, ” I’ll refer here to gay and lbian people to be more teachg at the most basic level is ntaed the Gospels and, even more basilly, the revelatn of the Father’s love J Christ.
In fact, gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr Catholics are probably the most margalized group the church today, and so I believe that Christ lov them wh a special to gays and lbians, then, the Gospel valu of love, mercy and passn are the buildg blocks of all church that end, ’s important to state that the ey of the church simply beg gay or lbian is not a s—ntrary to wispread belief, even among ted Catholics.
WHAT SHOULD A GAY CATHOLIC DO?
Here s a real pastoral qutn to nsir What place nbsp is there for nbsp the gay person the Catholic church nbsp Wh the warng om the archdce of Washgton D C that would pull out of social servic the cy rather than acce to a bill that would afford benefs to same * gay traditional catholic *
As any reputable psychologist or psychiatrists will agree, people do not choose to be born wh any particular sexual when most people ask qutns about “church teachg” they are referrg not to this qutn, but to rtrictns on homosexual, or same-sex, activy as well as the prohibn on same-sex marriage. Consequent to that, the homosexual orientatn self is viewed as an “objective disorr” sce n lead to “disorred” we need to make clear that the phrase “objective disorr” do not refer to the person himself or herself but to the orientatn. )The Catechism of the Catholic Church also stat that gays and lbians n and should approach “Christian perfectn” through chasty, wh such supports as “the virtu of self-mastery that teach them ner eedom, at tim by the support of disterted iendship, by prayer and sacramental grace.
Perhaps mdful of the specialized philosophil and theologil language, the church teach that “every sign of unjt discrimatn” agast gays and lbians (aga, here “homosexual persons”) mt be avoid, and gays and lbians mt be treated wh the virtu of “rpect, passn and sensivy.
LIVG S? HOW GAY CATHOLICS MANAGE THEIR CONFLICTG SEXUAL AND RELIG INTI
A cree released Monday seems to retrench tradnal teachgs after Pope Francis prevly discsed a more progrsive attu toward gay civil unns. * gay traditional catholic *
” In my experience, this is the sectn of the techism’s teachg on homosexualy that is the least known by most the techism, his recent apostolic exhortatn “Amoris Laetia, ” Pope Francis ma three pots related to the issue of homosexualy. That is one reason that ’s important for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people to unrstand the church’s teachg s totaly—the Gospels, the tradn of natural law and s roots Thomistic and Aristotelian reasong, the techism, “Amoris Laetia” and other documents— their sire to bee good Buildg a Bridge mentns, is important for the stutnal church to unrstand the lived experienc of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Catholics. “A distctn is drawn, and seems wh some reason, between homosexuals whose tenncy…is transory or at least not curable; and homosexuals who are fively such bee of some kd of nate stct… In the pastoral field, the homosexuals mt certaly be treated wh unrstandg and staed the hope of overg their personal difficulti and their abily to f to society.
Unlike some other Christian groups at the time (and ntug today, unfortunately), when the Catholic Church regnized that homosexual people were, to borrow a phrase om a morn pop song, “born this way, ” they did not say that a person was sful bee of this part of their personaly.
Third, the Vatin was llg for pastoral re for lbian and gay people, not to “change” them or punish them, but to help them bee more tegrated their personal and social liv, prumably bee of the tense rejectn and ostracizatn that lbian and gay people experienced almost everywhere at the time.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WILL BLS GAY PEOPLE AS LONG AS THEY DON’T GET MARRIED
So, this document opened two new areas of church teachg about gay and lbian people, addg to the tradnal teachg forbiddg sexual activy: affirmatn of the non-sfulns of a homosexual orientatn and a ll to church lears to provi appropriate pastoral re to gay and lbian people. ” (The phrase “new ways” ught the attentn of Sister Jeanne Gramick and Father Robert Nugent who chose to e the phrase to tle the workshops—and eventually the anizatn—they had veloped to foster more sensive pastoral re for lbian and gay people.