It shouldn't seem so surprisg when the pope says beg gay 'isn't a crime' – a Catholic theologian explas

Contents:

• WHAT SHOULD A GAY CATHOLIC DO?
• LIVG S? HOW GAY CATHOLICS MANAGE THEIR CONFLICTG SEXUAL AND RELIG INTI
• GAY AND CATHOLIC - ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH
• CAN CATHOLICS “PRAY AWAY THE GAY?”

WHAT SHOULD A GAY CATHOLIC DO?

In the wake of Pope Francis’ recent ment about same-sex civil unns, Pew Rearch Center nducted this analysis to better unrstand what Catholics around the world thk about legal regnn for same-sex upl and homosexualy general. The term “homosexualy, ” while sometim nsired anachronistic the current era, is the most applible and easily translatable term to e when askg this qutn across societi and languag and has been ed other cross-natnal studi, cludg the World Valu Survey.

The Roman Catholic Church, the largt Christian nomatn the Uned Stat wh an timated 62 ln members, has weled celibate gay and lbian people to s church life but creasgly is beg more tolerant even of this populatn. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, a text which ntas dogmas and teachgs of the Church, nam “homosexual acts” as “trsilly immoral and ntrary to the natural law, ” and nam “homosexual tennci” as “objectively disorred. The 1986 Letter stat, “Although the particular clatn of the homosexual person is not a s, is a more or ls strong tenncy orred toward an trsic moral evil; and th the clatn self mt be seen as an objective disorr.

A 2005 Vatin document, approved by then Pope Benedict XVI, stcted that the Church “nnot adm to the semary or to holy orrs those who practice homosexualy, prent ep-seated homosexual tennci or support the so-lled ‘gay culture. 1977: New Ways Mistry is found by School Sister of Notre Dame Jeanne Gramick and Salvatorian Father Robert Nugent rponse to Brooklyn Bishop Francis Mugavero’s vatn to reach out “new ways” to lbian and gay Catholics. 1986: The Vatin Congregatn for the Doctre of the Fah issu “A Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, ” which stated that “although the particular clatn of the homosexual person is not a s, is a more or ls strong tenncy orred toward an trsic moral evil; and th the clatn self mt be seen as an objective disorr.

LIVG S? HOW GAY CATHOLICS MANAGE THEIR CONFLICTG SEXUAL AND RELIG INTI

1992: A Gallup survey for DignyUSA shows that 78 percent of Catholics are favor of gay/lbian civil rights, and 46 percent agree that “sexual relatns between gay or lbian persons a mted relatnship uld be morally acceptable. 1999: The Congregatn for the Doctre of the Fah issu a notifitn statg that the founrs of New Ways Mistry, School Sister of Notre Dame Jeanne Gramick and Salvatorian Father Robert Nugent, “are permanently prohibed om any pastoral work volvg homosexual persons. 2000: At Lent, Cardal Roger Mahony issu an apology to those that he or the Roman Catholic Church may have offend, cludg: “I ask pardon of our Catholic homosexual and lbian members when the church has appeared to be non-supportive of their stggl or of fallg to homophobia.

2016: Congregatn for the Clergy rtat guil on admtg gay prits, sayg: “The Church, while profoundly rpectg the persons qutn, nnot adm to the semary or to holy orrs those who practice homosexualy, prent ep-seated homosexual tennci or support the so-lled ‘gay culture’.

C., that would pull out of social servic the cy rather than acce to a bill that would afford benefs to same-sex spo, a qutn, too long neglected, aris for the whole church: What is a gay Catholic supposed to do life? A gay layman I know who serv an important role a dce (and even wr some of his bishop's statements on social jtice) has a solid theologil tn and sir to serve the church, but fds impossible to be open the face of the bishop's repeated disparagg remarks about gays. They ed a number of strategi to rencile nflictg inti, cludg limg their relig volvement, qutng terpretatn of the doctre, unrmg prits’ thory, tryg to reject homosexual attractn, puttg tst God’s plan, g profsnal help, and seekg acceptance om clergy.

GAY AND CATHOLIC - ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH

Keywords: Gay, Catholic, Spirualy, Relign, Sexual orientatn, IntyIntroductnSexual inty often exists a dynamic teractn wh other self-imag such as cultural background (ethnic and/or relig), which requir that dividuals manage multiple inti (Stevens, 2004). O’Brien (2004) ed the term “double stigma” to scribe the experience of gay Christians who felt addnally rejected by other gays for beg openly relig, bee the LGBT environment remas cril and dismissive of Christiany. Another study by Mark (2008) showed that some gay Orthodox Jews seek sexual nversn therapi bee they feel great prsure to nform to munal norms, and experience tense guilt and betrayal if they fail to fulfill them.

Exampl of that n be found studi on lbian Christians (Mahaffy, 1996), Mlim gay Iranians the UK (Taylor & Snowdon, 2014), or Canadian gay Jews (Schnoor, 2006) is, however, ltle rmatn on how people perceive the sts of reprsg eher spirual or sexual parts of their inty, what psychologil mechanisms they e to rce rultg tra-psychic tensn, and how this affects their well-beg. For stance, gay Jews the study of Coyle and Rafal (2001), preferred not to disclose their sexual inty wh their Jewish muny and, like muters discsed by Brekh (2003), often avoid discsg relatnships or sexualy-related issu, and kept a very low profile.

CAN CATHOLICS “PRAY AWAY THE GAY?”

Participants this rearch scribed their relig socializatn and s impact on how they experienced their homosexualy, experienced tra-psychic nflicts and attempts to rolve first thor (IP) is non-Christian and, spe livg Poland, did not have a Catholic upbrgg. Participants perceived the topic of the study extremely meangful and were very willg to share their to meetg dividual participants, an terview gui was created wh areas to be discsed wh every participant and sample open-end qutns and prompts to explore their experienc of growg up a relig fay, disverg their sexualy, and meang attributed to homosexualy wh reference to their fah. Of participants wh themeTheme 1: Growg fah8Theme 2: Disverg one’s homosexualy8Theme 3: Experiencg a nflict Spirual dilemmas8 Fear of disappotg fay7 Anticipatg rejectn by the muny8Theme 4: Seekg peace Rcg relig volvement5 Qutng the terpretatn of the doctre4 Unrmg prits’ thory6 Tryg to reject homosexual attractn3 Puttg tst God’s plan6 Usg profsnal help5 Seekg acceptance om clergy6Theme 5: Comg-out a Catholic fay8Theme 6: Bearg the s5Theme 1: Growg FahAll participants scribed their relig socializatn at home, school, and the Church great tail.

Rak and Arthur served as church mistrants and participated relig youth anizatns, tryg to embody their fah everyday life and follow Catholic prcipl distguishg what was right, moral, or sacred, and what was immoral or 2: Disverg One’s HomosexualyAll participants said that acknowledgg their attractn to same-sex was challengg and even challengg to their self-image. Borys relled startg to “disver somethg himself” but uld not unrstand why he was different om his classmat, and searched rmatn about homosexualy on the Inter to faiarize himself wh the topic and unrstand his own talked about boobs and ass all the time.