Gay sat John Henry Newman and his "earthly light" Ambrose St. John shared romantic iendship

Contents:

• WHY JOHN HENRY NEWMAN IS NO ‘GAY’ SAT
• THE QUTN IS NOT “WAS CARDAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN GAY?” BUT “WAS HE STRAIGHT?”
• ST. JOHN HENRY NEWMAN: THE FIRST OPENLY GAY CATHOLIC SAT?
• IS JIM NEWMAN GAY?
• PRO-LGBT PRIT FR. MART SUGGTS JOHN HENRY NEWMAN ‘MAY HAVE BEEN GAY’
• WAS CARDAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN GAY?
• LEADG BGRAPHER MAK CLEAR: NEWMAN WAS NEHER GAY NOR A DISSENTER
• GAY SAT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN AND HIS “EARTHLY LIGHT” AMBROSE ST. JOHN SHARED ROMANTIC IENDSHIP

WHY JOHN HENRY NEWMAN IS NO ‘GAY’ SAT

Believ that John Henry Newman may nstute a mol of hols for those wh homosexual clatns.

While he draws back om ncludg that Newman was certaly “gay, ” he wants to proclaim the msage that “a gay person (someone wh a homosexual orientatn, if you prefer) n be holy, even a sat. As many have poted out, the evince that Newman experienced homoerotic sir for his close iend Fr.

THE QUTN IS NOT “WAS CARDAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN GAY?” BUT “WAS HE STRAIGHT?”

Mart is rrect his assertn that someone experiencg homosexual orientatn n live a life of hols. It relat to the married as much as to the unmarried, to the heterosexually cled as much as to those experiencg homosexual clatns.

In the imaged scenar where Newman experienced homoerotic sir for Fr.

Mart believ that Newman might have been “gay” but never broke his promise of celibacy. John Henry Newman uld not have been a “gay” sat and have lived wh Fr. Had he been a sat and “gay, ” Newman would have, at the first klgs of homoerotic sire, promptly removed himself om temptatn’s way.

ST. JOHN HENRY NEWMAN: THE FIRST OPENLY GAY CATHOLIC SAT?

Those wh homosexual clatns n ed lead liv of profound and exemplary hols. John Henry Newman, an English prit, theologian, poet, and scholar, who many also nsir to be a gay man. Earlier this year on Febary 26, 2021, Universy College Dubl, which Newman found, hosted a discsn on that very qutn: Was Cardal Newman gay?

To fd an answer to the qutn “Was Cardal Newman gay? ” I don’t mean to say this a flippant way, but simply to pot out that the way the qutn has been amed impli that a gay inty is the exceptn to the cleril le.

Although there are no statistics available, my experience—and that of many Catholics–tells me that the large majory of Catholic prits are gay, and that a heterosexual orientatn is the exceptn to the le. This should not be a surprise as the Catholic prithood is a very attractive life for gay men, and has been for centuri. Many who would agree wh this claim do so bee they thk that gay men “hi” the prithood.

IS JIM NEWMAN GAY?

Sce marriage is not an optn for Roman Catholic clergy, the prithood offers a place where gay men n live peaceably whout nstant societal and fay prsur to marry a woman. But this view on the ll to prithood om a negative perspective, lookg at as an pe, rather than as somethg which has s own particular appeals to gay sensibily.

A mon pattern among many gay Catholic prits today is that many entered the cleril system hontly not knowg how to name their feelgs. Most had no rmatn on homosexualy or gay men available to them eher om the church or the public realm. And so, when I meet a Catholic prit, my flt prumptn (not assumptn) is that he is gay.

PRO-LGBT PRIT FR. MART SUGGTS JOHN HENRY NEWMAN ‘MAY HAVE BEEN GAY’

But of urse, there is also more posive evince for thkg of Newman as gay, and that is material om his wrgs that scribe the tense emotnal relatnship that he had wh another prit, Ambrose St. Ian Ker, one of the foremost Newman scholars, claims that Newman was not gay bee he was exprsively affectnate relatnships wh both men and women. The l of Newman’s brg to another important qutn about whether or not Newman was gay, and that’s the fn of the word “gay” self.

Ian Ker and many tradnalists who have balked at the ia of a gay Cardal Newman assert that sce there is good evince that Newman was celibate he uldn’t be gay.

WAS CARDAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN GAY?

That assertn is based on the erroneo unrstandg that if someone is known as gay, impli that the person is sexually active—and oftentim thought of as promiscuoly so. So, acrdg to the crics, to say that Cardal Newman was gay would mean that he was a sexually active man, and perhaps was wanton his behavr.

This assumptn is an sult to gay people.

LEADG BGRAPHER MAK CLEAR: NEWMAN WAS NEHER GAY NOR A DISSENTER

The assumptn ignor the fact that not all gay people engage sexual activy.

It is amazgly ordary that two gay men n have a strong affectnate and timate relatnship wh each other whout beg sexually active. Such is the se of many, many gay men the prithood today who mata ep and lovg relatnships wh other men while matag their promis and vows of celibacy. It is also te of many gay lay men who experience love wh other people, or perhaps one special person, while by choice or circumstance are not sexually timate wh the other.

That don’t make them ls gay. We mt also remember that Newman’s time, the ncept of a gay sexual orientatn had not yet been intified by science. It wasn’t until very late the 19th century (Newman died 1890) that scientists even began discsg the ia that some people were nstutnally homosexual (and not until the mid-20th century did scientists regnize that homosexualy was not a psychologil disorr).

GAY SAT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN AND HIS “EARTHLY LIGHT” AMBROSE ST. JOHN SHARED ROMANTIC IENDSHIP

Before the advanc, the assumptn was that everyone was nstuted heterosexually and that some people chose to behave homosexually—agast their prumed natural state. So Newman would not even have unrstood the term gay or homosexual. And most likely, sce he was probably very dited to celibacy, he would not have thought of himself as gay or as St.

John as a gay loved one. Unrlyg all the negative arguments about Newman’s inty is a fear of homosexualy and of love between men.