Modern
Culture, the Catholic Church and Homosexuality
Culture,
the Catholic Church and Homosexuality
- Where is the Ambivalence?
by Fr. Titus Fulcher
An article recently appeared in the Charleston, South Carolina's Post and Courier Faith and
Values section entitled Gay Catholics Struggle
with Ambivalent Policy. The article states that the Catholic Diocese of
Charleston "laid out an ambivalent opinion" regarding a gay rights
group that recently held a workshop in a local Congregational church. "The
Diocese of Charleston's spokesman ... when asked about why this workshop did
not take place in a local Catholic church ...described its goals as heresy. He
then talked about reaching out to gay Catholics with open arms." The
article raises the question whether the Church is in fact ambivalent in its
views about homosexuality and if not why such a perception may exist. It is
easy to see why the Church's views would appear to be ambivalent. How can the
Church condemn homosexuality and yet claim to 'reach out' to those who consider
themselves homosexual? At best, such a claim seems 'ambivalent;' and at worst,
hypocritical. And if not, then we must ask why modern culture thinks it is.
Why the Catholic Church Condemns Homosexuality. The Church's position is
based in an understanding of God, and an imperative which that understanding
enjoins on believers, that ultimately is neither hypocritical nor ambivalent
(and is certainly not malicious). Catholic anthropology (man's understanding of
his relationship with God) is founded on the revelation that God is Love. (1 Jn
4.8) Every position taken by the Church regarding human life and society has
its origin in this principle. We recognize that life itself is a gift from God
to be treasured and protected. We believe that the universe was created as
good, and that each person on earth is a precious gift of God worthy of respect
and bearing inherent dignity.
A consequence of our belief in God is that we have free will to accept God's
love and to love God, or to reject God's love. (Love that is not free is not
love but slavery.) Sin and death are corruptions of God's creation and are not
willed by God but merely permitted. They exist only as a product of the free
will choice to reject God's love. Rejecting God is rejecting the Author of Life
itself and therefore is the movement and state of sin, the origin of death.
Our Lord's sacrifice on the Cross and triumphant Resurrection overthrows the
power of sin and death and offers us the opportunity to regain the immortality
enjoyed in the beginning in Paradise. Christ invites us to draw closer to the
God who is Love and in so doing restores that image of God within us that makes
us children of God. As we draw closer to God we grow in His likeness and so
receive life ever more abundantly. (Jn 10.10) We come to recognize the beauty
of that life present in creation and the intricacies of its form and order.
Perceiving the order and intricate unity of nature we recognize homosexuality
as sinful in that homosexual behaviors are obviously contrary to the design and
purpose of the human body. This is empirically undeniable. The complementarity
of the sexes manifests a physiological 'fit' that has no parallel in same sex
intercourse, a fact often obscured in public discourse on the topic.
Thus, the Catholic Church teaches that homosexual behavior is inconsistent with
Christian morality and is a grave sin; that same sex attraction is inherently
disordered; that homosexual acts are physiologically harmful to the dignity the
human body; and that the "gay culture" is unacceptable as a
life-style "alternative" for Catholic Christians. Willful homosexual
activity is a gravely disordered violation of the dignity of the human body and
therefore is consequently a rejection of God. It is for this reason that
homosexual activity is condemned by the Church.
Can the Church Reach Out to Homosexuals? This brings us back to the
issue of the perceived 'ambivalence' in the Church teaching on homosexuality.
How can the Church maintain that homosexuality is sinful and yet also 'reach
out' to those who identify themselves as homosexual?
Modern culture believes that we must either "hate sin and hate the
sinner" or "love sin and embrace the sinner." It prefers to
"love the sin" since it conceives opposition to this view as
"hating the sin and hating the sinner." It exalts diversity and
equality of opinion and the supremacy of dialogue; and it believes that
opinions are valid only to the extent that opposing views are admitted to have
equal value. Since committing to objective truth would belie the equal value of
all opinions, standing ground for one's principles is often anathema. No one
must claim to have ultimate truth (Jn 18.38) because truth itself must be
defined as a relative and changeable commodity.
Yet, the Church claims to uphold objective truth about God and this alone has
serious consequences. But the Church also denies the simplistic dichotomy
between loving the sin and the sinner versus hating the sin and the sinner. The
solidarity of all humans as children of God convinces us that no one is beyond
salvation. Reflection on the truth that our love for God has its origin in Him
brings forth within us not only love for God but also a generous love for
"our neighbor." This is so firmly part of the Divine Mystery of God's
Love at work within us that it forms part of the "Two Great
Commandments." (Matt 22.40f)
Thus reflecting on God and following Scripture, we conclude that "God
hates sin but loves the sinner." We recall that with every act of creation
"God saw that it was good." (Gen 1.10, Wis 11.24) We distinguish
between the actions of a sinner on the one hand and the sinner as a child of
God on the other; and consequently, we naturally reach out to everyone as a
brother or sister in Christ. The same belief in God that reveals homosexual
activity to be contrary to the will of God also impels us to love and have
compassion on those who experience same sex attraction.
For the Church to be true to itself and its beliefs, we must reach out to the
sinner, whoever that sinner is and no matter what the sin is. It is not a
matter of obedience or compulsion so much as it is the natural expression of
who we are as children of God. Far from holding an ambivalent or
self-contradictory position towards homosexuality, the Church is both consistent
and generous in proclaiming a Truth that challenges and leads to salvation.
Modern Culture Avoids Engaging the Church in Dialogue. It is clear that
many would prefer for the Church to 'adapt' to prevailing contemporary
standards rather than be true to its own Faith and teachings. For the Catholic
Church to continue to teach the 'hard sayings' of the Gospel provokes a
confrontation with Truth many today would prefer to avoid. It violates the
"I'm OK, You're OK" axiom that has been emblematic of modern secular
life since the 1960's.
The Church's claim to speak the truth implies before all else that there just
might be revealed Truth out there. Truth may have an objective reality that
cannot be altered by public opinion or cultural drift. Our belief is centered
on Jesus Christ who proclaims the Gospel as objectively true. Thus, the Church
offends merely by continuing to proclaim the Gospel and Jesus Christ. That such
a Gospel exists in itself confronts modern culture with a challenge it would
prefer not to consider.
Rather than addressing what the Church actually teaches, contemporary culture
instead commonly characterizes the Church as ignorant or malicious. If it
engages in real dialogue about what the Church actually believes it risks
discovering that its choices, opinions or behavior might be revealed as
immoral, or worse sinful. Such a dialogue might require us to think and perhaps
even change! Yet as GK Chesterton quipped, "The Catholic Church is the
only thing which saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his
own age."
The Post and Courier article includes an example of how culture avoids
discussing what the Church actually teaches. It notes that "slavery,
racism and the discrimination of left-handed people" were "phenomena
once accepted by society and people in the church" but which "changed
over time." Worthy of discussion though they are, introducing slavery,
racism and discrimination into the argument actually deflects attention from
examining the Church's teaching on its own merits. In the end, it is a red
herring that does not address the real issue.
After forty years of the "I'm OK, You're OK" culture, we must
ultimately confess that you and I aren't ok. There is sin and sickness and evil
in the world; and sin does have its wages. The Gospel is a difficult spiritual
path along which we all sometimes stumble. Yet, stumbling does not relieve us
from the responsibility to continue the journey towards our ultimate goal. The
Catholic Faith is founded on and has held fast to the Gospel for two millennia.
Our Lord came, not to make God over in man's image, but to make man (male and
female) to grow in the Image and Likeness of God. There is nothing ambivalent
about it. The real ambivalence is in those who either do not listen clearly to what
the Gospel proclaims or else who don't want to listen. As Chesterton said,
"It is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting but has been
found hard and not tried."