From: lang@cs.tulane.edu (Raymond Lang)
Subject: Re: Homosexual acts
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Tulane Univ., New Orleans, LA
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 14:15:16 GMT
Nntp-Posting-Host-[nntpd-2265]: hercules


In article <CATHOLIC%93011911252421@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU> Brent Winiger <ABDWINIG@IDBSU.IDBSU.EDU> writes:
>On Tue, 19 Jan 1993 15:28:33 GMT Raymond Lang said:
>>>} The Church is the complete body of Christ's followers, not just a
>>>} relative handful of Vatican officials.  Those officials are promoting
>>>} a teaching on homosexuality which is contrary to the Gospel of Christ.
>>>} Thankfully, a growing number of priests, religious men and women, and
>>>} even Roman Catholic bishops are starting to realize this and are
>>>} quietly teaching that the Vatican's line is just so much hot air.
>
>I'm also curious how you feel about non-monogamous same-sex relationships,
>since from what I've read, these form the vast majority of homosexual activity.
>Did Christ live, suffer and die so that these people would also have the
>freedom not to be yoked to some law? (I don't mean to single out homosexuals,
>just trying to illustrate a point.)

Promiscuous, irresponsible sex of any sort is unhealthy and destructive
spiritually, psychologically, and physically.  As such it represents a
objective evil and is to be avoided, as is any destructive behavior.

However, the Catholic Church has to do more than say "Stop doing that,
it's a sin" to those trapped in these behavior patterns.  In particular,
we must offer to gays a realistic alternative.  The Vatican's current
teaching and policy on homosexuality fails to do this.

In its statements about homosexuality, the Vatican repeatedly equates
same-sex expression with contagious disease and/or harmful acts of
mentally ill people.  Such comparisons are both logically repugnant and
personally offensive to any right-thinking person.  Deliberate spread of
contagious disease and destructive actions of mentally ill people are
obviously harmful to society; same-sex behavior simply is not.  On this
list, I've seen comparisons of homosexuals to sociopaths, alcoholics,
infants born with fetal alcohol syndrome and more.  Homosexuality is no
more a disease than left-handedness; and the sooner the Catholic Church
realizes this, the sooner will she be able to provide effective ministry
to these people and proclaim the Good News of salvation to them, as well
as recognize Christ living and working among them.

In its pastoral directives on homosexuality, the Vatican implicitly
encourages homosexuals to pretend, hide, or deny their sexuality to
avoid problems in society.  They say to gay people, in effect, "anti-gay
violence won't be a problem for you if you stay in the closet."  Not
only does this encourage unhealthy and destructive lifestyles, but it
is, in fact, blaming the victim rather than identifying the cause of
anti-gay prejudice, which is homophobia.

I think it's a great misunderstanding of the charism of celibacy to
insist that a homosexual orientation implies a calling to that state;
but just for the sake of argument, let's look at the only
"Vatican-approved" lifestyle for gays and lesbians.  Celibacy is a
difficult calling and requires for virtually all who choose to answer it
the support and love of a community, yet rare indeed is the religious
order which welcomes candidates who admit they are homosexual.  In fact,
it's more common to have the door slammed shut in your face once the
vocations director finds out you're gay.  The result is that homosexual
men and women who are called to priesthood or religious life are
compelled either to lie to their communities (and, often, to themselves
as well) or else abandon their vocation altogether.  The results of the
former decision are, in the worst cases, the numerous Church-sex
scandals we see, while the latter results in a great loss of talent to a
Church very much in need of vocations.

Instead of providing homosexuals with avenues to follow the only
lifestyle she allows them, Rome promotes and encourages the false notion
that homosexuals are unable to control their sexual appetites and are
erotically attracted to every member of their own sex.  On the one hand,
they tell gays that they're called to be celibate, and yet on the other
Rome actively discourages seminaries and religious orders from accepting
homosexual candidates.  It's really hard to see this and not ask, "What
does the Vatican want them to do?"  In both theory and practice, the
Vatican goes out of its way to make it impossible for a homosexual man
or woman to live any kind of life other than one of truly damaging and
neurosis-prone repression.

But the larger truth that Rome refuses to acknowledge is that a
homosexual orientation is not always accompanied by a call to celibacy.
(Neither is the call to ordained ministry always accompanied by a call
to celibacy, but that's another issue.)  Same-sex unions have every bit
as much potential as heterosexual marriages for Christian growth and
Spirit-filled life.

In general, Rome's teachings are based on misconceptions, unfounded
assumptions, and unproven claims.  Rome claims it is not unjust to take
sexual orientation into account in such areas as adoption, foster care,
employment of teachers and coaches, and military recruitment.  The myths
that underlie these pronouncements are obvious to well-informed people.
It's really sad as well as embarrassing for U.S. Catholics to see their
leadership embracing and promoting these groundless fears.

Happily, more enlightened voices in the Church heirarchy are being
heard.  Ten years ago, the Catholic bishops of the state of Washington
wrote: "A number of Catholics are concerned about the role of
homosexuals in professions which have care of their children.  There are
those who think that gays and lesbians inevitably impart a homosexual
value system to children or that they will molest children.  This is a
prejudice and must be unmasked as such.  There is no evidence that
exposure to homosexuals, of itself, harms a child...Accordingly, there
is no need to make efforts to screen out all homosexually oriented
persons from our educational system."

The Church certainly has a concern to defend and promote family life.
But it simply does not follow that acknowledging the morality of
same-sex unions is in any way harmful or destructive to family life.
Again, the Washington State Catholic Conference has said that speaking
of homosexuality as "a dangerous attack on marital values" distorts
church teaching and causes prejudice against gay and lesbian persons.

What _is_ harmful to family life is the rejection of gay and lesbian
members by parents and families, the pressures on homosexual people to
hide their identity and enter into heterosexual marriages, and the pain
and disruption of divorces which result from such unions.

The Vatican's line is increasingly at variance with that of U.S. bishops
and a large majority of American Catholics.  For example, a May 1992
Gallup poll found that 78% of Catholics (+ or - 4%) support civil rights
for gays in the area of employment.  Yet last summer, the Vatican issued
a letter calling on U.S. bishops, legislators, and conscientious voters
to actively oppose legislation making it illegal to discriminate on the
basis of sexual preference.  This was a very unfortunate development and
serves only to damage further the Vatican's credibility.  The Vatican
made no attempt in the letter to justify denying civil rights to
homosexual persons and not, say, couples who practice artificial
contraception, a practice the Vatican also considers "objectively
disordered."  Their arguments are based on appeals to irrational
prejudices and unfounded stereotypes.  They make no attempt to reconcile
this letter with the call to justice we receive from Christ.

Sexual orientation is a vital part of one's human identity.  This has
already been acknowledged by the Vatican in the 1975 Declaration on
Sexual Ethics.  The Vatican often states that all persons have the right
of not being treated in a manner which offends their personal dignity.
A glimmer of hope can be seen in the new catechism, in which the Church
officially acknowledges (for the first time that I'm aware) that most
homosexuals do not choose their orientation.  What gays and lesbians
would like to see from Rome is for her to carry out the implications of
these teachings. Instead they get attempts to impose an ideology that
is, at best, out of touch with contemporary and firsthand awareness of
the issues surrounding homosexuality.  At worst, the Vatican's line is
used as a justification for hate and violence against gays.  It's time
for it to change.

Slowly, but surely, Catholics are becoming aware that the Vatican's
teachings and policies in this area rob homosexuals of their dignity as
well as of any chance of living a normal, healthy life (yes, it is
_normal_ for homosexuals to enter into same-sex unions).  We are coming
to understand better that Christ's love was directed in a special way
toward marginalized and despised elements of society; and we are
ever-so-slowly coming to realize that the centuries-old prejudices
against homosexuals are simply that: culturally-conditioned prejudices
that our Lord calls us to abandon.

Ray Lang
lang@cs.tulane.edu