The letter
Pope Francis sent a friendly letter to Fr. James Martin SJ about his ministry to gay Catholics, and now everyone is back to thinking Francis is on the side of LGBTQ+ people. Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case.
In the New York Times: Pope Sends More Mixed Messages on L.G.B.T.Q. Rights
A leader in the Roman Catholic Church’s effort to reach out to L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics revealed on Sunday that Pope Francis had sent him a deeply encouraging note, capping an especially disorienting week on the Vatican’s attitude toward gay rights.
On Tuesday, the Vatican confirmed that it had tried to influence the affairs of the Italian state by expressing grave concerns about legislation currently in Parliament that increases protections for L.G.B.T.Q. people. And days later, the Vatican’s second in command insisted the church had nothing against gay rights, but was protecting itself from leaving the church’s core beliefs open to criminal charges of discrimination ...
It's nice to have hope, but the reality is ...
1) The Catholic church officially teaches that LGBTQ+ people are "objectively disordered" and that "homosexual acts" are "intrinsically disordered" and "acts of grave depravity".
2) Pope Francis has done nothing to change this, and has continuously reiterated his own belief that marriage for gay people is against God's plan, and that the adoption of children by gay couples is bad for kids. See his 2016 Amoris Laetitia in which he writes ... There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family (251).
3) And the Pope and the church continue to lobby against gay people's rights out in the greater world, working to doom mattiage equality, doom the adoption of children by gay couples, and doom married gay people as teachers in Catholic schools.
Still, Pope Francis adopts an "I'm your buddy" attitude towards gay people publically. Why? I don't know if it's that he wants to maintain his popular progressive image, or if it's that he doesn't want to alienate those uber-conservative gay men he hopes will join the priesthood.
Either way, the relationship between the Pope, the church, and gay people has made no concrete progress, though there are the occassional touchy-feely moments. If I was LGBTQ+ myself, that would not be good enough for me.
In the New York Times: Pope Sends More Mixed Messages on L.G.B.T.Q. Rights
A leader in the Roman Catholic Church’s effort to reach out to L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics revealed on Sunday that Pope Francis had sent him a deeply encouraging note, capping an especially disorienting week on the Vatican’s attitude toward gay rights.
On Tuesday, the Vatican confirmed that it had tried to influence the affairs of the Italian state by expressing grave concerns about legislation currently in Parliament that increases protections for L.G.B.T.Q. people. And days later, the Vatican’s second in command insisted the church had nothing against gay rights, but was protecting itself from leaving the church’s core beliefs open to criminal charges of discrimination ...
It's nice to have hope, but the reality is ...
1) The Catholic church officially teaches that LGBTQ+ people are "objectively disordered" and that "homosexual acts" are "intrinsically disordered" and "acts of grave depravity".
2) Pope Francis has done nothing to change this, and has continuously reiterated his own belief that marriage for gay people is against God's plan, and that the adoption of children by gay couples is bad for kids. See his 2016 Amoris Laetitia in which he writes ... There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family (251).
3) And the Pope and the church continue to lobby against gay people's rights out in the greater world, working to doom mattiage equality, doom the adoption of children by gay couples, and doom married gay people as teachers in Catholic schools.
Still, Pope Francis adopts an "I'm your buddy" attitude towards gay people publically. Why? I don't know if it's that he wants to maintain his popular progressive image, or if it's that he doesn't want to alienate those uber-conservative gay men he hopes will join the priesthood.
Either way, the relationship between the Pope, the church, and gay people has made no concrete progress, though there are the occassional touchy-feely moments. If I was LGBTQ+ myself, that would not be good enough for me.
posted by crystal | 12:48 PM
6 Comments:
I was glad that Pope Francis sent an encouraging letter to Father Martin, I thought it was at least a nice gesture. But I guess some people (the usual ones) are losing their minds over it. Apparently they think that the only way to do ministry is to shame and condemn.
I just wish the pope, if he really did care about gay people, would change the church's stance on it. Other churches have done that - the Episcopal church, the Presbyterians, Lutherans, United Church of Christ, etc. It's not like the teachings are based on the clear, relevant, unambiguous words of Jesus. I think the church keeps the teachings because it benefits them in some ways. But I just cringe at thinking of all those children in Catholic schools and at church being told from an early age that gay people and their relationships are bad. No wonder gay Catholics are so grateful that the pope actually says the rare kind word to them ... they learned that stuff too and probably also believe it. I think of someone like Pete Buttigieg and his marriage .... are we really supposed to believe that is "grave depravity"?
It's complicated, apparently. I think they (church leaders) know a change and update is needed, but don't know how to accomplish it. For what it's worth, when I was in Catholic school, I never heard anything said about gay relationships, and really nothing much at all about sex. Of course it was grade school. They didn't say anything about it in public high school either.
I wonder how other churches made the change. One problem with the Catholic church is that the leaders seem to feel it's impossible to admit some past teaching was wrong. Here's a bit from an article on the church's birth control commission back in the 60s, when they were considering changing policy ...
Bishop [Carlo] Colombo, alarmed by what seemed Gracias's defection from the conservative camp, interrupted the cardinal. If the Church backtracks on contraception, he warned his colleagues, they "would endanger the very indefectability of the Church, the teacher of truth in these things" which pertain to pertain to salvation. Wouldn't this mean the gates of hell had in some way prevailed against the Church?"
[Spanish Jesuit Father Marcelino] Zalba could not agree more. "What then," he asked, "with the millions we have sent to hell if these norms were not valid?"
Patty Crowley [a married Catholic from Chicago] could not restrain herself. "Father Zalba," she interjected, "do you really believe God has carried out all your orders?"
- https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Detour:+the+Commission+on+Birth+Control.-a017449459
LOL, I had read that story too, good comeback on the part of Patty Crowley.
At the end of the day, though, the Catholic church is choosing to harm gay people. They lobby and spend millions to support legislation that will restrict LGBTQ rights out in the world. The church teach that gay relationships are bad, that they can't be good parents. The church does this knowing that a majority of Catholics disagree with this, and knowing that the purported basis of their stance is questionable. I've had some gay Catholic acquaintances and most of them have been devastated by this. It's wrong.
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