LGBTQ: Gifts from God

Dear sir, I'm online.

And as I was reading your post, I could not help to remember a great friend and a great human being that was one of the first gay persons to be infected with HIV. Then, in the early 80s, he faced all kind of discrimination. You can not imagine how was painful to someone who faced an unknown and unpredictable disease hearing bishops claiming that it was "God's punishment". He lost his job, because his coleagues didn't want to have any kind of contact with him. As he grew thinner, people avoided him, even some close friends. But, somehow, he found the strenght to keep helping people, and to achieve his dream: to study Biology. He graduated just before he died, when he was already skin and bones.

His via crucis lasted 15 years. But, at the end, he still had the energy to fight for others suffering from the same disease. With the help of the then Duchess of York, Sarah Fergunson, he sent an appeal to politicians and campaigned for a just treatment for others suffering from the same disease. He died peacefully in his sleep, among his family and faithful friends. Before he died, he forgave everyone. And in his last days his only worries were about his frail sister, who he had always supported.

After all these years, he remains a source of inspiration for me as a Catholic. Forgive me, but I think he was indeed Christ-like. I doubt very much if I would have the same kind of courage.

To finish my thoughts, I would like to ask: are the bishops who keep talking about "disordered orientation"and "satanic influences" conscient of the kind of pain they inflict upon others? A suffering that, in western countries, can lead to suicide, and in other regions to prison, torture and even execution?

I'll pray for them, because they do not know what they are doing.

Tnak you for your post. God bless you!

Not only was the bishop's advisor insulting our children, he was insulting the parent's of our LGBTQ children as well. If there was satanic involvement in their birth, the conclusion has to be that there was satanic involvement in their conception as well! Really!!!

The Catholic Church needs to abandon this outdated theology and get on board with protestant denominations such as the Episcopalians, PCUSA, UCC, and the ELCA. They are flushing themselves down the toilet and are being abandoned by faithful believers in droves and left with heretics that deny the resurrection, miracles of Christ and his atoning sacrifice, and so forth.

Yep, all that outdated theology - just get rid of it. We modern people know so much better than our forefathers. That's why society is going to Hell.

"All of us are gifts." Really? That is the kind of trite phrase offered up by liberals that we aren't suppose to question. How about the late term abortionist, Gosnell, just convicted of murder for severing the spinal cords of accidentally live born botched abortions. A gift? The 9/11 hijackers. A gift? No, we are not all gifts. We are all wretched sinners desperately in need of God's mercy graciously offered to us through his Son, our Lord and Savior.

When I enter a Catholi church and receive communion, no one asks me if I am gay or straight, Republican or Democrat. The objection of the Church is the redefining of the bond of marriage. Where ever same sex marriage is legal, it is either because of an activist judge or pressure on a legislature. When ever it has appeared on a ballot, it has been defeated.

"It can also be traced back to a lamentable episcopal utterance of then, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, and now Pope Benedict, who wrote that the homosexual orientation 'must be seen as an objective disorder.'"

Is the claim here that a homosexual orientation is not disordered? Evidence to the contrary comes not from Pope Benedict but from Scripture itself:

- Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination. "

- Romans 1:26-27: "Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity."

How is it wrong for the Church to repeat Scripture's warning that this behavior -like any other sin - is disordered?

Let's not conflate the ill treatment of sinners with the condemnation of sin. We love even the hardest of sinners, but we can never approve of sin.

Excellent! This needs to be said over and over!

Cheers,

Archbishop Desmond Tutu compares apartheid and homophobia in his latest book (published 2011) -

This is a matter of ordinary justice. We struggled against apartheid in South Africa, supported by people the world over, because black people were being blamed and made to suffer for something we could do nothing about - our very skin. It is the same with sexual orientation. It is a given. I could not have fought against the discrimination of apartheid and not also fight against the discrimination that homosexuals endure, even in our own churches and faith groups. (page 54)
Equally, I can not keep quiet while people are being penalized for something about which they can do nothing - their sexuality. To discriminate against our sisters and brothers who are lesbian or gay on the grounds of their sexual orientation for me is as totally unacceptable and unjust as apartheid ever was. (page 55) -

Strong words for a man who has fought against apartheid.

Unfortunately, sadly, un-Jesus-like, and downright ignorantly for a celibate, presumably chaste person, Josef Ratzinger as Benedict, has never uttered a word that I've seen or heard that comes anywhere near retracting his "intrinsically disordered" comment about gays. Yes, heterosexuals have a very great deal to learn from homosexuals. That is especially true for those who parade as non-sexuals in cassocks while violating kids and young people, and their bishops and the Vatican who then try non-stop to cover those sins and crimes. There is a clear example of the ignorance and cover-up continuing when Bishop Gumbleton, auxiliary of Detroit, MI, is ousted from the parish he pastored because he dared to testify in Columbus, OH, some years back for the extension of the statute of limitations for the prosecution of sex offenders of young people. Not just ignorance and cover-up, that was evil on the part of Benedict, like his firing of Bishop William Morris of Toowoomba, Australia, for uttering a word about the need to expand priestly ordination to married people and women because of the awful shortage of clergy. Morris should have demanded ordination for them on the simple grounds that married people and women have a right to be priests. No, the evil behavior of the Vatican and this pope continue just as if none of their past sins and crimes were ever exposed. John Paul II assured Ratzinger's "election" by stacking the College of Cardinals with men who would vote for him. JP II was the "Holy Ghost" in that election. And know what? This is not new. All of this is ancient history. Study your church history. But Benedict is blind. He's living in the Dark Ages. He is unaware of the destruction he is causing the church of Jesus. Something new and different, something like the Gospels must come of this.

Amen, Tom!

I know that Mr. Fox is well-intentioned in posting this but, as a gay man (and former Catholic), I can't tell you how uncomfortable it is to read that gays are "special human beings..." It feels like an over-compensation in the OTHER direction in response to Rome's "objective disordered" meme and simply doesn't sit well with me. Gays and Lesbians are not intrinsically special. Nor are we intrinsically sensitive, insightful, compassionate nor joyful.

We are intrinsically NORMAL.

In all of my years of watching straight people debate about gays and lesbians threats to X (society, military cohesion, marriage, children...) the arguments of our dire threat always felt so -- ironic. My partner and I, who have been together now for almost 20 years, lead rather mundane, UN-special lives. We own a home, pay our bills, worry about our jobs, take care of our aging parents, prune our roses, go to movies... You know...like everyone else (except maybe Bishops).

EXORCISING BISHOPS NOW ......... Thanks, Tom, for your typically generous and prophetic witness. It appears likely that Daniel Avila, the USCCB's anti-gay point man, had been doing the bidding of some of his USCCB bosses and was ordered to fall on his sword to give the USCCB cover for an egregious and hurtful blunder.

If the bishops follow their regular pattern, look for Avila to turn up in a few weeks at some USCCB front. Who knows, he may become Bill Donohue's well-paid anti-gay expert.

This diabolical blunder appears to be part of the broader anti-gay agenda the bishops are pushing currently, almost desparately, to try to rally right-wing voters to elect a "lower taxes on the Catholic 1%" 2012 Republican US presidential candidate in the upcoming election, now less than a year away.

It is perplexing to discern why the bishops, apparently under papal prodding through the new DC papal nuncio, are driving so hard to defeat Barack Obama. Sure, the Republicans in election years proclaim better the pious "values litany", but they are not much more sincere than Democrats in acting on these "value" issues when in power.

Then, of course, there is the very large upcoming tax hike on the Catholic 1%, when and if the Bush tax cuts are permitted to expire as current law automatically provides. This is really important to wealthy 1% donors to the pope's and bishops' various groups, and they appear to be pressing both the the pope and US bishops very hard to help dump Barack Obama.

But the US bishops' near hysterical election year push, evidenced by many examples, Avila's malicious devil theory being the latest one, suggests there may be more going on here.

A top agenda item in Rome these days is likely how to protect the Roman clique from the relentess pressure of prosecutors (including at the International Criminal Court) and plaintiffs' lawyers relating to the Roman clique's alleged worldwide cover-up of the the rape and other sexual abuse of thousands of defenseless children by priests, and even some bishops apparently.

The clear record is that the Bush Republican administration was much more helpful in shielding the Roman clique from legal claims related to clerical abuse charges than the Obama Democratic administration has been. For example, the Obama Justice Department has recently filed thirteen federal child porn criminal charges against the Kansas City priest involved in the related pending state criminal charges against Bishop Finn.

Given that, if Obama is re-elected and free (in a final term) of pressure from lobbyists and contributors, the Roman clique could well have concluded it would be too risky to give him another four years. Obama could be expected to respond more aggressively to the escalating national pressure for expanded Federal legislation to protect children from sexual abuse and to prosecute more aggressively pedophile clerics and their bishop enablers.

The unending clerical abuse scourge is at least a national problem and requires a national legislative solution. Many states, bending often to US bishops' major legislative lobbying efforts, still have woefully inadequate laws and unfairly short statutes of limitations for the unique crime of child sexual abuse. This state law failure has left millions of American children at great risk and has also denied many innocent victims a chance to present and prove their abuse claims in an American court.

The Roman puppet masters and their US bishops appear very deterimined to continue their futile effort to keep a lid on the full story of the pervasive and widespread sexual abuse by priests, and apparently even some bishops. This determination has likely just been reinforced by a recent article by Richard Sipe.

As you know, Tom, Richard, a former Benedictine, has for over four decades been one of the leading clinical experts worldwide on priest and even bishop abusers, based on his work with many priests and even some bishops. Richard Sipe was favorably received in Rome by Pope John Paul II for his clinical efforts and related writings on clerical abusers.

Even a cursory review of Richard's short, but honest and informative, article makes painfully clear why the Roman clique appear so concerned. If the lid blows off and reveals the full extent of the clerical sexual misconduct, the Roman puppet masters and their puppet bishops likely stand to lose much of their power, wealth and privlege.

Richard Sipe's article is accessible by clicking on at:

http://www.richardsipe.com/Miscl/2011-10-15-mother_church.htm

For more information on the pope's and US bishops' apparent effort to influence the 2012 US presidential elections, by exploiting anti-gay and related issues, please see the NCR comment and related crosslinks under the comment heading, "KIDS AND THE 2012 ELECTIONS" , accessible by clicking on at:

http://ncronline.org/blogs/examining-crisis/accountability-transparency-... .

Thank you, Tom! I'm afraid that you are a voice of one crying in the wilderness of Roman Catholicism - but thanks for your voice and efforts.

I would agree that the comment on Satan & ssa is out of line but homosexuality must never be seen as something coming from God. It is a defect & its origin is from Original Sin. I also think the Church must be careful in making statements about homosexuality in its largest sense being an objective disorder. No one can fully explain this phenomenom & the Church has competence to speak only on matters of faith & morality. The statement on the disorder of homosexuality should be restricted to its erotic aspect.

As far as God's gifts & God's love, they are bestowed on all human persons regardless of sexual orientation. But the only sexual orientation in God's design of man is heterosexuality. This is clear from scripture. It should be also noted that the disorder of the sexual instinct exists in all human persons, not just homosexuals due to the fallen nature of man which comes from Original Sin. All humans are quite defective. Let us keep this focus where it belongs & not restrict it to a particular group of people.

they are special human beings and that they bring special gifts to the human family

That's a wonderful insight.

God Bless

Good thinking Tomás and good article. I find this your principle message:

“For many of us, the linkage of gay and lesbian to "objective disorder" has been an offensive insult from the outset, the product of another time and an outdated theology. For many that time has passed; for others it is passing; for a few, it still needs to pass. Let's pray the day comes quickly when stragglers, including some of our church's shepherds, catch up with the flock.
That day couldn't come soon enough for the sake of the precious mission of our church.”

And of this, the “REAL MESSAGE”, at least for me, like the stinger of our common tropical house-pest the scorpion, lies in the very tip of its tail, or right, in the last sentence: “That day couldn't come soon enough for the sake of the precious mission of our church.”

In my modest opinion, things will change only when we get back to accepting “THE PRECIOUS MISSION OF OUR CHURCH” which is the same as that of Jesus of Nazareth: “Abbá Father, thy KINGDOM COME ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN”, what today we call that “OTHER POSSIBLE SOCIETY” that “OTHER POSSIBLE WORLD” , not like the one we have made for ourselves where every four seconds one of our sisters or brothers dies from hunger, and our “Christian world” is still studded with wars for petroleum and global positioning with millions of collateral civilian deaths besides the onerous military/industrial complex heaped upon the backs of the people. And at the same time we nonchalantly continue destroying our Own Dear Mother Earth by our greed.

Justiniano de Managua el 5 de nov. 2011

Excellent and poignant column! :) I couldn't agree more!

Fox should write his own catechism... for the episcopalians.

The LBGTQ community brings a godly trinitarian dimension to our human family.

Good, Thomas C. Fox. One thing however, I do agree with anon that homosexuals are not 'special', they are normal. A small portion of society yet normal. Since time began the world of people and animals has had a certain portion of homosexuals, and mostly heterosexuals. Natural law, natural.

Same sex marriages do not affect heterosexual marriages. Encourage stability, monogamy, faithfulness and allow homosexual marriages. Many homosexuals since time began have had children. Oscar Wilde had two children and there are many other examples.

Jesus said nothing about this matter however Jesus was kind, compassionate, just to all who were marginalized and the 'other'. Jesus respected and enabled the 'other'. He helped the 'unclean' hemorraging woman, he respected the anointing woman of the city, he helped the Phoenician mom's gentile child, he respected the Samaritan woman and made her an exemplary significant Apostle, he respected the Good humanitarian Samaritan travellor, many other examples. The 'others'.

It is wrong for B16 and JPII or anyone to claim the'devil' is to blame for homosexuals, or 'the devil made' homosexuals which is nonsense.

God is greater, God made both heter and homosexuals, in people and in animals. Making people unworthy, some want to commit suicide or they become shunned or killed for being the 'other'. Such toxic cruel ideas of B16 or that bishop 'advisor' are UnCatholic and unworthy of our faith.

Many Catholic clerics are self-loathing secret homosexuals or pretending to loathe homosexuals. Very wrong of them to spout such cruel nonsense that the 'devil' is to 'blame' or that it is 'disordered'. It is part of the world between consenting adults. What is disordered and wrong is the continguing cover-up of Catholic clerics abusing our children, our teen-agers and our seminarians. Still abuses by clerics even in 2010, 2011. Still cover-ups by/of clerical pedophiles.

Why? Why would any pope say that homosexual behavior is intrinsically evil when any good philosopher will probably tell you that action defines being, that every being acts according to its nature?....consequently the Church is saying that the homosexual by nature is intrinsically EVIL. Well the difference between guilt and shame is, guilt is what you feel about your behavior, shame is what you feel about WHO you are....we can always change our behavior but we cannot change WHO we are...how sad that the Church makes such a statement, alienating so many......

The homosexuals are loved despite their disordered attraction, not because of it. It is critical to understand this.

Thank you Tom.

I hope the NCR keeps focusing on the GLBTQ community. To most your readership, these are the most important and personal of all the issues you cover.

Yes, I am aware of the devil "flap" coming out of Boston with ignorant beliefs and false teachings against gay persons. Thank you for writing this Tom.

It is truly unfortunate that this old prejudice and ignorance about sex and sexuality is still fought about within the Church. It is an old prejudice that if taken to its extreme can only lead to such evil of the sort resorted to in Nazi Germany against many minority groups including gays and anyone else seen as unfit or disordered by authoritarians and fascist dictators. That the Pope & some in the USCCB hold onto this lie about gay persons and teaches this falseness into this age is a disgrace and shows he is intellectually lazy and far beyond incompetent spiritually to lead the People of God to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Many who are graced with wisdom, the gift of true discernment, are familiar with the history of the RCC and are honest and sincere in the truth. The facts remain as clearly seen that the Church has been behind the flock before with pitchforks against the truth in Inquisitions, against Saints, against the word of God, against true reform, against mercy, against true repentance, against heaven and against the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The danger of this "flap" takes false beliefs to its next end or conclusion to such thoughts & actions that are the presentation and representation of a false formula of God that does not reach a "Christian" conclusion of Truth and Love towards our neighbor and ourselves.

Sure, we can look at GLBTQ's and agree they can teach us a great deal, and insist they are "gifts from God", but that doesn't contradict the fundamental Catholic teaching that homosexual attractions are "intrinsically disordered." As are lustful heterosexual attractions, and also a love of money, material possessions, fame, honors, status, an excessive love of food, pleasure, leisure, etc, etc. We wouldn't say that a sloth, a miser, an adulterer or a hoarder has a lot to teach us and is a great gift from God. The Church's job is to call a sin a sin, and a disorder a disorder, all while teaching the intrinsic value and right to respect and love of each and every fallen, sinful human being on the planet. The problem as I see it in the GLBTQ party is a refusal to acknowledge sin and disorder for what they are. Everything else they claim has it's place, but not unless they acknowledge that fundamental truth. As must ALL Christians acknowledge their sins and turn to God and His Church for forgiveness and healing.