You’re cherry-picking the teachings of the Church when you highlight social justice teachings to support your cause but ignore the prohibitions on gay sex.
One way to respond to this is to share the belief that the social justice teachings of the Church are clearly rooted in Jesus’ life and preaching. Not so the church’s teaching prohibiting gay sex. For many Catholics the call for social justice supercedes certain teachings of the church that reflect a medieval and inadequate understanding of human sexuality – teachings that, accordingly, are unresponsive to the presence and movement of the Spirit in the lives of LGBT people. They are also teachings that fail to reflect the overarching biblical theme of liberation and Jesus’ call to “fullness of life.” Gay people do indeed flourish as individuals when they accept themselves for who they are and live their lives accordingly. Indeed, human beings – gay or straight – flourish when they engage in and build relational lives that are experienced and expressed sexually. Actual sex acts are just one aspect of such relational lives. It’s the quality of these relationships that the Church should be concerned about, not so much who puts what body part where and with whom. Many consider this latter type of fixation to be typical of the psycho-sexually stunted.
Like the fig tree in Jesus’ parable, the Roman Catholic clerical leadership’s position on homosexuality is barren. It other words, it’s inattentive to “the signs of the time,” it’s unintelligible to intelligent people, it’s unreasonable, and, worst of all, it’s unloving. Catholics have every right to question this position, to require that it be clarified and justified to the point that all are satisfied. That the clerical leadership has so far been unable to provide such clarification and justification says much about the credibility, the validity, the truthfulness of this particular position they hold.
NEXT CHALLENGE: Isn’t it the church’s job to weigh in on important social issues? You’re not opposed to the bishops making statements on issues like immigration, are you? click here »
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