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The Church
cannot change what God has instituted
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
Recently I received a publication from an organization calling itself
Fortunate Families, a resource and networking ministry for Catholic
parents of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children. The goal of
the organization is to promote and facilitate personal, meaningful and
respectful conversation, especially within Catholic parishes and with
pastors and bishops. Its mission statement proclaims: “We stress the
significance of our personal stories as a source of grace within our
families and as a witness for justice in our civic and faith
communities.”
The bottom line, according to Fortunate Families, is that parents love
their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children, and they love
their Church, but they do not see their love or God’s unconditional love
reflected in how the institutional Church relates to their sons and
daughters.
Parents grieve, the publication states, “that the institutional Church’s
inadequate response has distanced many parents from the Church and
driven many of their sons and daughters away from it. Parents also
grieve what they view as a failure of the institutional Church to follow
the compassionate example of Jesus. If forced to choose, they choose
their children over the institutional Church, but they do not lose their
faith in Christ.”
With confidence that one must walk the walk before he or she truly
understands the anguish involved, I do not doubt that parents struggle
mightily when they learn that their children are homosexual, lesbian,
bisexual or transgender. The anguish no doubt is intensified when they
see their children facing hostility and prejudice. This is exacerbated
when they perceive that the Church is failing their children. They do
not understand why the Church is so intransigent in its position, when
the cultural message is that genital activity is normal and same-sex
unions are given the protection of law.
The current debate about same-sex unions is occurring within a larger
environment that increasingly understands marriage to be a privatized
relationship not necessarily oriented toward children or connected with
a community. Rather, the focus is on adult fulfillment.
As instituted by God, marriage is a faithful, exclusive, lifelong union
of a man and a woman, joined in an intimate community of life and love
that is open to the procreation of children. Scripture teaches that a
“man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of
them become one body” (Genesis 2:24). The man recognizes the woman as
“bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23). God blesses the
man and woman and commands them to be “fertile and multiply” (Genesis
1:28). Jesus reiterates these teachings from Genesis, saying, “but from
the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this
reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his
wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (Mark 10:6-8).
These biblical passages underscore God’s plan for marriage. It is, as
the Catechism teaches, “a covenant or partnership of life between a man
and a woman, which is ordered to the well-being of the spouses and the
procreation and upbringing of children” (p. 887 — Glossary).
“The natural structure of human sexuality makes male and female
complementary partners for the transmission of human life. Only a union
… of male and female can express the sexual complementarity willed by
God for marriage. Husband and wife give themselves totally to each other
in their masculinity and femininity. They are equal as human beings, but
different as man and woman, fulfilling each other through this natural
difference. This unique complementarity makes possible the conjugal bond
that is the core of marriage” (“Between Man and Woman” — USCCB — 2003).
Same-sex unions contradict the nature of marriage. They are not based on
the natural complementarity of male and female. Such unions cannot
create new life. The natural purpose of sexual union cannot be achieved.
Because this is the case, it is an oxymoron to equate such a
relationship with marriage. And, it is wrong to move genital activity
outside the sacred union of male and female in marriage.
This clearly is not a “politically correct” view of life, but it is a
reality rooted in natural law and revelation.
In giving same-sex unions the legal status of marriage, society approves
of homosexual activity, treating it as if it were morally acceptable. In
Catholic thought, it is not.
Conventional wisdom proclaims that denying marriage to homosexual
persons is discrimination and a lack of respect for persons. But, it is
not unjust to deny legal status to same-sex unions because marriage and
same-sex unions are essentially different realities. Upholding God’s
intent for marriage is a proclamation of truth. Moreover, Christians
must give witness to the whole moral truth. In doing so, they are led to
oppose as immoral both homosexual acts and unjust discrimination against
people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender. The Catechism
of the Catholic Church urges that homosexual persons “be accepted
with respect, compassion and sensitivity.” It also calls all of us to
chastity. When that concept is lost, it is next to impossible for a
person, be that individual heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual or
transgender, to understand his or her unique call to holiness.
Marriage is a basic human and social institution. Though it is regulated
by civil and church laws, it did not originate from either the church or
state, but from God. Because that is the reality, neither church nor
state can alter the basic meaning and structure of marriage. Of its
nature, marriage has been established by God as a union of a man and a
woman. The state has an obligation to promote family. It can justly give
married couples rights and benefits it does not extend to others.
Ultimately, the stability and flourishing of society is dependent on the
stability and flourishing of healthy family life. Upholding that is not
unjust discrimination.
This is tough stuff for those struggling with lesbian, gay, bisexual
and/or transgender orientation and their loved ones. But, the teaching
of the Church on chastity, be one heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual
or transgender, is rooted in the conviction that God gives each one the
grace needed to live the life to which he calls us. Chastity and what is
demanded of each person to live it is the challenge. The Church cannot
change what God has instituted. |
