by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
Recently I heard that I was being “pounded” on a radio programme about views I had expressed in the media about the Church’s teaching on same-sex marriage/union. I recall what the representative of the Parish Council at Los Bajos RC Church, Erin, said to me when he presented me with a plant, known locally as the “Crown of Thorns”. He reminded me that all of us who walk in the footsteps of our Lord must be prepared to suffer for our faith.
If we are to be leaven in the dough, we must speak out in a timely manner. I took the opportunity, when asked by a daily newspaper, to share the Church’s perspective on same-sex unions, an issue being discussed in the media currently.
We are called to transform the world so that it reflects Gospel values e.g. in relation to human sexuality and marriage. Genesis makes it clear that God made man and woman in His own image and likeness. In Gen 2:24 we read: “a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.”
“Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex” (Catechism, 2357). Around the world many countries are seeking to re-define marriage to include homosexual unions. The Catholic Church sees marriage as a sacrament – a holy vocation – between a man and a woman.
The Franciscan website americancatholic.org states: “When the Dutch Parliament voted to recognize same sex unions as marriages in 2000, Pope John Paul II denounced the decision. Calling marriage between a man and a woman a fundamental part of human reality and the basic unit of society, the Pope said: ‘No other form of relationship between persons can be considered as an equivalent to this natural relationship between a man and a woman out of whose love children are born.’”
As Catholics we respect ALL life. Our Church recognises that there are some men and women “who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided” (Catechism, 2358).
The Church draws a distinction between persons who have homosexual orientation – whom we must love as our brothers and sisters, and “homosexual acts”, which the Church sees as being “intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity..…Homosexual persons are called to chastity.” (Catechism 2357, 2359).
As the US Bishops state: “(W)e believe that it is only within a heterosexual marital relationship that genital sexual activity is morally acceptable. Only within marriage does sexual intercourse fully symbolize the Creator’s dual design, as an act of covenant love, with the potential of co-creating new human life. (Human Sexuality, 55).
The encyclical, On Human Life; Theology of the Body; documents such as the Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1986); information from groups such as COURAGE and ENCOURAGE – “two spiritual support groups helping Catholic men and women – and their families – to live in accordance with the Catholic Church’s pastoral teaching on homosexuality” (www.couragerc.net), can assist schools, catechetical teams, and parishes in their discussions about issues relating to human sexuality.
We have a duty to teach the faithful about where our Church stands on these issues and how we can assist those struggling with their sexuality. I end with a quotation from a 2008 interview with Cardinal Rigali, the Archbishop of Philadelphia:
“We accept people but we cannot be unfaithful to Christ. We will not accept gay marriage.” He said people with same-sex attraction “are good people and our way of treating them is very important. The respect we show them and even the understanding of their personal situations. But just because someone is in a personal situation does not mean we can change our teaching to accommodate the person.” “The Church has to continue to…preach the word in season and out of season…This is something we have to teach in the most effective way possible, with clarity yes, with fidelity yes, with sensitivity…We present the beauty of human sexuality. We explain God’s plan.”
