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In my last essay at First Things , I echoed the words of Pope Benedict writing about the
pastoral care of the homosexual person by saying, only what is true can ultimately be
pastoral. Rev. Wojciech Giertych , O.P., the Theologian of the Papal Household, last week
echoed the words of Pope Benedict when he said, the best way of treating people with
dignity is to tell them the truth, and if we escape from the truth, we are not treating them
with dignity. This truth, which is blunt, precise, and di cult to hear, yet honoring of mans
The Papal Theologian provides a valuable contribution as well to the ongoing debate here at
First Things about the acceptability of a gay identity within the Churchs anthropology:
[I]n the American language you have a distinction between the word
di culty, and his friends, his neighbors will not know about this. Hes
dealing with this in cooperation with the grace of God and may come
it. Whereas a gay is somebody who says, I am like this, I will be like
this, I want to be treated like this, and I want special privileges because
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socially and so on, such a person will never come out of the di culty.
In order to come out of any di culty, one naturally must rst recognize that it is one. In my
rst post here on the subject, I contend that the only way to fully receive the grace the
Church has to o er is to understand homosexuality as a wound: The good that comes from
homosexuality is the redemption Christ brings as a result of the wound. Recently I quoted
Cardinal Ratzinger cautioning against viewing homosexuality as being in anyway good . As
we know from our savior, bad fruits are the result of bad trees, and the Catechism tells us that
the root of homosexuality has a psychological genesis. The Papal Theologian echoes the
reason by saying, there are people who are emotionally fragile, because they come from
broken families, because contraception and abortion has destroyed families, has generated
divorces, people who are born and unloved, and not formed wellnotice, they are
emotionally fragile, and they easily fall prey to sexual deviations.
Contrary to beliefs re ected in the recent reparative therapy ban in California, the Papal
Theologian makes it clear that the condition is neither innate nor immutable. He says the
condition is not necessarily permanent and that some are passing through a stage and
that not every person will always be with that di culty. That being said, he emphasizes
that the important thing is to help such people nd themselves, to return to an emotional
and moral integrity.
Here in America, more and more members of the hierarchy re ect a similar disapproval with
choosing to identify as gay. It seems no accident that the Vatican appointed the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops point man on the defense of marriage to become
Archbishop of San Francisco. While Bishop of Oakland, Salvatore Cordileone censured the
Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministry as not being authentically Catholic, in
part because the terms [lesbian and gay] werent in the churchs vocabulary, and were
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part because the terms [lesbian and gay] werent in the churchs vocabulary, and were
promoted by groups opposed to the churchs moral teaching. In a recent article on so-
called same-sex marriage, Archbishop Charles Chaput eschewed the terms gay or
lesbian, or even, in his case, homosexual, in favor of variants of same-sex attracted.
When asked about those who choose a gay identity during a Q & A in 2011, Cardinal
Raymond Burke , Americas leading prelate in the Vatican, said that those who claim a gay
identity must say to themselves that this is not [my] identity, but an aspect of my life which I
need to address, which is out of sync with the way God has made me and called me into
being.
The Papal Theologian echoes Cardinal Burkes comments on identity when he says,
are many other qualities in you which are good. You may be an artist,
you may be a writer, you may be good in your work, you may be a
sportsman, [or] you are charitable. There are many aspects of your
being. Whereas a gay focuses on this condition, and makes out of it
never free himself from this perverted state, and he will never be happy.
Happiness is freedom to live as God created us to be. Pope Benedict XVI tells us that man is
a creature having an innate message which does not contradict our freedom, but is instead
its very premise. Benedict describes modern thinking on sexuality, and particularly the
notion of gender versus sex, as mans attempt at self-emancipation from creation and the
Creator. Man wants to be his own master, and alone always and exclusively to determine
everything that concerns him. Yet in this way he lives in opposition to the truth, in
opposition to the Creator Spirit. St. Paul tells us that , it was for freedom that Christ set us
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free; therefore keep standing rm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Benedict
points us to where our freedom is ful lled:
Fr. Giertych reassures us that the grace of God heals whatever distortions we may have,
whatever di culties we may have, on the condition that we initiate, we commence the
pilgrimage, we start the journey of living out our lives with the grace of God. Christ teaches
us that in order to be truly free, we must rst be taught the truth, and be humble in
acknowledging it. I believe that a necessary step on the journey towards freedom for people
with same-sex attraction is to embrace a radical and counter-cultural coming out: a
coming out from all sexual identities contrived in the mind of man, and instead humbly
acknowledging and accepting the fullness of what it means to be made male and female, in the
image and likeness of God.
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