“Homosexuals are not as a group able-bodied.
They are known to carry extremely high rates of disease
brought on because of the nature of their sexual practices
and the promiscuity which is a hallmark of their lifestyle.”*
Yesterday on Facebook I noticed a friend from high school posted some things VP Pence allegedly stated in the past against gays in the military and so on - all very homophobic. The statements attributed to him may or may not be true - and some are definitely false, but I think it is safe to say Pence is not in favor of equal rights for LGBTQ persons in the sense activists hope for. Which may be one more reason why James Martin felt called to write his book.
That said, if you take a screen-shot of a couple ultra conservative Catholic websites, you encounter links to posts and news articles focused on the subject of Catholic teaching and homosexuality. The divide is huge. The opponents targeting Pope Francis and 'Francis-bishops', along with the James-Martin-is-a-heretic faction are indeed taking on hostile characteristics similar to the Westboro Baptists. There is absolutely no denying that. Disagree with me all you want, but that is my impression and experience of the phenomenon.
For the past three years, the emphasis of Pope Francis and those close to him has been on “respect” and “listening”, with little or no reference to holiness, chastity, or the objective truth about sexual morality.
[...]
Concerning homosexuality and homosexual acts and relationships, there are only two passages in Amoris. Neither refers to doctrine or moral theology. In a sort of sociological observation, Pope Francis says that “de facto or same-sex unions” are not “beneficial” to society. (52). As for “persons who experience same-sex attraction,” Francis holds that they “ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, while ‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ [citing the Catechism]is to be carefully avoided.” (276). He goes on quote the “Synod Fathers” that homosexual unions “are not remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.” (251). - CWR
Roughnecks or Brownshirts?
I'm not really going there, but the comparison has been made and if the shirt fits, so be it. The growing hostility against the 'sodomites' is obvious - even among some of the Courage Catholics, and especially Catholics opposed to LGBTQ political pursuits. They see it as an ideology to be destroyed. One blogger proclaiming:
Sodomites are one of the extremes of the Left, and the Left has convinced itself that everything it does, no matter how heinous, no matter how evil, is good by definition.Left? Right? Alt-Left? Alt-Right? Political stuff entering the sanctuary. That's what they accuse Pope Francis of doing, and so they make the Pope a leader of the Alt-Left. They are immersed in ideological thinking. They are siding with ideologues and ideology.
There are no limits to the extremes, to the utter depravity to which people so convinced will sink. This movement must either be crushed, or they will crush us. - Anonymous Catholic blogger.
Some Catholics go after Voris - calling him a sodomite, because he defended statements from another sodomite Milos, because what he said was useful to him in condemning Fr. Martin. On some level, it strikes me they are all part of the same axis working against Catholic bishops and priests in union with the Pope. They use one another when it suits their purpose. They rely on the same conspiracy theories, tweaking them here and there with excerpts from the right prophecy or even the right canonist or theologian, to boost their credibility.
I've upset enough of you at this point, but something is wrong here, and it is so not the Pope. As the Holy Father stated the other day: "The Pharisees, doctors of the law are not people of the past, even today there are many of them."
Back on point.
Catholics may be fearful LGBTQ ideology will oppress the Church and freedom of religion, but I would be more concerned for gay persons interested in either returning to the sacraments or becoming Catholic. Catholic or not, the emergence of the Alt-Right in the the United States and Europe seems to me far more dangerous - especially in its current assault on the Church, fomenting opposition to the Pope and Catholic teaching. It's so much more than the 'Save the liturgy-Save the world' mind-games. It seems to me quite probable, that 'even the elect - if that were possible - have been led astray.'
Everything wrong in the Church gets blamed upon 'gay mafia' or homosexuals in the Church and especially among the clergy. (Are they good homos or bad homos? Because there are both.) The more the Church seems to reach out in a less offensive** manner, the more the reaction and hostility towards homosexuals in general increases. It is clearly used to attack the Pope - who frustrates the hell out of his enemies because he has not taught anything contradictory to Catholic teaching, or promoted heresy. This fact itself is being whipped up into a new conspiracy theory, a sort of 'development of doctrine' for those who rely on private revelation to substantiate claims of 'apostasy at the top'. The political climate adapted by traditionalist Catholics and those who support Trump as a sort of savior and restorer of Christianity, seems rather foreboding. Especially when suggestions of a 'final solution' to 'crush the (LGBT) movement' get circulated - a sentiment very close to a proposal of criminalizing homosexuality itself. The Church is against that.
But traditional-alt-right style Remnant Catholics may not be against it - quite the opposite. Some rad-trad Catholics hate homosexuals and will never trust those who say they are ex-homosexuals or Catholics with SSA, or simply Catholic penitents. Just saying.
"They" say, "hate the sin, love the sinner" - but - as I like to remind everybody, many hate the sinner just as much as the sin. Just as much. I know this from experience.
Notes:
*This statement misattributed to Pence personally, stemmed from a 1993 journal article about homosexuals serving in the military. Mike Pence was in charge of the organization that published the journal, the the Indiana Policy Review Foundation (IPRF), but he did not himself pen the article in question. - Snopes
**causing someone to feel deeply hurt, upset, or angry.
"the allegations made are deeply offensive to them"
synonyms: insulting, insolent, derogatory, disrespectful, hurtful, wounding, abusive;
"Faith is a great companion of life
when it allows us to experience the presence of a Father
who never abandons his creatures,
whatever their condition of their life."
