Italian nun splits up two female models kissing for a photoshoot...

The nun in the video is not a joke, nor is she joking.

I saw this video at Fr. Z's, then on Twitter and then on FB at Bree A Dail's page.  The comments on those sites are quite interesting.  The episode strikes me as prophetic and a sign of contradiction.  I didn't post about it on FB because some of my gay Catholic friends and relatives might be offended by my commentary.  Although I think they know I've never changed my thinking, my faith in Catholic teaching on sex and marriage.  Pope Francis has helped me be less judgmental or doctrinaire when it comes to those who reject Catholic teaching and consider same sex sexual relations equal to male/female sexual relations and marriage.  Thus, I take the Holy Father's words to heart - who am I to judge if one truly seeks God?  Adding, and how am I to know if they are not?  

I'm not convinced photo shoots like the one the nun protested are about seeking God or chaste love.  I do not know what the shoot was for, be it an ad, a fashion shoot, or an image for a magazine article - but the message was obviously intended to be provocative.  Sister's reaction was refreshingly candid, simple and sincere.  She was not buying into the ideological image they were selling.

Nevertheless, it really stopped me in my tracks, as it were.  Welcoming, acceptance, tolerance and support has had its effects.  There is an erosion of moral standards and an acceptance of behavior once considered sinful and therefore shameful when exposed to public scrutiny.  Catherine of Genoa feared that, calling it the 'contagion of the world's slow stain.'  Catholic teaching - which cannot change* - is pressured more than ever to change, to approve and bless homosexual acts and unions.  I don't know what will happen as a result.  

The Neapolitan nun was acting out of love - intervening to save these two from committing a sin - I'm convinced that was her reasoning.  She turns to tell the cameraman that this is not good, it is a sin.  Everyone knows what she is talking about - yet her behavior is interpreted as bias, even hate by those who advocate for LGBTQ persons and related issues.  

A woman commented that Sister's actions and the response she received reminded her of Genesis 19: 12-14, when the sons-in-law of Lot thought he was kidding after he told them they must leave with him if they want to escape what was coming.  I couldn't help but agree - hence my calling this nun a prophet.  They laughed at her, thought she was kidding, laughed - considering her old fashioned, out of date - her morality no longer applicable.

"So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had contracted marriage with his daughters.* “Come on, leave this place,” he told them; “the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking." - Genesis 19:14

 

Today's readings are also prophetic.  They need no explanation.

Be amazed at this, O heavens,
and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD.
Two evils have my people done:
they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;
They have dug themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that hold no water. Jeremiah 2: 12-13

And...

This is why I speak to them in parables, because
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:

You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears,
they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts and be converted
and I heal them. - Matthew 13

 *NB: A Vatican statement clarifies that the initiative underway in Germany "does not have the power to oblige bishops and the faithful" to "new ways of governance and new approaches to doctrine and morality."

"In order to protect the freedom of the People of God and the exercise of the episcopal ministry, it seems necessary to clarify that the 'Synodal Path' in Germany does not have the faculty to oblige bishops and the faithful to assume new forms of governance and new approaches to doctrine and morals. It would not be lawful to initiate in the dioceses, prior to an agreed understanding at the level of the universal Church, new official structures or doctrines, which would represent a wound to ecclesial communion and a threat to the unity of the Church." - Holy See intervenes on the German "Synodal Path"