Soon to be Cardinal Abp. Sebastián Aguila: "Homosexuality is a deficient way of manifesting sexuality."

[Ed. note:  This story has been reported elsewhere without direct quotes.  I found a translation of the interview at Rorate Caeli.  If the translation is accurate, I see nothing wrong with what the Archbishop says about homosexuality.]

- The Pope go to great lengths in his gestures of respect and esteem for all persons, but he does not betray or modify the traditional Magisterium of the Church. It is one thing to display welcoming and affection to a homosexual person, and something else to morally justify the exercise of homosexuality. I can tell one person that has a certain deficiency that it is what it is, but this does not mean that I stop caring for him and helping him. I believe that is the position of the pope, and likewise regarding homosexual marriage or divorces. We will be on his [the person's] side, but the Church cannot change the moral demands. Love always demands fidelity and irrevocability. Human love is what it is, and the Church must defend the truth and the deep authenticity of man, helping all, those who accomplish it well, and those who make mistakes or fail.

- Many complain and do not tolerate it, but with all respect I say that homosexuality is a deficient way of manifesting sexuality, because the latter has a structure and an end, which is that of procreation. Homosexuality, which cannot reach this and, is faulty. This is not an outrage for anyone. We have in our body many deficiencies. I have high blood pressure, should I get upset because others tell me so? It is a deficiency that I have to correct as well as I can. To identify in a homosexual [person] a deficiency is not offensive, it is a help, because many cases of homosexuality can be treated and normalized with adequate treatment. It is not an offense, it is care. When a person has a defect, the good friend is the one who tells him so. - Source 

Again - it works for me.  There is nothing different in what the Archbishop says from what approved Church documents and the Catechism says: The inclination itself is intrinsically disordered.  Everyone must have that memorized by now.  People shouldn't get upset over such statements.

The Archbishop said what he said and did so with charity and understanding.  It may also be true, that in some cases, if and when a person is determined and committed to change, it may be possible to do so. Nevertheless, the person must be highly motivated to change, and he would need to have access to reliable treatment.  Likewise, if professional help is willingly pursued, a person must be able to afford the cost.  The poor cannot be expected to do this - therefore the Church does not make such a demand.  The Church calls all to conversion, and requires chastity and faith, but not therapy or treatment.

That said, nothing is impossible with God.  God's grace is sufficient.


NB: Some 'gay-Catholics' and most gay activists object to the idea of sexual orientation change or reparative therapy for unwanted same sex attraction or homosexual behavior.  The Church does not mandate such therapies nor does the Church address the issue of change.  Oddly enough, GLBTQ activists, Catholic and secular, who are almost always against reparative therapy, frequently cite research on sexual fluidity and gender-queer issues, proposing such theories that sexual orientation is not fixed.  ("The dogmatic assertion that if you are gay once, you will always be gay, overshadows the real experience of women who have undergone a change in their sexual attractions." - Melinda Selmys)  Hence it strikes me as somewhat inconsistent that these 'thinkers' are now against something as benign as voluntary, elective reparative therapy to help someone overcome unwanted same sex attraction and/or behavior.  

Fr. Spaulding Mystery Unfolds ...

If the news story is true, it is shocking news indeed.

A Vatican court has recommended that a Phoenix cleric be removed from the priesthood.

The Rev. John Spaulding, a priest in the Diocese of Phoenix for 40 years, has been accused by four people of sexually abusing them decades ago when they were minors.

The judgment was reached by a special tribunal, an independent panel of three priests from across the U.S. who have doctorates in canon law. The panel was convened at the direction of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a Vatican agency.

The special tribunal found Spaulding guilty of sins against the Sixth Commandment with a minor and recommended that he be dismissed from the clerical state, a process commonly known as “laicization” or defrocking. The commandment, commonly recounted as “You shall not commit adultery,” refers to all sexual sins, according to the Catholic Church. - Source

Fr. Spaulding was a well known supporter of Medjugorje and was pastor of the Church of St. Maria Goretti when similar apparitions/messages were transmitted there.  He is also well known for his ministry to the deaf and youth.  I've written about him in the past here.

Does Vatican Insider have the inside scoop on Medjugorje? One thing to know and share...

I don't know, but your stats sure go through the roof whenever you post anything about Medj.

On Spiritual Deception ...

Disciple: Give me a precise and detailed notion of spiritual deception [prelest].  What exactly is this condition?

Elder: Spiritual deception is the wounding of human nature by falsehood. Spiritual deception is the state of all men without exception, and it has been made possible by the fall of our original parents. All of us are subject to spiritual deception. Awareness of this fact is the greatest protection against it. Likewise, the greatest spiritual deception of all is to consider oneself free from it. We are all deceived, all deluded; we all find ourselves in a condition of falsehood; we all need to be liberated by the Truth. The Truth is our Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 8:32-14:6). Let us assimilate that Truth by faith in it; let us cry out in prayer to this Truth, and it will draw us out of the abyss of demonic deception and self-delusion. Bitter is our state! It is that prison from which we beseech that our souls be led out, that we may confess the name of the Lord (Ps. 141:8). It is that gloomy land into which our life has been cast by the enemy that hates and pursues us. It is that carnal-mindedness (Rom. 8:6) and knowledge falsely so called (I Tim. 6:20) wherewith the entire world is infected, refusing to acknowledge its illness, insisting, rather, that it is in the bloom of health. It is that “flesh and blood” which “cannot inherit the Kingdom of God” (I Cor. 15:50). It is that eternal death which is healed and destroyed by the Lord Jesus, Who is “the Resurrection and the Life” (Jn. 11:25). Such is our state. And the perception thereof is a new reason to weep. With tears let us cry out to the Lord Jesus to bring us out of prison, to draw us forth from the depths of the earth, and to wrest us from the jaws of death! “For this cause did our Lord Jesus Christ descend to us,” says the venerable Symeon the New Theologian, “because he wanted to rescue us from captivity and from most wicked spiritual deception.” - Archbishop Brianchaninov

+ + +

Let us turn out attention to yet another important law of spiritual life. It consists in “the like interrelationship of virtues and of vices” or, to put it another way, in the strict consequentiality and mutual conditioning of the acquisition of virtues as well as the action of passions. Saint Ignatius writes, “Because of this like relationship, voluntary submission to one good thought leads to the natural submission to another good thought; acquisition of one virtue leads another virtue into the soul which is like unto and inseparable from the first. The reverse is also true: voluntary submission to one sinful thought brings involuntarily submission to another; acquisition of one sinful passion leads another passion related to it into the soul; the voluntary committing of one sin leads to the involuntary fall into another sin born of the first. Evil, as the fathers say, cannot bear to dwell unmarried in the heart” (5:351). - Alexei Ilyich Osipov - Based on the Writings of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)

+ + +

Weak faith and carelessness are expressions of people’s irreligion, but even a pious person is not protected from spiritual sickness if he does not have a wise guide, either a living person or a spiritual writer. This sickness is called prelest, or spiritual delusion, imagining oneself to be near to God and to the realm of the divine and supernatural. Even zealous ascetics in monasteries are sometimes subject to this delusion, but of course, lay people who are zealous in outward ascetic struggles undergo it much more frequently. Surpassing their acquaintainces in feats of prayer and fasting, they imagine that they are seers of divine visions, or at least of dreams inspired by grace. In all events in their lives they see special, intentional directions from God or their Guardian Angel, and then they start imagining that they are God’s elect, and not infrequently try to foretell the future. The Holy Fathers armed themselves against nothing so fiercely as against this sickness — Spiritual Delusion. - Metropolitan Anthony Krapovistsky

Why do so many gay people smoke?

Strike the pose...

Because it adds drama?

Someone mentioned to me that I could be trying to cause 'moral panic' in the way I speak about the behavior of gay people.  As if I even made any mention about the evils of smoking tobacco.

The myth of the healthy gay lifestyle* ...

I came across this very funny article from Slate this morning:

Why Do So Many Gay People Smoke?*

The author seems to believe it is internalized homophobia, specifically self-loathing:

If anyone has a reason to smoke, gay people do. Gays have higher rates of PTSD,depression, and anxiety—all of which lead to the urge for a cigarette. And a tragically high number of gay people are told that they are diseased, aberrant, intrinsically disordered throughout their youths, fostering a self-loathing that can lead, if not to suicide, than to nearly suicidal activities.

All Americans know that cigarettes kill you, LGBTQ people included—and in a sense, that’s part of the problem. We can wave CDC morbidity studies around all day, but a gay person struggling with self-loathing won’t particularly care. In fact, in a perverse way, the hazard is the draw for gay kids who see no reason to continue living. Merely reminding the LGBTQ community that smoking is awful will do nothing to curb it. The root of the problem—self-loathing cultivated by years of being told you’re a disordered monster—goes too deep to be resolved by scolding PSAs, tempting as that quick fix might seem.

Instead, the solution to the LGBTQ smoking crisis is, essentially, to do nothing—nothing more, that is, than we’re already doing to promote gay rights across the country. Every time a states’ citizens give the thumbs-up to gay marriage, every time a federal judge grants basic equality to gay people, a new generation of LGBTQ youth becomes a little less prone to self-hatred and self-destruction. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s insistence that gay people deserve equal dignity probably did more to curb smoking among gay youth than any anti-smoking ad ever could. As gay people become more accepted in mainstream life, so, too, will gay teens feel less tempted to exorcise their agony with risky behavior like smoking. But until gay people are truly welcomed in all facets of society, gay kids will keep turning to those vices that, in the midst of such overwhelming bleakness, provide a fleeting (and ruinous) moment of relief. - Source

"... will gay teens feel less tempted to exorcise their agony with risky behavior like smoking. But until gay people are truly welcomed in all facets of society, gay kids will keep turning to those vices that, in the midst of such overwhelming bleakness, provide a fleeting (and ruinous) moment of relief."

Really?

That is completely nuts.


*I'm not sure why people bother with these stories intended to point out unhealthy aspects of the gay lifestyle.  Health cautions or concerns have little effect upon young people in general.  Gay or straight.

Song for this post here.

Medjugorje in the news.

Good news too.

And so today, a reliable source close to the Vatican, biographer Andreas Tornielli, reveals that the international commission set up by Benedict XVI almost four years ago to study the Medjugorje phenomenon has concluded:

NO HOAX, NO DECEPTION, NO SCAM. 

Tornielli went on to say in his report: “Some of the Commission’s members have highlighted the need for a change of pace in the provision of pastoral care to millions of faithful who come to Medjugorje from all over the world. The Commission and Cardinal Ruini himself, thanks to visits by people close to him, have noticed that people really are converting to the faith or returning to the sacraments – what the Church refers to as spiritual fruits –  in a significant way.” - Source

Works for me.

Of course official decisions, statements, and instructions will have to be made public, but it looks rather positive for devotees of Our Lady who believe the Blessed Virgin appears in Medjugorje.  Will the Church approve the apparitions or confirm the events as supernatural?  I may be wrong, but it seems unlikely before all the 'secrets' are revealed to those seers who haven't received them, and before some supernatural 'sign' is given.  Likewise, the best that could be said is the rare conclusion that the events are worthy of belief.

What seems certain is the - so far - unofficial position that there is no hoax, no deception, no scam.  The finding will surely clarify there is no prohibition against pilgrimages to the site: “The Commission is not opposed to Medjugorje as a place of faith where faithful pilgrims gather” Cardinal Puljic confirms."  

Personally, I haven't been attracted to Mejugorje, though I've always been open to what the Church decides on the phenomena.  For me, the best witnesses for the authenticity of the apparitions have always been the faithful who have traveled to Medjugorje and have received some signal grace there.  Those whom I've met have often impressed and edified me by their devotion, fervor, good works, as well as their fidelity to the Holy Father.  Another good sign from Medjugorje has been the vocations to the priesthood and religious life that have resulted from the experience.

What is needed of course is pastoral care for the pilgrims who go to the site and return home inspired by the messages and spiritual experience and who have dedicated themselves to evangelization.  Pastoral care and spiritual direction is essential to protect, guide and sustain these faithful as they grow in faith and fidelity to Catholic teaching.

That said, I await the decision of the Church.

+ + +

[I should add that it seems to me that Fatima still has to come to fulfillment - and that message, or call to conversion, prayer and penance needs to be heeded.  I accept Fatima without any problems.  Nevertheless I tend to be skeptical about other modern purported apparitions and private revelations.  I even have doubts about Akita - and that apparition was approved by the local ordinary.]  

Genderqueer, what is it?

Photo credit: Sartorialist

From Wiki (Because it is a convenient and concise definition):

Genderqueer (GQ; alternatively non-binary) is a catch-all category for gender identities other than man and woman, thus outside of the gender binary and cisnormativity.^[1] Genderqueer people may identify as one or more of the following:

• having an overlap of, or blurred lines between, gender identity and sexual and romantic orientation.
• two or more genders (bigender, trigender, pangender);
• without a gender (nongendered, genderless, agender; neutrois);
• moving between genders or with a fluctuating gender identity (genderfluid);
• third gender or other-gendered; includes those who do not place a name to their gender; - Source

If you've been out of school for awhile, don't read a lot, do not follow news, and consider yourself 'normal', these terms, which have been constructed to define a growing philosophy of sexuality, will be foreign to many of my readers.  Gender fluid and sexual fluidity are important non-binary conditions as well.  These terms are important in understanding movements to 'queer the Church'.

What does the Vatican say about genderqueer?

Nothing.

Although there is no official document addressing the issue, Pope Benedict XVI did comment on the problem in his Christmas address to the Roman Curia in 2012:

After giving a brief overview of the past year’s events, Pope Benedict XVI said that the crisis is shaking the institution of the family to its foundations, particularly in the West. When we reject lasting bonds, the Pope added, ”the key figures of human existence likewise vanish: father, mother, child – essential elements of the experience of being human are lost.”

Benedict XVI criticised  gender theory, citing a study by the Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim and Simone de Beauvoir’s famous phrase: “one is not born a woman, one becomes so” (on ne naît pas femme, on le devient). “These words,” the Pope explained, “lay the foundation for what is put forward today under the term “gender” as a new philosophy of sexuality. According to this philosophy, sex is no longer a given element of nature that man has to accept and personally make sense of: it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by society. The profound falsehood of this theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is obvious.” 

 According to this new theory of sexuality “people dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity… They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves.” If the duality between man and woman ceases to exist, the Pope explained, then “neither is the family any longer a reality established by creation. - Source

Be aware of what your kids are being taught and who or what teaching is forming their conscience.

Top photo: Andrea Pompilio Menswear Fall/Winter 2014

Two women?  Or a man and a woman?

The Pope speaks.

The Pope was finishing his sermon. He ended it with the Latin
phrase, “Tuti Homini” – Blessed be Mankind.

A women’s rights group approached the Pope the next day. They noticed that the pope blessed all Mankind, but not Womankind.

The next day, after his sermon, the Pope concluded by saying,
“Tuti Homini, et Tuti Femini” … Blessed be Mankind and Womankind.

The next day, a gay-rights group approached the Pope. They said that they noticed that he blessed mankind and womankind, and asked if he could also bless gay people.

The Pope said, “Sure”.

The next day, the Pope concluded his sermon with,
“Tuti Homini, et Tuti Femini, et Tuti Fruiti.”


H/T Nan

Huh?

The Little Dominican, Mary Ann Long

Mary Ann Long was a child with face cancer who had been a beloved patient with the Hawthorne Dominican Sisters at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Free Cancer Home in Atlanta, Georgia.  The story of her life is a fioretti of charity and consolation.  Flannery O'Connor and Ann Ball wrote about her.  (Ann Ball's story here.)



Several years ago one of the Hawthorne Dominican Sisters gave me this photo of Mary Ann.  I believe the nun in the photo was M. Bernadette.  Mary Ann died at age thirteen, after becoming a Dominican tertiary.  Today marks the anniversary of her death on January 18, 1959.



Little Mary Ann, pray for us.

The Awards Season

An Actress at her Toilet.

When actors and actresses and film makers are honored.

Lots of talk online about the Golden Globes and the Oscars - I like both awards shows, but I prefer the Globes, which I watched last Sunday instead of Downton Abbey.

Many popular writers devote space on their sites to critique films, actors, directors, and their awards.  Don't forget the fashions.  In turn, the writers who post stories on the subject can be criticized for being superficial - even when they decide it is important to discuss the merits of those who receive such awards as a Lifetime Achievement Award for their work.  Simcha Fisher devoted a post to this important topic, asking "What About Art Made by Monsters?"

I guess Woody Allen is a monster?

I'm not sure all the rumors about Woody are true.  If they are, his perversion is not unprecedented in Hollywood; Errol Flynn and his buddies fooled around with kids, and don't forget Roman Polanski's exile from the United States is on account of child molestation charges.  I'm not defending the behavior - just pointing out a fact.  Hollywood people "are pigs" - as Katherine Hepburn stated in an interview once.  And Mia Farrow is pretty strange herself - after all, she married Woody - and at one time, while still very young herself, married a much older Frank Sinatra.  Last time I read anything on Farrow, she was still unsure if one of her sons was Sinatra's.

That said, actors and theater people have always had a bad reputation.  Throughout history actors were associated with drunkards, harlots and Sodomites, most were considered immoral, right down there with vagabonds and gypsies.  In Medieval times, they could be refused Christian burial.  Even in the 20th Century it was rare to find an actor or actress acclaimed for their grace and virtue.  The moral standards of Hollywood in the age of the Legion of Decency was pretty much a cover up for scandal and bad behavior.  When scandals became public, stars were suspended, yet box office stardom and celebrity shot up.  We've made actors and filmmakers into celebrities, and grant them reputations and status as artists and philosophers - and some of them may be.  We expect them to be saints, indeed, they seem to have taken the place of saints in contemporary pop culture, some we make into idols - but they're just people, and more often than not, they are rarely acclaimed for virtuous living.

The awards shows are important for the industry not only for ratings, but to keep the industry afloat by hyping new films.  Amongst peers, the awards are recognition for artistic achievement.  Writing, acting, directing, and especially cinematography and CGI is an art form.  The players are not role models of virtuous living.  They are actors.  It's their job.  In addition to monetary compensation and success, they seek applause and approval for what they do - that's why they have awards.

Bloggers and journalists can be just like film people - they make up awards for themselves and write articles to drive stats and personal income.



Incidentally, Woody Allen never shows up for awards.  He doesn't care.

Gina Lollobrigida meeting Paul VI.

In 1957 both Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren

were designated 'public sinners' by the Vatican.

Stefano Di Stasio

Stefano Di Stasio è nato a Napoli nel 1948. 

Vive e lavora tra Roma e Spoleto.

Looks like St. Dominic Savio to me.

I've been listening to a lot of Italian spots on YouTube about various Italian artists I like.  I can understand a little bit.  I probably understand it better than if I was reading a translation.  I wish I had met some of these guys when I was in Italy.  I never didn't know who I was back then.

San Cristóbal

Downton Abbey ...

Alex's dad Phil.  Nan reminds me of Alex.

Not interested.

I watched Modern Family instead of Downton.  Yes, that's right - because it is so classy.  Wouldn't you love it if your dad thought so highly of you he'd compare you to a self-cleaning oven?  My heart swelled with emotion.  BTW - Attention modern Calvinists, there is no sex in Modern Family.*

Downton Abbey has hit the wall for me.  No more Matthew, no more O'Brien - boring.  (O'Brien was such a compassionate character.)  It's all about sluts this season.

I'm against it.

Alex

* Oh look!  I'm Kat!

NYTimes reports on the Jesuit spies trailing prelates in fur trimmed cappas...

I know!

Interviews with cardinals, bishops, priests, Vatican officials, Italian politicians, diplomats and analysts indicate that the mood inside the Vatican ranges from adulation to uncertainty to deep anxiety, even a touch of paranoia. Several people say they fear Francis is going department by department looking for heads to roll. Others whisper about six mysterious Jesuit spies who act as the pope’s eyes and ears on the Vatican grounds. Mostly, once-powerful officials feel out of the loop. - NYT

H/T Fr. Martin SJ

So you thought the Beatles were Satanic? Watch this Oprah Video!

The eyes have it.

What?

Get Voris on this! 

 Now!

Editor's note:  I found the Oprah video while searching for 'They sold their souls to rock 'n' roll' and LOL.

The Polar-izing Vortex

The Gay Priest Party*

Michael Voris has a new video...  His delivery gets a little heated, almost as if he is lashing out at the 'church of nice' instead of doing a report.  I think he may be referring to some Catholic bloggers he's been at war with.  Evidently something is wrong - in his estimation - with popular apologetic bloggers and an online priest or two.  I haven't followed that discussion.

The current video focuses on what is billed as a true story, first by Voris in his news report, and then concerned bloggers who picked up the story.  The report goes like this:  Supposedly an anonymous priest went to the diocesan Christmas party for priests, was soon disgusted by the priests who introduced him to their boyfriends - evidently the invited priests could bring a guest.  Not long afterwards, the priest approached a chancery official announcing that he never wanted to be invited again because of the gay priests and their boyfriends - who had evidently flaunted the boyfriends right in front of the bishop.  The chancery official told him to keep his mouth shut.  All of this took place in an unnamed - albeit notorious diocese somewhere in the United States.

Could it be true?  Yes.

So what's wrong with the story then?

It's unsubstantiated hearsay and rumor.  It fuels people's imaginations, it causes suspicion and incites unhealthy curiosity and speculation, leading to rash judgement and gossip.  If we do not know who, what, and where, how can a story like this be substantiated?  What good is accomplished?  What if the priest is a disgruntled, marginalized, unpopular cleric in his diocese and just wants to get revenge?  How does he know the other priests are gay?  And if they happen to be gay, how does he know they are sexually active or promoting homosexuality?  How does he know the men with these priests were their boyfriends?  Did they introduce them as such?  Were they carrying their rent-a-boy receipt book?

Without documentation, without proof, it's just gossip.  It is divisive.  It is contentious.  And it is why much of this online hysteria is never taken seriously.

Voris is a good man, no doubt about it.  The problem of 'gay' in the Church has much less to do with clergy than it does with Catholic education.  Anyone who has been educated in major Catholic universities and high schools in the last few decades must be aware that educators have been profoundly influenced by gay studies and politics, as well as organizations such as New Ways Ministry.  Though the catechism and the CDF says one thing, educators teach another.  Though New Ways and Dignity is banned, teachers who are in agreement with their 'doctrine' teach in our schools, work in chanceries, as well as parishes.  I keep saying this, but everyone acts as if there is some clandestine underground of gay priests plotting the over throw of Catholicism.  It's right in front of your faces - and you've been paying for it.  Don't believe me?  Look at this curriculum posted on Fr. Z's post "Catholic" it means whatever you want.  Now that's documentation. [Likewise, Motley Monk speaks to that issue here.]


*A well written response to the video can be found here.

Photo: The priests in the photo are not gay nor were they at the party Voris reports on.  It's an old photo of priests fooling around at a wedding reception.

January - A month for hermits...

St. John Calabyte

Today is the feast of St. Paul the Hermit, as well as St. John the Calabyte (hut-dweller).

Yesterday was the feast of the Martyr Hermits of Sinai, and in two days, we have the feast of St. Antony abbot.

The life of St. John Calabyte has similarities to that of St. Alexis.

Gay Catholics: Something isn't right ...

LGBTQ and genderqueerness ...

I sometimes read a blog by a former Dominican priest, highly pedigreed by his own account - he has more degrees and knows even more than Fr. Z forgot.  (He's a fan of Fr. Z BTW)  Anyway, the author of Ex Cathedra is uber conservative and something of a connoisseur/critic of gay whines.  That said, it was on his blog that I came across a study estimating the population of GLBT persons.  Everyone pretty much knows the long discredited estimate of 10% from Kinsey wasn't good science, and ongoing estimates placed the percentage much lower.  The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at UCLA released a study estimating the percentage of LGBT adults at 3.5% with .3% identifying as transgender - the T in LGBTQ.

The number of those who report any lifetime same-sex sexual behavior and any same-sex sexual attraction are much higher: An estimated 19 million Americans (8.2 percent) report that they have engaged in same-sex sexual behavior and 25.6 million Americans (11 percent) report at least some same-sex sexual attraction. The numbers are useful for guiding public policy and public health initiatives, and gay rights advocacy groups including Equality America have embraced the report's findings.

Understanding the size of the LGBT population is a critical first step to informing a host of public policy and research topics. The surveys highlighted in this report demonstrate the viability of sexual orientation and gender identity questions on large national population-based surveys. Adding these questions to more national, state, and local data sources is critical to developing research that enables a better understanding of the understudied LGBT community. - Source

So what's my point?  Not a word about genderqueerness within that study of sexual minorities.  Nevertheless, these are astonishing statistics.  Imagine - an estimated 3.5% of the population has so much power as to pretty much redefine sexual morality and sexual identity.

A new species, a third way then?

Sexual orientation and gender identity questions are playing a role in how Catholics are asked  (by gay-Catholics especially) to relate and minister to LGBTQ-GQ persons who seem to believe that their sexual orientation/condition is indeed a normal variant of human sexuality.  Some are challenging and unsettling traditional Catholic teaching on sexuality and gender - hoping to influence a development of doctrine and formulate a special queer spirituality. Some gay Catholics can dismiss, even disregard pastoral considerations and teaching defined in Vatican documents on the subject of homosexuality, suggesting the teaching is out dated, ill-defined, misunderstood, and in some cases offensive.  The oft cited, 'intrinsically disordered'* apparently is one of the most offensive statements the Church makes as regards homosexuality and homosexual behavior.  One gay Catholic considers it parroting** if a Catholic depends upon using Catholic teaching or natural law to instruct or explain how and why homosexuality is not normal.

In an address from 2004, Ron Belgau spoke of the problems presented by the Church's use of the term 'disordered':

And according to the Catholic Church, “As in every moral disorder, homosexual activity prevents one’s own fulfillment and happiness by acting contrary to the creative wisdom of God. The Church, in rejecting erroneous opinions regarding homosexuality, does not limit but rather defends personal freedom and dignity realistically and authentically understood.”

Let’s talk about that word, “disorder.” It’s controversial.

Here’s what usually happens. A Catholic begins to recognize that he is struggling with same-sex attraction, so he opens up the Catechism, looks for homosexuality in the index, turns to paragraph 2357, reads the phrase, “intrinsically disordered,” and freaks out. “The Church is saying that I’m mentally ill!” he says. “Why is the Church so down on me?”

Cardinal George recently observed, “The Church speaks, in moral and doctrinal issues, a philosophical and theological language in a society that understands, at best, only psychological and political terms. Our language is exact, but it does not help us in welcoming men and women of homosexual orientation. It can seem lacking in respect. This is a pastoral problem and a source of anxiety for me.”

Part of the problem is that few Catholics know enough about what the Catechism says about human sexuality and the disorder due to sin to be able to place those words in context. - Ron Belgau

That reminds me of the bishop who said ordinary people would never understand the word 'ineffable' if it was inserted in the liturgy.  I disagree with such ideas.  The Catechism and Church teaching needs to be taught and explained, that's agreed, that's the purpose of evangelization.

On the subject of normal, the more notable writers, intellectuals of the queer-Catholic-community have been directing attention to what they call 'normal' gays.  Men and women who appear to have no problem integrating their sexual inclination and a more stable, successful lifestyle.  These pioneers in the research and 'rehabilitation' of gay culture give the impression they are more enlightened and/or more well balanced than the average gay.  I'm talking about the stereotypical, promiscuous gay who supposedly has been destabilized and tormented by what they refer to as internalized homophobia.  These gays would be the subset of what used to be termed a subculture; they would be the type who do all the icky stuff that heterosexuals learned to associate with degenerate homosexual sex.  Apparently the well integrated gay Catholic is better than that.

From the sound of it, these internalized homophobic unfortunates are the types who end up being attracted to Courage.   Indeed, a couple of writers have explained that is why they don't like the Courage approach, saying such things as, "I don't want to sit around listening to guys talk about how they fell, or how often they masturbated."  Hence the desire for a new approach in pastoral care for homosexual persons, better suited to normal gay people.

To be sure, there is nothing wrong with developing a faithful alternative in pastoral ministry for people with SSA.  Courage may not be for everyone of course, but it is solidly Catholic and exactly what the Catechism recommends for the pastoral care of people struggling with unwanted homosexual inclination.  Naturally, not all people are suited to, or comfortable with support groups - however, the literature and guidance offered by Courage Apostolate is a great benefit to the most solitary of individuals who seek to re-form their lives in accordance with the Gospel.

I'm not saying the efforts of the so-called new homophiles - I prefer gay Catholics - are not sincere, nor am I saying they are not faithful Catholics - I don't know them well enough to make that judgement.  I have to agree with those who say some of what these folks write makes one's 'head spin'.  Just about every time a couple of them write anything 'ground-breaking' they seem to be challenged by readers as to their orthodoxy.  Subsequently they appear to back track and present voluminous explanations of what they really meant to say.  Otherwise they can become rather defensive and charity seems but a veneer of polite tolerance of anyone who challenges them.

It goes without saying I do not have the time or intellectual skills to focus my attention on what these folks are writing, but it seems a lot of it ends up being something of a doctrinal shell game.  I may be way off base, but it seems to me the underlying intention is to normalize homosexuality and to declare gay is good.

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* The Church's teaching today is in organic continuity with the Scriptural perspective  and with her own constant Tradition. Though today's world is in many ways quite new,  the Christian community senses the profound and lasting bonds which join us  to those generations who have gone before us, "marked with the sign of faith". Nevertheless, increasing numbers of people today, even within the Church,  are bringing enormous pressure to bear on the Church to accept  the homosexual condition as though it were not disordered  and to condone homosexual activity. Those within the Church  who argue in this fashion often have close ties with those with similar views outside it.  These latter groups are guided by a vision opposed to the truth about the human person,  which is fully disclosed in the mystery of Christ.  They reflect, even if not entirely consciously, a materialistic ideology  which denies the transcendent nature of the human person  as well as the supernatural vocation of every individual. - CDF

**Editor's note:  That is language usually used by those who dissent from Church teaching.   The Church defines its teaching after long study and deliberation for the benefit of the faithful.   To rely upon the use of Sacred Tradition - Scripture, the Catechism, and Church documents  to defend the faith and refute errors is never mindless parroting.   NB: The unedited version of the post posted originally.   I had been working with 2 browsers and publishing got mixed up.   This is the edited version of what originally posted.  The final edition.

On Spiritual Friendship - according to St. Aelred

Yesterday was the memorial of St. Aelred, though I wasn't aware of any bloggers devoted to the saint posting on the medieval abbot of Rievaulx to commemorate him nor his spirituality on friendship.

I found a very good essay on the saint written by Patricia Carroll OCSO.  She concludes, sums up her reflections on the treatise with the following:

Finally Aelred admits that this spiritual friendship is something we will experience with only a few people, perhaps even only one, in this life. This would be reasonable enough as it would seem to make enormous demands on the persons involved, and there are relatively few who will be able or ready to allow us enter the inner sanctuary of their heart. In this sense, it is gift. But what we have experienced, by the grace of God, or can experience with a few people will in heaven be ‘outpoured on all and, by all, be outpoured upon God, and God shall be all in all.’ For since the Incarnation, all those who are living the Christ-life are no longer called servants but friends.

Aelred’s reflections and guidelines on spiritual friendship are more pertinent today than ever. At a time when human love in all its aspects has been trivialised and de-sacralised, when the pleasure principle is given priority and recreational sex is commonplace, he emphasises the demands that authentic love makes. Christian relationships are demanding and his criteria could be helpful for those responding to the call to Christian marriage, those engaged in relationships of spiritual accompaniment, those endeavouring to revitalise Christian community, as well as the monastics for whom Aelred wrote so beautifully. These are the kinds of relationships exemplified in the lives of saints such as Frances de Sales and Jeanne de Chantal, Clare and Francis of Assisi, John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. Incidentally, the gentle bishop of Geneva quotes Aelred in his own writings. Aelred’s treatise On Spiritual Friendship is a spiritual classic because it has something to say in every age. If we were looking for a patron saint of all those who endeavour to establish Christ-centred relationships, whether inside or outside of marriage, Aelred would surely be at the top of the list. - On Spiritual Friendship

I also found an in depth analysis for interpreting the counsel of St. Aelred in our day.  A couple of issues much debated today, popped out for me.

The Eastern monastic tradition warns of the possibility of platonic male-female relationship developing in sexually inappropriate ways under the guise of friendship. It also has strict codes against male-male attachments for similar concerns. Viewed thus, Aelred would have had reservations about deep male-female and male-male friendships.

Whilst mindful of the traps of eros (as a sexual problem), Aelred did not show that relational intimacy would inevitably become romantic/eros. Yes, in A Rule of Life for the Recluse, he warns sisters in a celibate lifestyle from forming deep emotional bonds with any man and away from friendly tenderness that would lead to open sexual release.⁹⁷ The concern arises from his familiarity with promiscuous sexual relationships both in the courts and in the monastic communities, as well as the Eastern and Egyptian Christian monastic traditions (such as Anthony, Pachomus, Cassian, and the Desert Fathers), which warned against sensual love between older monks and younger monks, and/or with the opposite gender.

Cassian’s Conferences XVI contained specific warnings against lustful thoughts, subversive dreams, bodily vices, and nocturnal emissions; all of which would suggest the wisdom of keeping a distance from attractive relationships both outside and within the monastery, for both male-male, and male-female relationships.⁹⁸ And since Benedict’s monastic rule in this respect was drawn from Cassian on rightly ordered love, and since the Cistercian Order, which Aelred has devoted himself, observes the Benedictine Rule, Aelred was clearly not naïve about the perils of sexual temptations. 

[...]

As spiritual intimacy represents the highest goal of Aelredian friendship, he would affirm relational intimacy in its most holy and mature manner, befitting of true friendship: that this love would not contain travesties of avarice and concupiscence: caritas has nothing to do with cupiditas.

While romance as we know it today would have been foreign to medieval platonic male-female friendship, there is at least a recognition of the potential perils of such friendship developing into a sexual promiscuity.

(Aelred) provide(s) guidelines on developing healthy relationships, such as loving each other’s soul as their own, with pure intention, and cardinal virtues, which include rejecting nothing expedient, accepting nothing unbecoming, and growing together in prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, and always expressing their kindred-ness in properly ordered love. Chastity and wisdom, towards God and each other, then represents the two roots to this truly healthy platonic bond. - Friendship: Interpreting Aelredian Love for Today

Many today erroneously claim that St. Aelred was gay - as the scholarship noted above suggests, St. Aelred would have had profound reservations over inordinate same sex friendships.  That is not to say his teaching can not be applied to same sex friendship as a means of understanding what the Catechism refers to as 'disinterested friendship'.  Friendship, good same sex friendship is a necessary component to a healthy celibate life.

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‘The wound inflicted by a friend is more tolerable than the kisses of flatterers’... S. Ambrose

The Holy Father on Infant Baptism

Practicing what he has long preached, the Holy Father baptized the child of a couple in a civil marriage - as well as a single mother's son ...

Pope Francis has baptized 32 babies in the Sistine Chapel and told their mothers to have no qualms about feeding them there. Two of the infants are the daughter of a couple that did not get married in the Catholic Church and a single mother's son.

Unlike his predecessors, who usually delivered long and theology-laden homilies at the yearly event, the pope offered a brief, improvised homily of some 300 words centered on the children.

"Today the choir will sing but the most beautiful choir of all is the choir of the infants who will make a noise. Some will cry because they are not comfortable or because they are hungry," he said in a familiar, relaxed tone to the parents.

Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel are some of the world's most celebrated works of art. The ceiling depicts the creation of man and the altar wall shows a severe God at the Last Judgment.

But the pope told the mothers not to feel intimidated by the surroundings.

"If they are hungry, mothers, feed them, without thinking twice. Because they are the most important people here," he said, speaking in the same room where he was elected on March 13 as the first non-European pope in 1,600 years.

Francis said in an interview last month that mothers should not feel uncomfortable breastfeeding during his ceremonies. - Buenos Aires Herald

During the homily, in effect a brief catechesis, Pope Francis explained to the parents that the most important thing they can do is to transmit the faith of their forefathers to their children.

Sadly, some Catholics will be expressing their disapproval.

Viva il Papa!


Update:  As to be expected, Deacon Kandra has a very balanced commentary on the situation here.

Baptism of the Lord: The Three-Fold Feast of Epiphany

“Today the Bridegroom claims his bride, the Church, since Christ has washed her sins away in Jordan’s waters; the Magi hasten with their gifts to the royal wedding; and the guests rejoice, for Christ has changed water into wine, alleluia.” - Antiphon for the feast of the Epiphany

528 The Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Savior of the world. The great feast of Epiphany celebrates the adoration of Jesus by the wise men (magi) from the East, together with his baptism in the Jordan and the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee.²¹² In the magi, representatives of the neighboring pagan religions, the Gospel sees the first-fruits of the nations, who welcome the good news of salvation through the Incarnation. The magi's coming to Jerusalem in order to pay homage to the king of the Jews shows that they seek in Israel, in the messianic light of the star of David, the one who will be king of the nations.²¹³ Their coming means that pagans can discover Jesus and worship him as Son of God and Savior of the world only by turning towards the Jews and receiving from them the messianic promise as contained in the Old Testament.²¹⁴ The Epiphany shows that "the full number of the nations" now takes its "place in the family of the patriarchs", and acquires Israelitica dignitas²¹⁵ (is made "worthy of the heritage of Israel"). - CCC

At Mass today the homilist suggested that in his sacred humanity, Jesus didn't know who he was until the Baptism, when the heavens opened up and the Father spoke saying, "You are my beloved son."

That made me sad.  Christ knew who he was.  As St. John states "Jesus, fully aware that he had come from God and was going to God, the Father who had handed everything over to him..." - John 13  That verse comes at the Last Hour of course, yet it seems to me the threefold dimension of the feast of the Epiphany is the key to understanding that Christ knew fully that he had come from God and was going to God, and that the Father handed everything over to him.  The manifestation of this mystery was for us: "No one has ever seen God.  It is God the only Son, ever at the Father's side, who has revealed him." -

It makes me sad because this is the result of what Pope Benedict called in his book, Jesus of Nazareth, 'a broad current of liberal scholarship'.  Benedict goes on to call such speculation as something more akin to the construction of a "'Jesus novel' than an actual interpretation of the (sacred) texts."

I wonder if the style of interpretation of scripture I heard for today's Gospel may be why we see slip shod liturgies, bad catechesis and sloppy decorum, as well as a lack of faith in the Real Presence?

"Where does this poisonous harm fail to reach? And who fails to drink little or much from the golden chalice of the Babylonian woman of the Apocalypse? ...There is hardly anyone of high rank or low, saint or sinner, who does not drink of her wine, subjecting his heart somewhat."

Rev. Fabrizio De Michino

A priest faithful to the Pope.

The Rev. Fabrizio De Michino was born in Naples on 8 September 1982. Nearly 3,000 people gathered in Ponticelli to bid him a final farewell at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows, where he served as a parochial vicar. Fr. Fabrizio suffered greatly in his last few months, which he lived with great faith and with strength of mind. He always had a smile and words of comfort for his family and friends, who were with him until the very end.

Read Fr. Fabrizio's letter to Pope Francis here.

Thanks to Yaya for the story.