Back in March, I posted on Georgetown’s Law’s “Lavender Graduation.” It is, in the words of Dean of Student Mitch Bailin,”a special ceremony designed to celebrate the contributions and achievements of Georgetown’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender graduating students.” My argument is pretty simple: there’s simply no way a self-proclaimed Catholic university can affirm this. It’s beyond inconsistent with Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the Church’s guiding principle on the role of Catholic universities, and it’s atrocious: to segregate students out (even with their consent) to praise those who openly flaunt Catholic sexual ethics is patently contrary to the Catholic principles allegedly under-girding the school. Nor is this Dean Bailin’s first offense on this front. No institution can simultaneously promote Catholicism and homosexuality. “A house divided,” and all that (cf. Matthew 12:25).
Yesterday, a commenter graced my blog with what almost seems like performance art, responding to the post (and this is the entire comment, mind you):
mmm…papist intolerance
I love the comment, because it sums up everything I could say about the supposed push for “tolerance” from the New Left (and particularly, from gay activists). It’s “tolerate what we like, and if you oppose our political goals, we’ll attack and denigrate you freely, since you’re obviously the one motivated by ‘hate.'” This is the pattern we’ve seen in places like California after Prop 8, where those who dared opposed the GLBT movement were subjected to blacklisting, harassment, and even violence, all in the name of “tolerance.” In his or her own tiny way, this “klobb3425” has carried that black tradition forward. In a two-word phrase, Klobb both uses an anti-Catholic slur, and attacks Catholics for being the bigots. This, with no seeming sense of irony (or grammar). Brilliant. One almost wonders if Klobb is trying to show the absurdity of the GLBT argument for intolerant “tolerance.”
Now, I question: what precisely was the intolerance Klobb complained of? My not-particularly-novel suggestion that homosexuality isn’t compatible with Catholicism, or the Catholic interpretation of Scripture? Seemingly not. After all, Klobb’s own anti-Catholicism seems to be a direct result of the same understanding that you can’t simultaneously promote Catholicism and homosexuality. Given the choice, I choose Catholicism, since it can saved my soul; Klobb chooses homosexuality, and doesn’t bother to explain why. Of the two of us, I attempted to show why homosexuality was objectively wrong; in the comment, Klobb responded with name-calling, declaring Catholics “papists,” something a blog named “Shameless Popery” is pretty okay with.
I believe that the comment is good, in spite of itself: good, in that it draws out the venom into the open. Georgetown should be aware that at its core, the GLBT movement is, almost by definition, anti-Catholic. The GLBT movement has, as its political core, the belief that homosexual acts are not fundamentally different than sexual relations. Catholicism rejects this wholly and completely. has, as an unchanging dogma, the belief that homosexual acts are depraved, contrary to the will of God, and contrary to the good of the individual, and that unlike heterosexual inclinations, cannot be acted upon in a healthy way ever. She declares homosexual urges “intrinsically disordered,” since unlike heterosexual urges, there’s not a good underlying them (i.e., the healthy desire for marriage and family).
All of that said, the Church’s relationship to individuals experiencing same-sex attraction is one of profound love and maternal aid. This reflects Our Lord: God loves, and sent His Son to die for, homosexuals and those experiencing same-sex attraction. God hates and abhors homosexuality, as Scripture makes clear. There’s no grand contradiction there. One might love their alcoholic uncle without loving the daily temptations he struggles with (or gives in to). We, likewise, should truly love the sinner and hate the sin. That this may be a time of spiritual benefit, instead of mere conflict, let me conclude by highlighting the important work of the group Courage. It’s a Catholic apostolate, faithful to the Magisterium, with the specific mission of assisting Catholics with same-sex attractions in living out their lives faithfully. Fr. Paul Scalia, who is actively involved in Courage, has explained the Church’s stance on homosexuality, by noting that unlike both gay bigots and anti-gay bigots, the Church (and Courage) understand that individuals are more than the sum of their sexual attractions, and that there’s a world of difference between same-sex attraction and living a homosexual lifestyle. If you feel called to it, you can make a donation on their front-page. They do very good work for those struggling with one of the hardest temptations mortal men suffer from.