Lots of reactions and
interpretations have been flooding the internet and media publications
regarding the latest pronouncement by the on-going Synod of Catholic Bishops in
Rome on same-sex marriage. Below is an extract of the translation
of the seemingly controversial document:
SYNOD14 - ELEVENTH
GENERAL ASSEMBLY: “RELATIO POST DISCEPTATIONEM” OF THE GENERAL
RAPPORTEUR, CARD. PÉTER ERDŐ, 13.10.2014.
Part III
The Discussion:
Pastoral Perspectives
Welcoming Homosexual
Persons
50. Homosexuals
have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community: are we capable of
welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a fraternal space in our
communities? Often they wish to encounter a Church that offers them a welcoming
home. Are our communities capable of providing that, accepting and valuing
their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family
and matrimony?
51. The
question of homosexuality leads to a serious reflection on how to elaborate
realistic paths of affective growth and human and evangelical maturity
integrating the sexual dimension: it appears therefore as an important
educative challenge. The Church furthermore affirms that unions between people
of the same sex cannot be considered on the same footing as matrimony between
man and woman. Nor is it acceptable that pressure be brought to bear on pastors
or that international bodies make financial aid dependent on the introduction
of regulations inspired by gender ideology.
52. Without
denying the moral problems connected to homosexual unions it has to be noted
that there are cases in which mutual aid to the point of sacrifice constitutes
a precious support in the life of the partners. Furthermore, the Church pays
special attention to the children who live with couples of the same sex,
emphasizing that the needs and rights of the little ones must always be given
priority.
Earlier in June 3, 2003, the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under Joseph Card. Ratzinger (now
Pope Emeritus) as the Prefect had concluded that:
“The Church teaches that respect for
homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behaviour
or to legal recognition of homosexual unions. The common good requires that
laws recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis of the family, the
primary unit of society. Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them
on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant
behaviour, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society,
but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of
humanity. The Church cannot fail to defend these values, for the good of men
and women and for the good of society itself.” (Considerations Regarding
Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons, No.
11).
In the face of the babel of reactions
for and against this latest pronouncement, my questions are: What is our
problem with the Church’s opinion to approach homosexuals and lesbians with Love,
Charity and Forgiveness as fellow sinful children of God who also need to be
saved? If Jesus had encountered any of them like he met Mary Magdalene (Lk.
8:2; Mk. 16:9), the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:4-26), or the woman
condemned for adultery (Jn. 8:1-11), do we think he would have driven him or her away
with a whip as he did to those buying and selling in the Temple (Mtt. 21:12)?
Without prejudice to
the fact that their case is an abnormality and a sin, I think that we need a
genuine Christian spirit like the one inspiring the Church, for us to
understand and appreciate this move. Moreover, the Church has not declared
Same-sex Union as a right practice and a valid form of Matrimony unlike some
civil societies and Protestant Denominations have done. Rather, the Church is simply
working on a hypothesis of acknowledging people with this disorder as fellow
sinful Christians who are also in need of that same salvation which is the
primary goal of the Church. Let us not forget what St. Paul said about the
weak versus the strong (Rom. 14:1; 15:1; ICor. 9:22; Gal. 6:2; IThess. 5:14,
etc).
Thanks be to God that
you and I did not find ourselves in this disorder either by human influence, gender
crisis, biological or psychological abnormal sexual orientation or instinct,
etc. I bet you, we may have done just little or nothing about it.
So, let us not allow
this seeming bombshell to move or affect our faith in the Church’s wisdom of
decisions. It is still in the offing and not yet a conclusive
declaration. So help us God.
