Photo: A Prece [The Prayer] by Antônio Parreiras [Public domain]
The current statements by bishops regarding Fr. James Martin S.J. have been important, however, there is a piece missing.
Recently, Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia issued a statement where he affirmed Fr. Martin in some areas of his pastoral work with those who suffer what he calls same sex attractions. He also addressed concerns that some of his teaching may confuse the faithful.
If you are not aware of the controversy, Fr. James Martin S.J. wrote a book two years ago entitled: Building a Bridge to encourage that the “LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity” with the Church.
Some fear that Fr. Martin is normalizing homosexuality in the Church, although he says that he does not advocate against Church teaching.
Martin addresses issues surrounding terms like objectively disordered and intrinsically evil which members of the homosexual community personalize and assume describes them. According to Martin and others, this leads to a feeling of alienation from the Church.
The Archbishop states the terms actually apply to a whole series of temptations and inclinations to those who are and are not homosexually oriented and does not mean the person is disordered or intrinsically evil, etc.
Bishop Paprocki of Springfield, IL and Bishop Stika Knoxville, Tennessee affirmed Archbishop Chaput’s statements.
The bishops seem to address the direction of the Catholic teaching but neither the goal nor manner of getting there. The goal is, of course, eternal life in Christ. St. Irenaeus described this as being fully alive. The direction, so indicates Bishop Paprocki, is through virtue, sanctification and purity. None of the bishops seem to indicate that the route to that goal is never strictly through our own efforts but in seeking Christ through prayer and the sacraments which is the endeavor for all Catholics. I am sure these terms are implied in their statements, but those who do not understand Catholicism enough do not have the formation to appreciate the implication. Martin, in his book, does not make eternal life or prayer a focus either.
It appears that the bishops do not understand that the message of the sinfulness of homosexual acts gets mixed with the sola scriptura teaching of evangelical communities. People condemning those struggling with a homosexual inclination cite such verses as Leviticus 18:22 and Romans 1:20 and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah which are quoted to them always. It is rumored that one gay actor used to rip the page with Leviticus 18:22 out of any hotel bible. The verses are used in proof-texting which is the act of taking a bible verse out of context and using it to back up your argument.
Leviticus 18:22 labels homosexual activity an abomination and demands that the men are stoned to death. Contrary to Catholic teaching, many take this passage to teach that gay bashing is approved by God. The Church mandates that all people must be treated with dignity and respect. Gay bashing is condemned by the Church.
Romans 1:20 is an admonition against idolatry. Paul shows that when a people practice it, they begin to live by their passions which leads to moral breakdown in a society and then civil breakdown.
Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) were destroyed not for their sinfulness, but for the lack of righteous people (Genesis 18:16-32). It would appear that this is two sides of the same coin, but there is a difference.
Both Romans 1:20 and Sodom and Gomorrah reflect the urgency of Catholics living their faith prophetically. This means living the Catholic faith to the fullest to the glory of God.
Catholics also draw on tradition such as the writings of the saints and the teaching of the Church over the centuries and more.
For example, many in the homosexual community believe that they are condemned to Hell as the worst of all sinners, but St. John Vianney taught that the worst of all sinners are indeed not even those who live actively in a worldly lifestyle, but rather lukewarm Catholics. They are so bad that Christ spits them out of his mouth.
A sinner laments his condition when his conscience awakens. He even longs to leave his sinful life, and he will leave it someday. But a soul which lives in lukewarmness never thinks of quitting that state because he even thinks that he stands well with God. What shall we conclude from all this? This, dear brethren, that the lukewarm soul is in the sight of God more offensive, so that He will spit it out, that is, will leave it to perdition.[1]
Often times God uses those who are outside the people of God to speak to his people.
From a homily:
Over the years, you learn of people who really commit themselves to a cause and they may do drastic things for that cause. Everything from laying down in front of a bulldozer to fasting for Thanksgiving to putting crosses on nuclear missile silos. Many of these people are not only not Catholic, they reject Catholic teaching and even live lifestyles that we as Catholics do not at all support.
Now you might be saying: “Father we're not going to lay down in front of a bulldozer to prove that we love God.”
That's not what I'm asking you to do what I'm actually asking you to understand is there are those who basically do not like what we teach and maybe live lifestyles completely outside of our faith yet are willing to put their lives on the line for what they believed.
How many people do not go to Mass because they are too busy, too tired, they have baseball practice, they have football practice, hockey, basketball, they want to read the Sunday newspaper they don't want to go to church, the crisis turned them away from Christ, they want to sleep in? How many excuses can I give? When all is said and done the Lord would say to them “This guy doesn't even believe in the Eucharist, yet he gave everything he had for what he believes in and you ignore the reality of the Eucharist on Sunday which you claim to believe in.”
Saying we must change Catholic teaching implies that we are more intelligent than two thousand years of the Holy Spirit working through Catholic history and tradition which is a statement that lacks humility, an essential part of Catholic life. However, neither do we have any right to condemn people to believe that they have no chance of salvation. If we do that then we encourage them into the sin of despair—a grave sin against the Holy Spirit. None of the saints would encourage this evil, least of all St. John Vianney.
It is no secret that some people with same sex attraction feel so estranged from God that they attempt suicide with the understanding if they were going to Hell anyway, what is 50 years when they are looking at eternity. How did people come to believe this message which would horrify the saints? God made it clear, that communicating mercy is the priority. “It is mercy I desire more than sacrifice.” Mercy is bestowed on one who seeks union with Christ. It implies not to just to avoid sin, but to orient one's live to Christ.
Are we willing to be held accountable for not teaching the truth of the call of Christ to all? It is Church teaching that the orientation is not sinful. What we address is, as with all forms of temptation, choosing against Christ is always sinful, regardless of the activity. St. Peter Damien one the Church’s greatest critics of the sins against chastity brought forth that homosexual intercourse is what is sinful, he never addressed homosexual orientation. [2]
The person who seeks Christ finds Him first as a sinner and then Our Lord draws him away from his obvious sins and closer to Him. The person touched by grace chooses willingly to change their ways so that they can come to know Christ more. Despite all this, it is the sinner who finds Christ, even the worst of all sinners. It is never the self-righteous or obstinate.
The context of Catholic morality is always in light of salvation and through knowing Christ. We know that no one who is not a person of prayer can indeed follow Catholic morality well. Yet, this simple fact, well known to everyone who seeks to live the Catholic life, is not in the bishops’ statements.
The piece that the bishops did not put into their statements and Martin in his book is that one must be rooted in good practices of prayer to Christ in order to do His will. The Venerable Fulton Sheen encouraged priests to do a holy hour daily and said in a retreat to priests in 1970 that a whoever does this will never be lost. Cardinal Seàn O’Malley requests his priests to pray two hours a day including Mass. The call to pray extends to all Catholics even if the commitment of an hour is not as required although, I will add it is highly recommended.
Thankfully Bishop Paprocki added that one of the goals is sanctification which in more popular terms is holiness, but holiness is impossible without seeking prayer in Christ.
Pope St. John Paul II was a prolific writer, but everything he wrote could be summed up in two words: “Follow Christ.”
We cannot expound on Catholic teaching if we are not also teaching to seek Christ, to follow Christ and to be a person of prayer to Him. St. Paul wrote to pray always. St. Alphonsus Liguori in How to Converse with God, (TAN Books) taught to use prayer to speak to God as one would a good friend.
It makes no sense to teach Catholic morality if we are not also teaching prayer and that is for all not just the homosexual community.
In fact, St. John Vianney says that just going through the motions of Catholicism does not draw us closer to Christ—the point of his words against lukewarm Catholics. He taught instead that the holy persons rejoice in Christ and seek to grow in his love and knowledge of him as they grow in divine wisdom. They choose to avoid anything that leads them from Christ. Fortunately, Catholics have the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation which allows us to repent and to be reconciled to Christ through the sacraments trusting fully in His mercy.
It is possible that one of the great faults that has led to the current crisis in the Church is the lack of teaching on prayer. Cardinal Sarah in his book The Day Is Now Far Spent (Ignatius) indicates this as well.
Judas is for all eternity the traitor's name, and his shadow hands over us today. Yes, like him, we have betrayed! We have abandoned prayer. (Alas, Judas Iscariot; The Day Is Now Far Spent; San Francisco, Ignatius, 2019 Kindle Version)
As the bishops seek to find one solution or another to the current problems in our church they rarely mention prayer and did not mention prayer in their current statements.
However, no one can live the Catholic faith at all without it. No saint lived without it.
Prayer is not as the homosexual community fears “Pray away the gay.” It is far more comprehensive. In fact, some of the saints may be appalled at the idea, surprisingly. St. Alphonsus Liguori, in the book Uniformity with God’s Will explains that St. Paul was tempted to impurity as we see in 2Corinthians 12:7.
Lest St. Paul become vain on account of the spiritual gifts he had received, the Lord permitted him to be tempted to impurity: “And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan to buffet me.” (2 Cor. 12:7)[3]
Now granted, no one reading this is St. Paul, but if people chose Christ through their temptations not out of fear of Hell, but of love for God, and they understood this struggle actually lead them closer to Christ as they did St. Paul, would the saints not teach them to use their inclinations for their spiritual strength, not their condemnation? Provided they sought Christ in spite of them? After all the point of 2 Corinthians 12 is that if God removed this "thorn of Satan" St Paul would be lost due to his pride.
Catholics pray so that we may experience Christ in his fullness. The point is to be holy which is the destiny of every baptized Catholic. When we seek holiness, we become what Christ mandated: salt of the earth light to the world.
Holiness leads one to let go of all obstacles to encountering Christ fully, which is more than any one sin.
The holy persons rejoice in Christ and seek to grow in his love and knowledge of him as they grow in divine wisdom. They choose to avoid anything that leads them from Christ and to be reconciled in Christ through the sacraments when they do sin. They trust fully in His mercy.
One day the companions of St. Gertrude asked her if she was afraid of dying without the Last Sacraments. “I would certainly wish with all my heart to receive them in my last moments,” she answered, “but I much prefer the will of God, for I am sure the best disposition for a good death is submission to His Will. So, I desire only the death He wishes me to come to Him, and I am confident that in whatever way I die, His mercy will not fail me.”[4]
Many saints explained that living just to avoid Hell was the lowest form of devotion and was not pleasing to God. They lived in love with God and referred to Christ in endearing terms not fearful ones. They knew Christ. They came from all kinds of backgrounds with various forms of temptation and faults. I am sure some even struggled with homosexual inclinations. However, they had one thing in common, the desire to give all to Christ. This is after all the meaning of the Catholic faith. We live to know, love and serve Christ in this world and we do it with joy as we wait for the next. Everything else falls to the wayside when it comes to loving Christ. This is the what the saints lived and it all began in prayer. This is the call that each one of us has. This was not communicated in the statements of the bishops but then again this article is twenty-five hundred words and the Archbishop's pithy statement is one fifth of its length.
The current statements by the bishops in light of the ministry of Fr. James Martin, S.J. and the concern of many for the faith in and out of the homosexual community may reflect what both the bishops and the Fr Martin miss—the need for good formation on what it actually means to be a Catholic and the duty we have to proclaim it accurately and to live it prophetically. We can only do that in the context of prayer.
[1] Vianney, St Jean-Marie Sermons of the Curé of Ars; Keeping It Catholic publishing, Kindle Edition location 5464
[2] Damien, St. Peter, The Book of Gomorrah, Hoffman, Matthew Cullinan Translator, New Braunfels, Texas, Ite Ad Thomam Books 2015
[3] Liguori, St. Alphonsus, Uniformity with God’s Will, 2013, Charlotte, TAN Books, Kindle Edition, position 343
[4] Saint-Jure, Fr. Jean Baptiste and De La Colombière, S.J., St. Claude, Garvin, Prof. Paul Trans., Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, Charlotte, TAN Books, P. 60 Kindle edition
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