Letter to the Editor: More professors respond to editorials

The following statement appeared in this paper (signed by several faculty members):We are sorry that, in the context of the good intentions of praying for President Obama and his administration, the website cited in the recent calls to pray the rosary included references to the idea that homosexual marriage is an intrinsic evil. This language opens up the possibility for hate, although we note that the official Catholic doctrine is to love all of God's children. The statement on the website is hurtful to a number of people in our community, and seems to us to diminish the lofty goals of the project.

(Website: http://www.catholicculture.org/rosary/index.cfm?rosary=7)

After reading this blurb a student earnestly asked me if I would write a clarification out of concern that his fellow students at this Catholic college may be led astray by such a statement. This is authentically accomplished by the many beautiful papal encyclicals and official Vatican documents that have come out on this subject, but here I will directly speak to each part of this statement. First, praying for the U.S. president and his administration is certainly a good thing. Now let's look at each of the next three propositions:

1. We are sorry that.the website.included references to the idea that homosexual marriage is an intrinsic evil.

This reflects exactly what the Church teaches, that homosexual activity is intrinsically evil, and that the oxymoron of same-sex marriage would also be inasmuch as it condones or promotes such behavior. This truth has its roots in the word of God, which in the Old Testament calls homosexual acts an abomination and in the New Testament a grave depravity (Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10). Philosophically it is rooted in natural law, the unchanging law of God applied to human beings, which recognizes certain objective ends and values relating to human nature. The term "intrinsically evil" simply means an act which by its very nature can never be good regardless of circumstance or consequence. Marriage is the coming together of the two halves of humanity for unitive and procreative ends, and can occur only between a man and woman. Homosexual acts are perversions of love that have neither unitive nor procreative potential, contradicting conjugal love as designed and willed by the Creator. The Catechism calls them objectively disordered, and John Paul II called the idea of homosexual marriage part of "a new ideology of evil".

The latest Vatican document on the subject (Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons), and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, state:

There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law. Homosexual acts close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved (CCC 2357). And although persons with homosexual tendencies must be treated with respect, compassion and sensitivity, homosexual inclination is however "objectively disordered" (CCC 2358) and homosexual practices are sins gravely contrary to chastity (CCC 2396). Christians give witness to the whole moral truth, which is contradicted both by approval of homosexual acts and unjust discrimination against homosexual persons.

2. This language opens up the possibility for hate, although we note that the official Catholic doctrine is to love all of God's children.

The official Catholic doctrine is also that homosexual acts and same-sex marriage are evil. This does not contradict God's love for all, but displays it; the Church would not be loving all of God's children if she allowed them to believe a dangerous falsehood. To say that Church doctrine based on the word of God opens the possibility for hate is an objective insult to God. As John Paul II stated so eloquently in Veritatis Splendor, happiness can only come through truth, specifically the truth of our being. Calling evil what it is is a most loving act for reasons not the least of which is that eternal salvation depends on it. What loving parent would not protect his children by proper instruction? The reason Christ gave His extended body on earth (the Church) the gift of infallibility on matters of faith and morals is because God wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1Tim 2:4). God's love for all people is a given; whether we choose to love Him back by keeping His commands (Jn 14:15) is our free choice.

3. The statement on the website is hurtful to a number of people in our community, and seems to us to diminish the lofty goals of the project.

Nothing that the Church teaches in God's name can be objectively hurtful, for God's truth is love. Sometimes it may feel hurtful to those who have never heard it or who are hiding from it, but happiness can only be found by living in accord with the natural law.

For those who are not aware, the Church does not teach that disordered emotions or attractions are sinful in themselves. We are not responsible for involuntary feelings or desires. To be guilty of sin there must be full knowledge and deliberate consent. The degree of freedom an individual has with any given act is something only God can know for sure.

Christians are always called to love the sinner and hate the sin. In fact if one doesn't hate the sin one isn't loving the sinner. Both extremes must be avoided - to love the sinner and love the sin (as is popular with relativism today) as well as to hate the sinner and hate the sin.

Lastly, some claim sex-sex attraction as well as other propensities may be a genetic trait. The truth is we really don't know, but regarding the moral law it doesn't matter. The effects of original sin imbalance each individual in different ways, possibly affecting our genes, our development in utero, our experiences in the first few years after birth, or other hidden factors. The Christian moral life includes cooperating with God's grace to overcome disordered desires and propensities - regardless of their causes - in the attempt to live according to the objective true and good. False compassion, although very popular in today's secular world, is not love and does more harm than good. As is the case for all people, those afflicted with same-sex attraction are called to chastity. The organization COURAGE has been successful in offering healing to those with same-sex attraction, enabling them to overcome disordered impulses by either assisting them into a change of orientation or a re-channeling of energy into constructive life-giving charitable endeavors.