Gay in a Catholic world

Press, 29 March 1980, Page 15

Gay in a Catholic world

By

KARREN BEANLAND

' "Growing up gay and Catholic can be like living in Northern Ireland with a Catholic mother and a Protestant father. Loyalty to one seems to preclude ■loyalty to the other.” A recent advertisement in the “Tablet” said: "Gay and Catholic: Can you be both? We think so.” The “•we” is a Christchurch group called “Ascent.” Formed about six months ago. it is an off-shoot of similar groups fn New Zealand and overseas. Two of its members were willing to talk about the group; however they did not wish to be named. “Ascent” had been formed. . they said, so homosexual Roman Catholic men could meet to share their experiences and worship together. It has about 25 members in Christchurch, with a ‘solid core” of 17 who attend the weekly meetings. / It consists of homosexuals who grew up within the Roman Catholic church, some who had left the church after being disillusioned by its attitude to homosexuality, and some who have converted to Catholicism. The official aim of the group is. to “relate the commandments of Christ and the teachings of the church to the spiritual, social, and personal well-

being of the homosexual Catholic.” It is difficult, to see where homosexuals find a place in the Roman Catholic church. In October last year. Pope .John Paul II commended a statement by American bishops that “homosexual activity . . .

as distinguished from homosexual orientation, is morally wrong.”

Members of "Ascent,” however, have found that the church is far more accepting than the official doctrine would indicate. They emphasise that on a practical level the official

teaching is often relaxed, “When it comes to official statements a lot of clergy will say things that we disagree with. For example, we find it ridiculous for a priest to say that it’s alright to have homosexual affection for somebody, but that it must not become ‘genital’,” they said. . : “But on a personal level the dealings of the clergy with' homosexuals seem to be; remarkably good.”

The 1975 Vatican Declaration oh Sexual Ethics made it very' clear that, although homosexual acts should never be morally justified, the homosexual must be treated with

understanding. The extent of that understanding will vary greatly with the individual priest, however. “The thing is that we do not confess to a microphone connected to the Vatican. The priests are individual people,” said one member of “Ascent.” "One priest will prefer it if you have a stable relationship with a person because he is concerned about the quality of the love involved.

"Another will prefer it if you have ‘one night stands’ because that means you may have been

caught in a moment of passion and therefore are less morally culpable.” One member of "Ascent,” who lives in a permanent relationship with another man, receives absolution although he doe not confess his sexua: activity. The priest knows, about his. relationship. "I told my priest that 1 would not confess about my' sexual activities with my- partner because I don’t consider them to be a sin. I am fully prepared to be accountable to my own God.” Other homosexuals receive an entirely different type of pastoral care. In a parish in Chicago, peni-

fents have been required to wash out their mouths in the urinal of a public lavatory in the church. Happily, none of the members of "Ascent”- have experienced _ such treatment.

The two men I spoke to saw their position as being much the same as Roman Catholics who use contraceptives. “It is always the case that a large number of practising Catholics do not follow the official teachings of the church,” said one. “A major example is contraception. The major-

ity of married Catholics between 20 and 40 are using forbidden forms of contraception. Some confess it, and some do not even bother any more. Some priests say they do not want to hear about it in confession." Although the attitude to homosexuals in a pastoral situation is usually one of understanding, members of “Ascent” would like to see rhe official teaching of the church changed. Mora] condemnation of the sexual activities of homosexuals is based on the assumption that they are responsible for the acts. "Since the 1950 s research has shown that

some people are unavoidably and inculpably homosexual, and that it is not a case of choice. Homosexuality is not a voluntary thing, and it is not contagious,” they said. Further, the traditional teaching about homosexuality has been based on Biblical interpretation. But interpretation is open to change. The Catholic church had changed on some important issues, they said. Usury was once condemned as a sin, but was acceptable now.

On a recent Radio New Zealand “Viewpoint” programme, Father Felix Donnelly said the church now admits its error after trying the astronomer Galileo for heresy when be claimed the earth was not the centre of the universe. Supporters of homosexuality also maintain that the traditional interpretations of the Bible are. faulty. The main argument is that the Bible only condemns homosexual' acts that are a perversion of heterosexuality — the “Penthouse” variety of homosexuality. Since the condition of homosexuality is natural, they argue, then homosexual acts are natural. Another argument against the traditional interpretation says that the

Scriptures are concerned only with particular cases of homosexuality, and so do not condemn homosexuality in general. They also maintain that some passages which have traditionally been seen as condemning homosexuality may in fact refer to something else. An example is the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19). One writer has noted that the evil committed by the Sodomites might have lain in breaking traditions of hospitality, rather than committing homosexual acts. However, many practising Catholics would not be happy with such theological juggling. Many would agree that the Bible does take a general stand against homosexuality. It emphasises that sex should be confined to marriage and only for the purpose of procreation. The two members of “Ascent” felt, in the end, that it all rests on their individual consciences. "It is a teaching of ths

church that you are responsible to your own conscience. There had been a move throughout the church away from obeying the letter of the law strictly to a concern for taking part and being serious about it,” said one. Brian McNaught, a member of the American gay-Catholic group "Dignity,” sums up how he believes he can be both homosexual and Roman Catholic . “Each person’s life is a major gamble. People who choose not to believe in God are gambling that when they die there will be nothing. I gamble with my life that there will be. “As a Catholic who is also gay I gamble that the church has totally misinterpreted the Will and. Word of God. If I am wrong, then the Church tells me. I will pay the price. Yet I cannot conceive of a God who would allow a person to live on this earth as an emotional cripple when that person need not make that choice.”