Young Adult Catholics

“…The Cross stands before us as an eloquent symbol of God’s love for humanity. At the same time the dying Redeemer’s entreaty rings out: ‘My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?’ We often feel this cry of suffering as our own in the painful situations of life that can cause deep distress and give rise to worry and uncertainty. In moments of loneliness and bewilderment, which are not unusual in human life, a believer’s heart can exclaim: the Lord has abandoned me!

However, Christ’s Passion and glorification on the tree of the Cross offer a different key for reading these events. On Golgotha the Father, at the height of His Only-begotten Son’s sacrifice, does not abandon Him, but brings to completion His plan of salvation for all humanity. In His Passion, Death and Resurrection, we are shown that the last word in human existence is not death but God’s victory over death. Divine love, manifested in its fullness in the paschal mystery, overcomes death and sin, which is its cause…”

-The Venerable John Paul II

These words seem fitting when trying to make some kind of sense out of the devastation that afflicted the Hatian nation last week. Although it is futile to try and attribute this kind of a disaster to some temporal component on our part, as Pat Robertson so foolishly and intolerantly did, people are still left asking, “Why?”

Throughout Scripture, God’s people are placed in many situations where intense suffering must be endured, in some cases, for prolonged, seemingly indefinite, periods. In the late sixth century B.C. the city of Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed by the Chaldeans. To the Jewish people of this time, especially heartwrenching, was the fact that the holy Temple -the most tangible symbol to the Hebrews of God’s presence on earth- was destroyed. In the Book of Lamentations, this sense of despair and profound sorrow that the Israelites of the time were experiencing has been left to us to contemplate. Reading these words, we can get a sense of the raw emotion and desparity that must have filled the hearts of these individuals so long ago, “Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down with me…panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction; my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of my people. My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees…” (Lamentations 3:19-20, 47-50). No doubt, the Haitian people are now experiencing the full scope of all of these same emotions, axieties, and feelings portrayed in Sacred Scripture. What answers, if any, can we offer to our bereaved, and already impoverished, brothers and sisters in Haiti? How can the Haitians believe that God is still listening? That there even is a God in the midst of such indiscriminate devastation, death, and suffering?

The late Pope John Paul II attempts to address this point in one of his Palm Sunday homilies, and draws on the Church’s long held tradition of the inherent value and spiritual purpose of suffering. The Pope says that as Jesus did, only through enduring and accepting certain situations of suffering can we hope to leave these unfortunate circumstances behind, and move on to the light of God’s victory. To many, this of course is easier said than done, espeically to our distraught Hatian brethren who have had to endure impossible challenges and tribulations -that quite frankly- are hard to comprehend. What consolation is it to them to simply exhort them to drink their cup of suffering and bear it?

The turning point is the very fact that although during these times of trial and tribulation, although it may seem so, God is not absent, but in fact is present all the more. By means of the theological virtue of hope, God always remains before us; for as Scripture tells us, Christ is our Hope, for it was He alone that conquered sin and the grave and rose triumphantly for the sake of our salvation!

Although He did ultimately prevail in the end, Jesus identifiied Himself collectively -in an extremely intimate way – with all mankind, as He suffered in anguish upon the wood of the Cross. He prayed the words of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have You abandoned me? Why so far from my call for help, from my cries of anguish?”  Jesus had not lost hope, but as God-incarnate, He assimilated all the experiences of his humanity and conformed them to His divinity. As one like us, He cried out in anguish as our representative before God, yet through His sorrowful Passion, as the Word incarnate He perfects suffering, and forever more exalts this virtue to the point of emulation. Identifying and uniting Himself to this most penetrating and personal human emotion and feeling, through pain and torment, Christ experienced to the very core of what it was to be a human being, subject to the ravages and sometimes terrible temporal realties of this world we call home. Yet, even though He did endure unspeakable suffering the story of Jesus of Nazareth did not end there; He triumphed, crushing forever the forces of sin and death, and rose victoriously from the grave, opening the gates of eternal life to all!

Thus, through the example of Christ we can receive consolation, for God Himself experienced suffering for our sake. God-made manifest in Jesus Christ, can genuinely and realistically understand our sufferings because He has been there and trumphed. Even in the midst of His sufferings Christ could not lose hope, because despite the horror of what He was then enduring He know that in the end, Hope would win and that Love would prevail. It seems that the ancient Hebrews, even in the aftermath of humiliation and occupation, clung to this sentiment as well, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! ‘The Lord is my portion’ says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him!” (Lamentations 3:21-24).

In the same way, so it seems that the Haitian people have found solace in this consolation as well. Even amidst the reality of a destroyed cathedral, an archbishop who was numbered among those claimed by the quake, and the fate of countless relatives and friends unknown as well as having to come to grips with the reality of those who have perished, the people of Port-au-prince continued to gather for the celebration of Sunday Mass last weekend. Certainly, as has been expressed by witnesses, they have remained firmly rooted in the Lord’s mercy and compassion. Understandably though, it probably is still quite hard for them to even conceive of when they will fully recover from this horrible reality. Even though it may be a small consolation to them now, it always proves productive to contemplate a crucifix, and see that it requires strength, fortitude, and hope to make it through occasions of darkness and pain to the glorious dawn of Easter.

However, with our material assistance as well as our prayers and emotional support on their behalf, they will certainly come to the light of a new era full of life, potential, and promise. Now, it is our responsibility, as their fellow members of Christ’s Mystical Body to make His promise in the Beatitudes a reality. We must actively and substantially, as best we can, fully embrace and realize those parts of that Body that we were destined to be at this moment in time and offer unwavering support, encouragement, and concrete expressions of solidarity to our Haitian brothers and sisters; so that all those who suffer, all those who mourn, will be comforted, and will know that they are indeed blessed.

Image from: http://www.osb.org/gen/medal.html

I’ve been visiting a Benedictine monastery close to my apartment in Chicago lately. It’s for a class project, but I’ve been surprised to notice how much a part of my life Benedictines have been. I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m interested in the the ins and outs of daily live in a Benedictine community…I’ve bounced around on their edges for years.

I grew up in Watertown, South Dakota–home of the Benedictine Mother of God Monastery, located on the appropriately named Harmony Hill. My mom used to take classes out there and my grandparents lived at the assisted living center the sisters owned. I knew several of the sisters from my summers at Vocation Camp. Without explicit consideration of Benedictines, I chose to attend the College of St. Benedict and moved on the fringes of that community, occasionally attending the evening Liturgy of the Hours and supper with my “Benedictine friend.”

These Benedictines inspire me. I met women who teach and write and garden and minister; they set a model just by living their lives. I remember asking one of them if they were worried about the decline in numbers of sisters joining. She shocked me by explaining that Benedictine communities have been around for hundreds of years, in lots of different forms and shapes. She explained that they are open to the ways the Spirit reshapes the community and there is very little sense in worrying too much about it.

To find myself moving, again, on the edges of a Benedictine community feels oddly familiar. Their signals of hospitality, their prayers, their care; these are things I have come to appreciate.

Kate Dugan is a PhD student at Northwestern University and co-editor of From the Pews in the Back: Young Women & Catholicism.

When did this begin?  When did I become a Catholic?

I started reading a book on major themes in literary theory this evening, and (naturally) the first chapter detailed the topic of “beginning” in literary criticism. The opening lines of Dante’s The Divine Comedy were among the examples treated in the chapter. These lines read: “Midway in the journey of our life I find myself in a dark wood, for the straight way was lost.”  The book’s commentary describes this beginning as a “middling”–a beginning in the middle of life, in the middle of a dark wood–suggesting that Dante’s opening communicates that, “there are no absolute beginnings–only strange original middles.  No journey, no life ever really begins: all have in some sense already begun before they begin” (3).

I thought of my faith when I read these lines. I think the beginning of my faith was a middling.

Some people teach that Christian faith begins in baptism.  (This idea of beginning seems particularly fitting for consideration, as it is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord today!)  They might say that when I was baptized a Catholic by my parents as an infant, something about my existence changed in that moment.  I became a Christian.  Or, they might say that in baptism my parents established the context that would determine my faith in the the future.  Baptism was the beginning of what would unfold in me later in life.

Others cite a one-time proclamation of Christian faith as the definitive beginning.  When one accepts Christ as his/her Lord and Savior from sin, he/she becomes a Christian. Many people tells stories of this moment when they knew something in them changed.  They became Christians.

But I think my faith began with a middling more like the one described in this textbook of mine: “There are no absolute beginnings–only strange original middles.  No journey, no life ever really begins: all have in some sense already begun before they begin.”  I cannot tell the story of how my Catholic faith began, so much as I can look back at the story of my faith and realize that it began before the moment that I recognized it.  When I try to pin down a moment, I always identity some precursor–some prior person or event or moment or memory full of grace and faith and god–one that complicates any notion I have of “beginning.”  Every “beginning” I consider becomes more like a “middling.”

I cannot tell of my faith’s beginning, only that it began.  And the story continues.

Jessica Coblentz is a student at Harvard Divinity School. This entry is cross-posted on her personal blog, www.jessicacoblentz.com, where you can also find more of her musings.

This past weekend I had the enjoyable opportunity to be able to just hang out and spend some time with one of my best friends. During the course of the evening she invited over a guy who she had just recently met. Just for the sake of context, it should be noted that he was a straight guy.

Flash back almost two and a half years from today. I had just come out, and I still attended a deeply conservative high school that was maintained by and affiliated with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (keep in mind, I want to make it clear that in no way do I want to give the impression that I’m bashing my former middle and high school, although I may disagree intensely with many of their social and theological interpretations of the human experience I received a wonderful, solid, comprehensive, and thoroughly enriching Christian education there which I shall cherish for the rest of my life, as well as meeting most of the people who I would probably consider to be some of my best friends). Consequently, the majority of my peers who attended the school were consistently conservative in their political as well as their social beliefs.

Even before I formally came out, and although most of my inner circle of friends knew already, I made it a point to wait until after graduation to do it officially. I was on several memorable occasions mocked and teased because of my notable, slightly flamboyant personality; which I never really made any attempts to hide because it’s just a futile effort, why hide who you are? Basically, the premise behind all of these jabs at me was that I must be and obviously was gay because I didn’t act or conduct myself in the stereotypical way that the rest of my male classmates happened to. Essentially, it seemed that these guys, as is the case with a significant portion of heterosexual men, feel very threatened by the inherent notion and subsequent implications of homosexuality; namely, that being attracted to other men or in any way having the same mannerisms or characteristics of women, when it comes to being attracted to persons of the same-sex, severely weakens and subliminally destroys what it means to be a real man.

Because of this somewhat grim, hostile, and intimidating reality, for quite a long period of time, even though I had affirmed and embraced my own sexuality, I was always a little wary and fearful of how other straight guys would react to it. Naturally, because in my high school there weren’t really any openly gay members of the student body, anyone who dared to be so blatant about their sexual orientation would no doubt be confronted with instant condemnation, ridicule, and exclusion. So, for a very long time I was always uncertain about opening up to straight guys who I happened to meet or encounter when it came to expounding upon and explaining this facet of my personal life.

However, once I graduated high school in 2008 I became aware of a remarkably different and more tolerant attitude when it came to individuals my own age. This was certainly one of the most encouraging and meaningful wafts of fresh air that I have been exposed to in my lifetime. Once, outside of my high school; which had served as the cocoon in which I carried out my existence for such a significant portion of my childhood, I gradually became aware of an alternative prevalent attitude of tolerance, acceptance, and respect when it came to people of my own age addressing and contemplating issues regarding human sexuality. I was astounded by this reality and intensely strengthened in my own personal integrity and confidence by it. After awhile, I really stopped worrying about it.

My friend, and her male friend who I made reference to in the beginning of my thoughts, once again, served to confirm that if they really are secure and comfortable with their own sexualities, lots of heterosexual men my age don’t really feel threatened or disgusted by other men who happen to be attracted to other guys. When this really nice guy responded to me with such respect, tolerance, and dignity I was once again confirmed in the hope that my current generation will lead the fray courageously into this era’s defining civil rights struggle; namely, the recognition and respect of those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender in sexual orientation and the protection and guarantee of their equal civil rights under the law.

Although it may seem irrelevant, last year’s season of American Idol provides an optimistic example of how my generation will hopefully be leading the call to action in recognizing and defending the rights and inherent dignity of all persons who live in this nation, regardless of sexual identity or manner of expression.  

Kris Allen and Adam Lambert are probably one of the most memorable and intense top two finalists from the beloved television program. Kris was the adorable, proud Christian, soulful crooner who naturally captivated the hearts of a large contingent of our nations viewers. Adam on the other hand, was the flamboyant, provocative, rocker personality who confidently sported “guy liner” in almost all of his performances. He too had a signifigant following and presented a unique alternative to Kris’s obvious cookie cutter, good ol’ boy persona. Despite these striking, almost  irreconcilable differences between the two contestants, especially when it came to their style of performance and lived background, the guys developed a strong and enduring friendship, almost a brotherly affection (“bromance” is probably the most appropriate applicable description of their relationship) for one another aside from the fact of the stark contrasts of their system of values and realms of existence. Even after the competition was over and despite its outcome (which was personally, a very discouraging blow to me, even though Kris is so incredibly attractive I did not think that he was more qualified in persona or musical ability to deserve to be the winner of the competition, especially so close to the aftermath of Proposition 8 this was obvious proof that America is prepared to tolerate LGBT individuals but unfortunately is not quite yet ready to accept, embrace, and acknowledge them with complete dignity and enthusiasm) the two remain the best of friends. This was most inspiring to me considering Kris’s Bible Belt origins and his staunchly Christian beliefs. Still, he continues to embrace Adam as a genuine, valued friend with respect and esteem. Most notably, not once has he ever even raised Adam’s sexuality as being an issue of defining importance in their friendship. It seems that as a heterosexual male, Kris sees that we human beings are not essentially defined by who we are attracted to sexually, but rather by the “integrity and strength of our character” as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have put it.

Sadly, this trend of tolerance, reasoned consideration, and acceptance has not been nearly as prevalent within the Catholic Church. The late, Ven. John Paul II, who as universal Pastor of the Church led the People of God for nearly three decades, had a profound impact on this unfortunate reality. His extremely heroic and unique example of personal holiness was indeed an inspiration for the entire universal Church and the whole world for that matter. For this alone he will probably be remembered by most, deservedly, as a passionate Pastor of the Church who exhorted all individuals to open their hearts and minds to the gracious and all-consoloing love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

However, the late John Paul II continued to cling to archaic and unfounded conceptions and interpretations of human sexuality, which instead of emphasizing the apparent goodness and benevolence of the Creator, almost put limits, in a sense, on God’s creative genius. His much acclaimed Theology of the Body simply dressed up, reaffirmed, and made more personable and receptive traditional and rigid definitions which had characterized questions of human sexuality within Christendom for centuries. Despite scientific and psychological evidence to the contrary, Pope John Paul continued to insist that a homosexual orientation was a “disordered condition” which if acted upon, would put the participant in these activities in the condition of mortal sin. He continued to defend the official Magisterium’s opposition to the ordination of women in any faculty, claiming that women are insufficient instruments, incapable of representing Christ in a genuine manner during the celebration of the Eucharist, simply because of the gender they had been given by God. His successor, Pope Benedict, has continued to preserve these banal interpretations.

As a consequence of these very similar pontificates, episcopal appointments by the Pope are usually not made on the basis of competence and personal integrity and responsibility, but rather on the extent of adhering firmly to all of these highly contentious issues, which the Vatican has declared closed for discussion. Thus, in distinct comparison to the secular social realities of our world, the leadership of the Church has become increasingly more polarized and regressive-thinking. Because John Paul II is seen as such a hero of the youth, which is particularly understandable and not noted without cause, all of his convictions (especially on issues that have been declared “closed” for discussion) which he espoused are embraced as being beneficial and integral to the growth and vitality of the Church throughout the world.

Pope John Paul’s and Pope Benedict’s understandings of these issues are largely based on the time in which they came, during which they could not even consider thinking about, much less discussing, the ramifications that all of these questions would have theologically and philosophically upon the Church and the world at large. Yet, it is indeed regrettable to think that where in the civic sphere, my generation is a profound proponent of tolerance, acceptance, and equality for all individuals regardless of sexual orientation, that the same trend could and probably is reversed due to Pope John Paul’s views on sexuality, which have been implied as being “infallible.”

Therefore, I can confidently say that if the question of marriage equality and establishment and expansion of  the full array of civil rights that all citizens of this country, regardless of sexual orientation (which would include the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell)  deserve and should be able to enjoy, was put before a Congress for a vote in which all elected members were under the age of 50, discrimination nationwide would probably, finally be definitively eliminated. The effort surprisingly could even include a large majority of individuals who identified as political “conservatives.” I’ve noticed that even among individuals my own age who define themselves as either members of the Republican Party or Libertarian that they do not consider sexual and social issues to be the defining values of conservatism, but instead the promotion and defense of fiscal and personal responsibility.

Unfortunately, the exact phenomenon would probably occur within the Church if this question was allowed to be seriously considered and questioned among the leadership of the Church.

However, I still think that there is reason to maintain hope for the future. Christ is our Hope and shall always remain with and protect His Church. Just as Kris Allen and my bff’s new friend illustrated, a new principle is being exercised and formed by our generation when confronting these very special and controversal questions of human sexuality. When meeting anyone the First Letter of St. John, which we have been hearing significant portions of during the Christmas season, reminds all Christians that, “Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them… Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action” (1 John 3: 14-15, 18).

If all the leaders of the Church, young and old alike, would meditate upon and embody these sentiments perhaps a new Pentecost, inaugurated and driven by the Holy Spirit, might be able to be experienced by the People of God. I still remain firm in the hope that eventually the Church as well as our world will gradually open itself to the entire myriad of possibilities that are privileges and hallmarks of the diversity and beauty with which the Lord has endowed all of His creatures with. Hope is an inextinguishable virtue. In the same manner but in a much more profound and beautiful way Love can never be extinguished, and in the end, as it has been in the beginning and shall be so forever, Love shall always prevail and never be defeated!

Although months have passed since my last post, I’m still here!  I’ve been sucked into the life of a graduate student–a Master of Divinity student to be exact.  After spending a semester studying the intersection of faith and culture, the Pentateuch, and church history, it would seem as though I have tons of writing material for this blog.  I’ve had plenty of time for discussions and reflections on the material, yet somehow it doesn’t work out quite that easily, so I’m just going to leave you with a series of questions/statements that sum up my semester.

What does it mean to be a highly trained lay person within the Church?

In Judges, a woman kills a man by pounding a tent peg into his temple.  Someone else is left unattended while dying because his servants think he is “relieving himself.”  My professor told me that I finally “got” the Old Testament when I came into class laughing about how funny I found these stories.

Could an inter-sexed person be a priest?

If you actually take time to study, think about, pray with, and reflect on the Nicene Creed, it really is quite incredible.  Too bad we just won’t make it gender-inclusive.

What does evangelization mean in today’s world?  Does evangelization presume superiority not just over another religion, but over another culture?

The Episcopal Church seems really enticing on a regular basis, but the thought of leaving the Catholic Church feels like abandoning a big, wacky, loving, messed-up extended family.

Kristy is an MDiv student at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, CA.  She volunteered for a year and a half at the Casa Ursulina in Chillan, Chile after graduating from John Carroll University in 2007.

“Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis” (And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us). This is the momentous and joyous occasion that we Christians celebrate and commemorate during this beautiful Christmas season. Christmas isn’t just about a babe being born in a manger, it’s about God coming to join us, even to become one of us, and thereby, to save and liberate us by sharing in and uniting Himself to our frail humanity.

What does it mean then that God became a human being?

It might be wise to consider the direct ramifications and implications of the Incarnation (God becoming man) before asking any further questions.

We as human beings are creatures of God, made by His designs. Yet, God consented to assume the form of His creatures in order to dwell among us. Scripture proclaims, God in His very nature is a Being of unending, unconditional love. In fact, St. John goes so far as to say that God is love (1 John 4:16). Think about it; this means that before the creation of our world, the universe, or all other forms of tangible elements, nothing else existed besides the eternal force of Love. Thus, God becomes tangible in Jesus Christ, descending, even taken on our humanity which He created, to show forth His boundless Love, which is the very essence of His being. Not only was the Almighty Word made flesh in Jesus Christ, but Love, was made incarnate, tangible, and real upon this earth. In order to understand the ways of real love and hope to imitate them genuinely, we must ponder and contemplate the actions of Jesus Christ, for He was the only perfect human expression of Love itself!

This love would of course impel Jesus Christ to His ultimate salvific destiny; to suffer horrible physical torment, to love even until the very end, to death, and to rise again from this death, triumphantly promising eternal life and hapiness to all those who believe in and follow Him. Scripture speaks of our respective salvation as not something that we could merit but rather as a gift (John 3:16), something that God does for us. Thus, the Crucifixion did not necessarily have to occur in order for humanity to be reconciled to God. However, because God is Love itself, this was the way in which He chose to save and deliver us from the sinful forces that are present in our world. By giving of Himself, for our sake and benefit, He showed us the ultimate way in which we must move and live as an example for all people.

Another matter to consider is that Jesus, being the Word Incarnate experienced all the same feelings, emotions, desires, and pains that we did. However, He experienced all these things without sin. Just as we are tempted Jesus never gave in or was susceptible to the wiles of evil. Experiencing all that we do, even sexual feelings (although, to the best of our knowledge modern scholarship continues to prove that Jesus was probably not married), it is highly probable that Jesus could have had homosexual feelings at one point or another during His life upon this earth.  Scripture speaks of St. John as being Jesus’ “beloved” disciple and the one whom He loved. We are even told that during the Last Supper John rested his head upon the chest of the Lord, in a gesture of both intimacy and adoration. Jesus, with the very wellspring of Love itself aflame within His Sacred Heart, did not spurn John’s gesture but rather welcomed it. This is of course only spectulative on my part, but how can we not ask what this gesture says to us?

Love itself does not turn away the affections of another man but rather welcomes them, even if it was not His destiny to experience them. Love welcomes another expression of love and approves of it and blesses it by accepting John’s embrace.

Could the leaders of the Church not follow Christ’s example once again today, imiating the unending love flowing from His Sacred Heart, and embracing those individuals who are attracted to those of the same-sex?

Zechariah; the husband of the Virgin Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, describes the coming of the Messiah as “the dawn from on high” (Luke 1:78) breaking upon us. He does so, in the Gospel of Luke, after his speech has been restored, following a lengththy period of being struck mute as a consequence for not believing the angel’s words proclaiming to him that his wife, in her old age, would bear a son. Jesus Christ, as God and Love Incarnate, is indeed this new dawn which illumines the world in its confusion, despair, and sinfulness. As the Light of the World, Jesus has cast an everlasting testament of love, justice, and peace. How long will  individuals, even those within the Church, continue to hide from His light, this new “dawn” which gives humanity a radical new and liberating way of living out our experiences as creatures of God? How long will the “Dawn from on high” be obscured to continue banal and tired ways of existence?

God became one of us to liberate us from the forces of sin and death. In order to grow in greater conformity to His likeness we must become more like Him, radiating unceasing love, even radically. Realizing the ways of the Divine means that love has no boundaries. When can we understand that questioning the boundaries we already have in place is not of the Devil, but could be of God, growing ever closer to radiating His all-encompassing, undying, unconditional Love that is His very essence?  The Word was made flesh to reveal His undying love for us, in order to imitate Him daily we must be willing to die to our own fears and inhibitions giving way for a new “Dawn” to break upon us and renew the face of the earth!

I’ve always had a tough time with Christmas. Growing up, I felt that capitalism and Christianity were deeply incompatible, so I think I was looking for excuses to bash the ultimate example of capitalism’s perversion of my faith. I complained about it for a million different reasons: We don’t know exactly when Jesus was born, but we pretty much know that it wasn’t on December 25 (or at least the odds are 1:365.4); Christmas was really a pagan holiday that the early Imperial Church invented; Christmas isn’t even important to Jesus’ ministry or death and resurrection.

Complaints about capitalism aside, I’ve made my peace with Christmas. After a lot of prayer, I think Jesus actually wants us to celebrate Christmas precisely because it’s not about him—it’s about us! Read the rest of this entry »

Emerging from the recent aura of his much anticipated, racy photoshoot for Playgirl, the former son-in-law of Sarah Palin, Levi Johnston appeared on last Monday’s edition of The Joy Behar Show.

After briefly complimenting him for the toned physique that he showed off in the photos, despite the fact that he went back on his aforementioned promise to pose fully nude, Joy asked him a pointed question. Coming from his conservative Alaskan background and knowing that Playgirl cators mostly to a gay audiance, how did he feel with the reality of now being seen as a gay icon?

He thought awhile, and though he admitted that he never thought he had actually seen a real, live gay person in Wasilla (something I don’t really buy… but you never know) now that he had been exposed to lots of them during the past few months he realized that “they’re people too…It doesn’t matter to me, more fans, it’s great.”

Although Levi’s sudden gay-friendly attitude could just be the result of graciously accepting whatever publicity or attention comes his way, the exposure to other gay people could have indeed been a profound eye-opener for him. Or perhaps, not so profound. Through exposures with other gay individuals, he just saw that they weren’t outrageously different form other persons, they were just like everyone else.

Could the leaders of the Church learn from this phenomenon?

Just a few weeks ago, the Prefect Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers; Mexican Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, caused quite a stir and yet another awkward public relations incident for the Vatican, when he made a few comments during an interview regarding the subject of homosexuality. In his words, “Transsexuals and homosexuals will not enter into the Kingdom of God, and I do not say this, but Saint Paul does.” He went on further to explain that in his view, “One is not born a homosexual. One becomes a homosexual. It is for various reasons, such as education, or for not developing one’s own proper identity in adolescence; perhaps they are themselves not responsible, but acting against the dignity of the human body, certainly they will not enter Heaven. All that goes against nature and against the dignity of the human body offends God.” This grim and aggressive theological interpretation eventually pressured the Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi, to respond to the cardinal’s renegade comments.

Essentially, Fr. Lombardi simply echoed the same train of thought that the Catechism of the Catholic Church currently espouses, that all homosexual acts are “instrinsically disordered.” However, he went on to note that the Catechism states that homosexuals “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity…every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided” Although at face value, it might look as if the Church is simply putting forth its same old, “Love the sinner, hate the sin“ mantra, but another dynamic could be at play.

By being forced to admit that homosexuals must be allowed and treated with the same dignities, respects, and privileges that other citizens of the globe enjoy, a subliminal trend is taking hold. Acknowledging these realities affirms that homosexuals are not second-class citizens. Once the perception of homosexual persons as being marginalized, creatures of a gay “sub-culture” is eliminated, perhaps true dialogue and comprehension can ensue?

The next logical step of course is personal engagement. Just as in Levi’s case, when most people are in the company of homosexuals, and realize that they’re not always trying to secretly seduce them, they see that their pre-concevied notions of what “these people” were like fall away. Ultimately, they are forced to realize that gay and lesbians are people just like everyone else.

This could be what the leaders of the Church are afraid to do. For whatever their reasons, they cling to their fears and misconceptions of homosexual persons. It’s comfortable and easy to see them as morally deformed individuals rather than confronting these “lifestyles” personally and seeing that instead of being a negative alternative form of existence, they are simply another, equally valid, equally fulfilling way of living out the human experience.

Until His Holiness and the bishops break down the barriers of fear and ignorance that prevent them from genuinely and directly engaging with the homosexual members of the People of God in a personal and empathetic manner, progress on interpreting the matter of homosexuality will not be made and the same definitions and affirmations of the past will continue to be repeated and solidified.

A perfect example of this precedent just occured this weekend. Annise Parker, a lesbian, was just elected as the first openly-gay mayor of Houston, Texas; and has now become the leader of one of the largest cities in the United States, in the midst of the Bible Belt no less! Despite homophobic attacks of fear and misinformation that were directed against her, the citizens of Houston chose her because they considered her to be the best candidate for the job. So, slowly but surely, it can be seen that civil and social equality will not simply triumph by force or imposition, but truly by comprehensive and genuine engagement, human being to human being.