I propose some questions for the anti-gay wing of the Church:
Since Jesus never once talked about homosexuality, it seems strange that you consider it a pillar of your faith. Where do you get your sureness buttressing your homophobia?
Doesn’t your certainty about gay morality closely resemble the certainty of the inquisitors in the 17th century who knew for certain that the sun moves around the earth?
How is religion’s response to the subject of homosexuality any different from religion’s response to the Copernican and Galilean scientific discoveries?
The church was proven wrong over 400 years ago and when Pope John Paul II finally apologized in the 1970’s, he said the church had learned its lesson about listening to science. Why is the church again rejecting science when it comes to homosexuality?
Have you studied the document published in 1973 from the American Psychology Association making clear that homosexuality is part of human diversity and about 8-10% of any given human population is going to be gay?
How can you persecute 8-10% of the human population therefore?
How many among you are self-hating gays?
Doesn’t this impede spiritual leadership, since Jesus taught to “love your neighbor as yourself”?
Psychologist Erich Fromm explains that the psychology behind fascism is self-hatred. Does your support of authoritarian politicians derive from self-hatred?
Do you saddle up with billionaire types because your often bankrupted dioceses (that are bankrupt because you chose to cover up sexual abuse rather than expose it) need their money?
Why do you think your desire to limit women’s right to choose what is best for their bodies should take precedence in the presidential year of 2024 over the survival of the planet as we know it?
Have you read Pope Francis’s two encyclicals on Climate Change and the talk he gave (via a surrogate because he was ill) at the current COP gathering? Why does the future of the planet not factor as priority #1 for presidential election year 2024?
See Matthew Fox, “The Spiritual Journey of the Homosexual…and Just About Everyone Else,” in Fox, Wrestling with the Prophets: Creation Spirituality in Everyday Life, pp. 243-266.
Also, Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.
And Fox, The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can be Saved.
And Fox, A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity.
Banner image: “People upset by the passage of Proposition 8, the anti-gay marriage initiative, protest at the California State Capitol in Sacramento on Sunday, November 9, 2008.” Photo copyright Kelly B. Huston on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
How prevalent do you think self-hatred is not only among homosexuals but among any group that dominant and domineering powers have tried to control over the centuries? What can we do about it as individuals and as communities? How can we throw off internalized oppression?
Recommended Reading
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics
Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life
In one of his foundational works, Fox engages with some of history’s greatest mystics, philosophers, and prophets in profound and hard-hitting essays on such varied topics as Eco-Spirituality, AIDS, homosexuality, spiritual feminism, environmental revolution, Native American spirituality, Christian mysticism, Art and Spirituality, Art as Meditation, Interfaith or Deep Ecumenism and more.
7 thoughts on “Some Questions for Homophobic Catholic Prelates”
Jesus spoke out in support of ‘those born eunuchs’ = feminine men per the one Greek scholar. But he said to them, “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”
—Matthew 19:11–12
Those prostitutes he hung around with would have included men.
David and Jonathan.
Homosexual behavior is very common in a LOT of species.
It is likely that St. Paul was a gay man. His self-loathing is evident. The cause seems to be related to sexual desire and he didn’t follow his own advice of simply getting married. His letters predate the Gospels and Christianity as we know it would not exist without him.
[Excerpt] Acts 8:26-40English Standard Version (ESV)
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
Ann, Paul could not “follow his own advice” and get married because that implies marrying a woman. As you say, he was probably gay so did not incline such a marriage. And Hebrew tradition, of course, prohibited gay marriage. He was stuck! The thorn in his side perhaps.
Tara Brach book Radical Acceptance.
Mediation on loving oneself.
FYI. The pope’s second writing on the environment is not a second encyclical but a pastoral exhortation.
Humanity and our planet are still interdependently evolving together because WE’RE ALL ONE. The responsibility of our unique individual Souls in our personal spiritual evolution with-in the SPIRIT of DIVINE LOVE remains essential not only for our individual Souls, but for the profound effect We have on societal, planetary, and COSMIC evolution because of Our interconnected Divine Diverse LOVING ONENESS… Microcosm and Macrocosm are intimately related and ONE….
I agree that self-hatred, and the fear that arises from it and is projected onto the “other”, is the basis for toxic masculinity (not confined to men) and the root of all injustice, including the preoccupation with sex and women’s bodies. There is a wonderful edition of National Geographic from January 2017 on the wide spectrum of gender/sexual orientation in all living beings. Alas, those who need it the most would not read it. What can we do? Tend to our own self hatred and anger and move among our neighbors, friend and foe, in the most loving way possible, speaking the truth in peace. As the Rev. Jacqui Lewis advises, love the hell out of them.
Thanks for writing these questions, and sharing them. Very cogent; and so sad, that we are still having to wade through abuse/power/shame/secrecy/rinse and repeat. It also seems very linked to substitutionary atonement, not grace or Divine Mercy. God bless you, and thank you for your loving pastoral care.