I find it unfortunate that in recent issues of this Catholic university’s newsmagazine, the only pieces dealing with Catholic issues have shallowly criticized its teachings. Catholicism has a tremendous amount of truth, peace and splendor to offer. Before going any further, I hope it is not presumptuous to assume that the students and professors that come to study and teach at this Catholic institution of higher education do so voluntarily, much like the adherents of Catholicism freely choose to practice that religion.
Much of the recent barrage against the Catholic Church has centered around the issue of homosexuality. Let me state up front that I am gay and Catholic myself, and as such, greatly appreciate the stance that the Catholic Church has successfully struggled to maintain on homosexuality despite vicious attacks and pressure to change from many different individuals and interest groups. Two recent contributors critical of the Magisterium’s attitude on homosexuality have struck me as particularly lacking profundity in their understanding of what the Church’s position truly is?Rev. Edward J. Ingebretsen (“Talking Loud in Church,” Jan. 24, 2002) and Joe McFadden (“Like a Prayer,” Feb. 7, 2002).
Understanding that participation in any system of belief, including the Catholic tradition, is voluntary, one must choose the standard of behavior to which one wishes to ascribe. I was not Catholic when I was an undergraduate because, much like McFadden, I didn’t want a man in a far-off land deciding which behaviors were appropriate for me to engage in and which were not. Since the ‘60s this has been a common frame of mind, especially for young people: I will be sexually liberated and no arcane and obsolete set of restrictions will inhibit my fulfillment. Now, everyone is free to believe this and engage in any of various consensual sexual behaviors. The Catholic Church recognizes this fact.
As I understand it (and I am not anywhere near an official Catholic apologist, so I can only state my limited understanding of the Catholic Church’s position), the Catholic Church opposes homosexual marriage and any sexual behavior outside of a marriage covenant. Thus, homosexual acts, by proxy and by direct Scriptural condemnation, are deemed sinful. The church opposes gay marriage because it views the purpose of marriage as establishing a stable and lasting environment in which to raise children. A committed and loving female and male couple present arguably the ideal situation in which to raise the next generation of human beings. That some marriages are abusive, neglectful, etc. is not an argument against the Church’s aim to uphold the ideal of a committed, loving relationship between mother and father. That they include a mother and a father is also important because especially in early childhood, pheromonal response to both sexes is important, and, at all ages of the child, the mother and father draw complementarily on one another’s strengths inherent in their sexual natures to present a balanced environment.
As for the Church’s view on homosexual persons in themselves, it has clearly reinforced that persons with a homosexual orientation, like any other persons, deserve to be treated only with respect and love. It categorically denounces any violence or discrimination against homosexual persons for having such an orientation. The Church condemns homosexual behavior because it views such behavior as an obstacle to realizing the ideal of love for human beings. By this I mean that homosexual acts, though possibly expressive of the “feeling” of love, fall short of expressing the truer, more permanent sense of love, that sense found between two life-long committed individuals which can lead to the vitally significant act of procreation. Once again, although we find many examples of human beings falling short of this, the Church is charged with upholding the ideal. As anyone who has spent time in gay circles can attest to, promiscuity and ephemeral relationships are the norm, not the exception. With gay sex, the utter lack of gravity precludes any permanence. In the beginning of a gay sexual relationship, the participants gain pleasure from the utilization of each other’s bodies and attentions. It feels like love. They stay together because it “feels good.” But as time goes by, these initial feelings of mutual “love” diminish, and with no commitment or the interests of a child to maintain the relationship, it dissolves. Sex is very deceptive in this regard. Everyone, straight, bi or gay, reaps intense pleasure from sex, both physically and emotionally. Orgasms are accompanied by the exclusive attentions of another person. This is illusory love. Furthermore, sexual relationships of this sort necessarily slowly erode one’s capability to experience love in the full sense that the Catholic Church endorses, because one gradually develops patterns of behavior that require this “feeling of love” to warrant staying in a relationship. What ends up happening is usually a long series of ultimately unfulfilling sexual relationships. In the predominant majority of the gay relationships of any significant length that I know, the relationship is “open,” meaning that either one or both of the members is sexually active outside that primary relationship. This happens as one or both of the members loses that initial feeling of “love,” and seeks it with another partner.
Personally, I find the Catholic view of sexual relationships enlightened and more likely to satisfy our deepest human desires than ones that say, “anything goes.” In this matter, the Catholic Church seems one of only a few modern institutions that truly cares about our lives. I sincerely hope that this university, as a Catholic one, continues to celebrate that often recondite but always true love for people that the Church faithfully maintains. But once again, people are free to choose.
Ethan Schwalbe is a graduate student.
