Pastoral Responses to Homosexuality

Diversity, Inclusion, and My Life: A Corporate Interview. I was recently interviewed for a corporate diversity newsletter at Target, which I received permission to share here! Check it out!

Failed Formation: Archbishop Naumann’s Response to a Gay Couple. Upon the advice of diocesan leaders, the school decided to refuse admission to the child, and after considerable media attention, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City provided a public response. 

An ecclesial examination of conscience, from your gay Christian brother. Hear a story, share a story, talk to your pastor, encourage education, wear a button, say a prayer, and seek ways to concretely love and support (especially financially and professionally) those who have been hurt by those acting in the name of the Church.

Fatherless in a Church of Fathers.He said, “You don’t need to share that with people as soon as you meet them. Why do you feel the need to bring that up immediately when you first get to know someone? If you develop a relationship and get to know people, then over time you can share more and more about yourself..”

A Return to the Sistine.If I thought myself Jesus Christ, I might have done that too. I might have taken a hammer to that wall. But there was no need. My anger came up because so much of the Church has already been attacked by the Church with a hammer, by all the Jesus Christs who claimed to be doing things as Jesus Christ. 

You won’t find it here.Pretty Christian bloggers with tidy Christian theology are compelling, because we exist within idyllic internet worlds, paradises that many want so badly as a substitute for their own messy lives.

A gay Catholic apologist in the scandal.I feel like I’ve been in a relationship with a controlling spouse. He’s criticized every little thing I do and say, especially around others I might find attractive, and I just discovered that he’s been cheating on me. That’s what the clergy abuse crisis means to me as a gay Catholic.

I’ve Been Mad at the Church.She didn’t share that part of herself because in her current Catholic community, people had little to say about gay persons, except…

Pressure Cooker and Potted Plant.Everyone has a perspective on how best to live my gay Catholic life, and I’ve found myself in the center of a pressure cooker to live up to a million conflicting expectations…

Want it to work.Thus, factual knowledge is insufficient for either empathy or discourse. What is needed, rather, is the imaginative adoption of desire, an intuition into another’s longings, something which is necessarily transformative of the self.

But What if Celibacy Harms my Mental Health?Ultimately, I also object to the form of the question. It sets up a binary that I simply don’t believe in.

Catholic Young Adults Discuss: Homosexuality.You have to develop the relationship, find out where they are, and share Church teachings in stages of development. For her, this didn’t mean giving up or hiding Church teaching or your beliefs.

For the Christian Gays and their ‘Conscientious Objectors’.“Conscientious objectors” who do nothing more than repeat the same objection again and again can become tiring for writers. And thus, I have a proposition for Christians who may talk about being gay on social media…

Gay Celibacy, Step One.The lack of belief in a Christian sexual ethics does not come from a mere failure virtue or knowledge; it comes from our failure to bring others to a belief in their great dignity, which comes to full realization in the embrace of the Church. 

From Atheist to Ashes.In Catholic theology, conversion is never something we can effect. It happens through the activity of God. A lot of bad “evangelizing” happens because people believe they can make others believe.

Reflections on Language, 2.In this respect, Catholic publications, and Catholic “ministries,” can be especially bad. They promote a “type” of Catholic for their purposes, and anyone else just feels kind of out of place. 

The Blessing of “Same Sex Unions”.One benefit of establishing (or, really, re-establishing) blessings for same-sex couples would be creating a space where same-sex couples can publicly affirm their commitment to Church teaching.

The Victim III: The Gay Christian Victim.True freedom is a feature of the interior life, rather than a consequence of one’s external circumstances.

To Parents, From a Gay Christian Son.Every parent makes mistakes. Every child ends up with a handful of issues. That’s normal.

Being Celibate, Christian and Gay….As Catholics, we can help others be open to conversion, but it is never something we can get others to do.

I Have a Boyfriend. Want to Talk About it?2) Trying to set aside your presumptions. Just because I’m gay doesn’t necessarily mean I’m a democrat.

Gay, Catholic, Objectified by the Church.Ultimately, any objectification demands a response from me. It demands an increasing personalism, a response to those who might objectify me with my own increasing gift of self.

Discrimination in the Catholic Church.I still believe that being a gay Catholic is better for me than being a gay non-Catholic. And regardless of whether Catholics see a place for me in the Church, I’m not leaving.

Dr. Lu on Same-Sex Attraction: Stories and Embrace.Dr. Lu argues, “Moral clarity is a necessary precondition in embracing the person without fear.” Scripture disagrees. Embracing the person without fear is the necessary precondition for moral clarity. 

Dr. Lu on Same-Sex Attraction: A Response.Viewing ourselves—Christians—in contrast to our secular/progressive/modern peers when promoting a Christian life can lead to deep problems in theological and philosophical inquiry. 

Catholic Theology and LGBTQ Suicide.I suspect as American culture finds stable places for LGBTQ people to seek fulfillment in society, we will more often tend towards those spaces than the tenuous positions established in conservative Christian communities. 

4 Elements of a Mature Adjustment to Celibacy.These four elements strike me as important for a mature adjustment to Christian life, but they are particularly important for those living out committed celibacy. 

Fear and Celibacy.To truly take up and live out celibacy is to cast out fear. True celibacy demands love, freedom, and courage. 

A Love that Fills, and a Love that Opens.The highest forms of love, however, are not those which simply fill; the highest loves will always open, like the love of God, which not only fills us, but overflows into the lives of those around us.

The Desirability of Truth.The failure on the part of most Christians to present the Church’s teachings on homosexuality in a desirable way suggests that most Christians don’t understand these teachings. 

Noticing the Unnoticed: Some Things I’ve Learned from Being Loved.Whatever your vocation is, a part of it will always be offering yourself to those around you. The habit of making the unnoticed noticed is an art that requires practice and deliberate work. But it’s a good work.

“Just Get Married” and Other Uncaring Advice.When some of my gay friends talk about the struggles of living celibate lives, they are occasionally told by their more progressive friends that they should “just go get married.”

After the Third Way…The “gay lifestyle” is just as diverse as the “straight lifestyle”, and the Christian “third way” for gay and straight Christians seeking chastity is really comprised of many ways and histories.

On Gay Jokes, and Friendship Versus Presumption.I’ve found that gay jokes (even those made by gay people) are made more often in ignorance than in intimacy.

Celibacy and Loneliness.If churches believe that people have celibate callings, then those churches also have a responsibility to consider how to build communities with and for these callings.

Marriage and Society: A Response to Michael Bradley, Part 2.A secularized and pluralistic society can only fail; for such a society isn’t really a society at all. 

Marriage and Society: A Response to Michael Bradley, Part 1.I’m not sure what the crisis pregnancy center of the traditional marriage movement would be, but conservatives need to be interested in finding it.

Defining Marriage Isn’t Defending Marriage.The rise of “gay marriage” does not come primarily from a crisis in the understanding of what marriage is. It comes from a crisis in the understanding and practice of love, commitment, and community.

So How Should You Respond When Someone Tells You a Story Like Mine?The greatest aid for gay Christians would be for straight Christians to live out the virtues that they insist their gay counterparts commit themselves to.

“The Gay Issue”: Learning from the Pro-Life Movement.While attempting to convince women against having abortions, pro-lifers were not shy to use the words “murder” and “death.”

Gay at the Grotto.These are the agonies of men and women who did not choose to be different. Yet, these are the men and women at the Grotto.