James Alison on the Likely "Really Big Deal" of Synod 2015

I have to say I really appreciate theologian James Alison's perspective on the issue that the recently-concluded Synod on the Family chose to avoid. This issue is, of course, the place of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics in the church family. A major part of my appreciation stems from Alison's contention that perhaps "for the first time . . . the bishops seem to have faced up to having a genuine problem on their hands that is their problem, not that of LGBT people, and no apparent way out of it without help." If this is indeed the case, says Alison, then it is "a really big deal."

The bishops' "problem" is official church teaching on homosexuality, about which Alison writes: "There is no way to communicate current teaching mercifully, or with less hateful language – maybe because that teaching’s premise of the objectively disordered nature of the 'homosexual inclination' is actually false?"

Yet as appreciative as I am of Alison's perspective, I have to wonder why he chose to express the last part of this powerful statement as a question and not as a fact, not as an observable reality. The Roman Catholic clerical caste's premise for its teaching on homosexuality and, by extension, on human sexuality is false. And I think that as Catholics attuned to the presence of God in the lives and relationships of all, we need to be very clear in saying that there's no "maybe" about it.

The words I use to describe both this premise and the teaching produced by it are erroneous, dysfunctional, and dangerous.* I know Alison would agree, so why the "maybe" and the question-posing strategy? Some might say it's simply a rhetorical question, that Alison is modeling the type of question that members of the hierarchy should be asking and that perhaps, he suggests, Pope Francis is inviting them to ask. Yet I question if we should ever shy away from unequivocally stating that the hierarchy's sexual theology (which is actually a narrow marital theology) is erroneous, dysfunctional, and dangerous. We owe it to ourselves and our experiences as LGBT Catholics, and to the young people and others struggling with and threatened by the homo-negativity produced by the Vatican's stance on sexuality, to make such unequivocal statements, no matter what the forum. Lives are very much at stake, and so I find the reluctance of many LGBT and/or progressive Catholic commentators to unequivocally reject the hierarchy's teaching on sexuality, to take any and every opportunity to declare it erroneous, dysfunctional, and dangerous, to be both disappointing and perplexing.

I should add that equally disappointing and perplexing to my mind is the failure to reject the feudal monarchical system that produces such false and damaging teaching, and the reluctance to identify this system as the antithesis of Jesus' life and message.

Having said all this, I still appreciate and value James Alison's efforts to offer hope with regards to the hierarchy's ongoing journey in understanding of homosexuality. Accordingly, I share the following excerpt from his commentary in the November 7, 2015 issue of The Tablet.

There were two weak-minded “ways out” of the current hierarchical impasse in the Church on matters gay – the first, a bombastic reaffirmation of current teaching as obviously right, the solution of the deluded pure; the second, that the teaching is right, but that there is a problem with the language in which it is communicated – the solution of the ­cowardly cosmeticians. I’m delighted to say we got neither. The low-key reaffirmations of loyalty to current positions in the final ­document have “pro tem” written all over them; and the general dropping from view of matters LGBT towards the end of the synod suggests that something much more interesting may have happened.

It is just conceivable that enough synod participants realised that there is no way to communicate current teaching mercifully, or with less hateful language – maybe because that teaching’s premise of the objectively disordered nature of the “homosexual inclination” is actually false? Teaching others, with however pretty a language, that they must buy into a falsehood about themselves so as to fit into pre-determined schemes of what is right or wrong, is to demand that they indulge a fragile rigidity that is the teachers’ problem, not their own – classic Pharisaism.

I suspect there was enough of a recognition that there is no genuine way out of the impasse without raising a question of doctrine, for it to be better to go quiet on the issue, and punt further study and discussion of the matter to the Holy Father – and quite possibly to the new dicastery he has announced dedicated to laity, family and life. If something like this was what happened, then I’d like to say: this is a really big deal. For the first time in my memory, the bishops seem to have faced up to having a genuine problem on their hands that is their problem, not that of LGBT people, and no apparent way out of it without help.

It is here, I think, that we see something of the genius of Pope Francis. I had feared that his statements about not changing doctrinal matters, but focusing on the pastoral, were a sign of weakness in the face of intransi­gent hardliners and would lead to cosmetic solutions. What a joy to be wrong! It seems rather, that he wanted people to run up against the dead ends of many current positions together so not only would they begin to dare to ask each other, and the Pope, the sort of questions which might lead to a more adult discussion of the matters at hand, but it would actually lead to a consensus of teachers realising that they need to, and want to, think more.

For in fact, when it comes to matters LGBT, the theological issues are not difficult to resolve. As a matter of group psychology, however, allowing the synod fathers, more than a few of whom have a personally complicated involvement with the matter at hand, to reach a consensus that the status quo is untenable, and thus that they actually want to find a way forward: that is difficult indeed. Yet something like the beginnings of this can be detected in the synod’s having punted on this issue: ­nothing now, so as to talk better, later.

It has long been noted that the Second Vatican Council opened up a way for an approach to learning what is true, what is of God, that makes room for the inductive – learning by experience of being led to truth – rather than the deductive approach, dedu­cing the logical consequences of doctrinal a prioris and then instructing people that this is what they ought to know, to think and to feel. And it has equally been noted, since Humanae Vitae, that among many areas where the Church is quite at ease with the inductive, experiential approach, there remains a strictly protected island in which the deductive, syllogistic approach is still regarded as synonymous with “doctrine”. It is no surprise, therefore, that it is in this area, touching on every aspect of family intimacy and the ability to talk honestly, that there is the greatest schism between “official doctrine” and “life.”

– James Alison
Excerpted from "Love in a Changing Climate"
The Tablet
November 7, 2015

* When I say the current teaching on LGBT issues is dangerous, I mean it both perpetuates the "blood-soaked thread" of anti-gay violence that's part of Roman Catholicism's history and contributes to the internalized homo-negativity of LGBT people, a homo-negativity that has been shown to predict poor emotional and sexual health.


Related Off-site Links:
Conspiracy of the Faithful: Following the Synod, from Afar – Catherine Wolff (Commonweal, November 2, 2015).
Gay and Catholic: What It’s Like to Be Queer in the Church – Debora Fougere (Aljazeera America, October 31, 2015).
LGBT Catholics Worship and Seek Acceptance Outside the Church – Amanda Guillen (Scripps Howard Foundation Wire, November 5, 2015).
Gay Priest Who Lost Vatican Job Assails the Church in Letter to Pope Francis – Gaia Piaigiani (The New York Times, October 28, 2015).
Ragged Questions After the Synod – Deafening Silence About How the Homosexuals Took Another One Upside the Head to Facilitate Pastoral Breakthrough for Everyone Else – William D. Lindsey (Bilgrimage, October 27, 2015).
How to Be Happy, Catholic and Gay – Terence Weldon (The Queer Church Repository, October 20, 2015).
To Have a Truly Just Church, Pope Francis Must Move Beyond Complementarity – Jamie Manson (National Catholic Reporter, May 6, 2015).
Homosexual Relationships: Another Look – Bill Hunt (The Progressive Catholic Voice, September 8, 2012).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• "Trajectory is More Important Than the Current Status"
• Stop in the Name of Discriminatory Ideology!
• The Non-Negotiables of Human Sex
• Quote of the Day – May 29, 2015
• A "Fruit" Reflects Upon the Meaning of "Fruitfulness"
• What the Vatican Can Learn from the X-Men
• Beyond Respectful Tolerance to Celebratory Acceptance
• The "Ratzinger Letter" of 1986 as "Theological Pornography"
• How the Pope's Recent Remarks on Evolution Highlight a Major Discrepancy in Church Teaching
• The Gifts of Homosexuality
• Remembering and Reclaiming a Wise, Spacious, and Holy Understanding of Homosexuality
• Good News on the Road to Emmaus
• Catholic Hierarchy Can Overcome Fear of LGBT People

Quote of the Day

The synod's brief discourse of same-sex marriage is . . . hurtful. It is a cruel hoax to say that the church is welcoming of those of same-sex orientation and yet in the same breath not give any acknowledgment of the poignancy of that human relationship. Is it not an extraordinary act of love for one human being to say to another: 'I want to walk with you, to be your support, to care for you in illness and to share in your joys?' That statement is no less extraordinary when it is made between two of the same gender. When the church declares itself closed and disapproving of such relationship, it separates itself from the welcoming nature of Christ, and instead, sets itself up as judge with a standard that is disregarding of the Thomistic advice not to make the perfect the enemy of the good.

– Douglas Kmiec
Excerpted from "The Synod Answers: 'Who Am I to Judge?'
National Catholic Reporter
October 30, 2015

Related Off-site Links:
What Family Really Means – Frank Bruni (The New York Times, October 24, 2015).
What I Learned From Observing the Synod on Marriage and Family – Francis DeBernardo (Bondngs 2.0, October 29, 2015).
Synod Indicates the Kind of Change Possible – Editorial (National Catholic Reporter, October 30, 2015).
Conservatives Have Officially Become the Catholic Church's Tea Party – Patricia Miller (Religion Dispatches, October 22, 2015).
The Family Synod: It's Far from Over – Russell Pollitt, S.J. (The Jesuit Institute South Africa, October 28, 2015).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Real Scandal: Fear of Love
• Synod 2015 Quote of the Day – October 16, 2015
• Jim Smith on the "Tears of Love and Faith" of LGBTI People and Their Families
• Beyond the Hierarchy: The Blossoming of Liberating Catholic Insights on Sexuality (Part 8)
• "Trajectory is More Important Than the Current Status"

Image: "Family" by Sarah Amalia Holst.

Something to Think About . . .

Related Off-site Links:
Who Won? Who Lost? Five Points on the Contentious Vatican Summit – David Gibson (Crux, October 26, 2015).
Pope Francis and the Gospel of Engagement – Maureen Fiedler (National Catholic Reporter, October 27, 2015).
The Pope Has Smoked Out His Opposition – Robert Mickens (National Catholic Reporter, October 26, 2015).
LGBT Advocates and Vatican Observers Respond to Synod on the Family’s Final Report – Bob Shine (Bondings 2.0, October 27, 2015).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Real Scandal: Fear of Love
• Synod 2015 Quote of the Day – October 16, 2015
• Quote of the Day – October 3, 2014
• Eucharist: Recognizing and Embodying God's Presence in the World
• Celebrating and Embodying Divine Hospitality
• "Receive What You Are, the Body of Christ"
• Trusting God's Generous Invitation
• Take This Bread
• "Take, All of You, and Eat": Communion and the Rainbow Sash (Part 1)
• "Take, All of You, and Eat": Communion and the Rainbow Sash (Part 2)
• "Take, All of You, and Eat": Communion and the Rainbow Sash (Part 3)
• My Rainbow Sash Experience

Image: Pat Marrin (from "The Francis Chronicles," National Catholic Reporter).

The Real Scandal: Fear of Love

[We must aim] to love unconditionally all families, particularly those experiencing difficulties, since no family should feel alone or excluded from the Church’s loving embrace, and the real scandal is a fear of love and of showing that love concretely.

– Pope Francis
Excerpted from the end of the very last footnote
of the Pope's speech closing the 2015 Synod on the Family

Related Off-site Links:
Pope, Closing Synod, Calls for More Open-Hearted Church – Philip Pullella (Reuters via Yahoo! News, October 25, 2015).
Pope Francis’ Concluding Synod Speech Stresses Mercy Above Law – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 25, 2015).
Catholic Bishops at Synod Call for a More Welcoming Church – Nicole Winfield and Daniela Petroff (Associated Press via Yahoo! News, October 24, 2015).
Bishops End Divisive Synod on Family – BBC World News (October 24 2015).
Pope Criticizes Conservative Bishops with "Closed Hearts" After Synod – Reuters via Aljazeera America (October 24, 2015).
Synod's Final Word to LGBT People: Lord Help Us! Those People Imagine They Should Be Welcome?! And Fa-mi-ly?! – William D. Lindsey (Bilgrimage, October 25, 2015).
Catholic Theologians Condemn Ross Douthat's Recent Piece on the Pope – Jim McDermott (America, October 27, 2015).
Same-sex Parents Invest More Time in Their Children, Study Says – Emily Dugan and Lucy White (The Independent, October 17, 2015).

UPDATES: At Synod Closing, Pope Stresses Inclusion, Open Hearts, Encounter, and Mercy – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 26, 2015).
Synod on Family Produced Nothing New, Says Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese – Patsy McGarry (The Irish Times, October 26, 2015).
Why Are Some Catholics So Afraid of Change? – James Martin, SJ (CNN, October 26, 2015).
LGBT Advocates and Vatican Observers Respond to Synod on the Family’s Final Report – Bob Shine (Bondings 2.0, October 27, 2015).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Synod 2015 Quote of the Day – October 16, 2015
• Jim Smith on the "Tears of Love and Faith" of LGBTI People and Their Families
• Beyond the Hierarchy: The Blossoming of Liberating Catholic Insights on Sexuality (Part 8)
• "Trajectory is More Important Than the Current Status"
• Quote of the Day – December 10, 2014
• Competent Parenting Doesn't Require "Traditional Marriage"
• One Catholic Gay Parent Who Isn’t Leaving the Church
• "That Utterly Profound In-Loveness"
• Catholic Hierarchy Can Overcome Fear of LGBT People

Image: Source.

Synod 2015: Quote of the Day

The time is now for this synod to propose that the Church re-examine its teaching on marriage and sexuality, and its understanding of responsible parenthood, in a dialogue of laity and bishops together. The response of the [bishops] to [the massive dissent of the laity] has been for better catechesis or to ignore the dissent. This paralyzed status quo cannot continue. The matter must be discussed afresh but lay people will not be content to leave it to clergy alone. Too many in authority responded to clergy sexual abuse in a way which demonstrated that they lacked the expertise in sexuality and psychology to make good decisions, with the result they became complicit in perpetuating enormous harm, harm done to lay people. It will take not more catechesis but rather listening with deep empathy to restore the credibility of the Church in matters of sexual ethics.

– Sharron Cole
Lay Auditor at the Synod on the Family
Quoted in "Synod Hears Call to Re-examine Teachings
on Sexuality and Birth Control"
JohnThavis.com
October 16, 2015

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Beyond the Hierarchy: The Blossoming of Liberating Catholic Insights on Sexuality (Part 8)
• Trajectory is More Important Than the Current Status
• Quote of the Day – December 10, 2014

Related off-site Links:
Pope Francis Seeks to Open Church Doors to All – Gerard O'Connell (America, October 19, 2015).
As LGBT Lives Continue to Be Discussed While the Synod Takes Place, Look at Whose Voice Counts in Catholic Discussion Spaces — And Whose Testimony is Not Invited – William D. Lindsey (Bilgrimage, October 16, 2015).
Archbishop Blase Cupich: Let Gay and Divorced Catholics Take Part – Michael O'Loughlin (Crux, October 16, 2015).
Having the Wrong Discussions . . . – Questions from a Ewe (October 13, 2015).
Synod System Stacks Deck Against Women – Mary E. Hunt (National Catholic Reporter, October 6, 2015).
The Synod, LGBT Catholics, and Women: Meh – William D. Lindsey (Bilgrimage, October 13, 2015).
Synod Fathers on Gay Issues Couldn’t Be Any Further Apart Than They Already Are – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 12, 2015).
The Real Synod Has Yet to Arrive – Robert Mickens (National Catholic Reporter, October 12, 2015).
Synod 2015 News Notes: Keeping Tabs on All the Talk – Bob Shine (Bondings, 2.0, October 11, 2015).
Will the Synod Fathers Be Surprised by the Spirit? – Christopher Lamb (The Tablet, October 6, 2015).

UPDATE: US Sister-Auditor: Synod Shows Cultural Divide Between Bishops and Laypeople – Joshua J. McElwee (National Catholic Reporter, October 19, 2015).

Beyond the Hierarchy: The Blossoming of Liberating Catholic Insights on Sexuality (Part 8)

The Wild Reed's series highlighting the liberating insights on sexuality that are emerging and “blossoming” beyond the Vatican, continues with the recently released statement by the Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII, an international group of theologians from countries ranging from Spain to Cameroon, Venezula to the U.S.

This statement compellingly calls on the bishops at the Synod of the Family, currently taking place in Rome, to give full equality to women and to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the Church.

Following is the full statement (with thanks to "Rebel Girl" at Iglesia Descalza for the English translation).

Keeping intact a certain model of family, proper to a time and culture, is not part of the Faith of the Church. According to the gospels, Jesus of Nazareth was deeply critical of the family model of his time and culture. Therefore, the Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII deems it necessary to present the following proposals to the Synod of Bishops that is being held in Rome:

1. We believe that the different sexual identities, options, and orientations must be respected as an expression of the diversity of ways of experiencing sexuality among human beings. Consequently, homosexuality and homosexual marriages should be recognized in the Catholic Church on equal terms with heterosexuality and heterosexual marriages. Christian homosexual people should not be excluded from any church task, activity or responsibility, or from participation in the sacraments.

Respect for non-heterosexual people doesn't seem to reconcile with their exclusion from certain church roles, for example being a godparent at a baptism or the priestly and theological ministry. Both exclusions have occured recently – in the Diocese of Cádiz with a transsexual man and in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with a homosexual priest – and they demonstrate clear discrimination because of sexual orientation and belie the often repeated concept in Church teaching documents of acceptance towards non-heterosexual people.

2. We believe that the indiscriminate condemnation by Church teaching of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy should be reviewed. We consider it necessary to repeal Canon 1398 of the Code of Canon Law decreeing excommunication for anyone who procures the abortion, if it occurs, and that it is contrary to the absolution of the sin of abortion decreed by Pope Francis on the occasion of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. Also the right of women to decide in conscience on this matter should be respected.

3. There are no biblical, theological, historical, pastoral, much less dogmatic reasons, to exclude married men or women from any ecclesial ministries, ordained or unordained. Equality of Christian men and women through baptism must translate into equal conditions for men and women in access to the realm of the sacred, in the development of theological and moral doctrine, as well as in participation in church duties and governing bodies, without any discrimination on the grounds of gender, ethnicity or social class. Therefore we ask that sexist ideological, cultural and normative barriers be removed and that the full incorporation of women in the above areas, including access to the priesthood and episcopate, be implemented.

4. As regards divorce, there is no dogma of faith that prevents it, nor that prohibits the access of separated or divorced and remarried people to the Eucharist. The current exclusionary discipline in this area, perhaps understandable in the past, has no justification today and, far from drawing people in those circumstances to the Christian community, it marginalizes them, drives them away, and stigmatizes them. In addition, it lacks a gospel basis. We therefore believe that the Synod of Bishops should remove that prohibition, currently in force, and facilitate access to Eucharistic communion by separated or divorced and remarried persons without imposing any corrective requirements. We believers are moral agents with the ability to decide freely in conscience in this area. This decision must be respected.

5. It is necessary to acknowledge the significant advances made by feminism on equality between men and women and in their liberation. In light of these developments, the patriarchal structure of the doctrine and practice on Christian marriage should be revised.

6. The Synod can not be reduced to matters relating to Christian marriage. We believe it a priority for it to do an analysis of the situation of poverty and social exclusion in which millions of families find themselves, to prophetically denounce it, to express its solidarity with the most vulnerable families and contribute to the elimination of the causes of this situation based on the ethical gospel option for poor and marginalized people.

Statement signed by: Xavier Alegre. Asociación de Teólogos y Teólogas Juan XXIII. Spain • José Arregi. Theologian. Spain • Olga Lucía Álvarez. Asociación Presbíteras Católicas Romanas. Colombia • Juan Barreto. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • Fernando Bermúdez, Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • Leonardo Boff. Ecotheologian, member of the Earth Charter Commission and writer • Ancizar Cadavid Restrepo. Theologian. Colombia • José María Castillo. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • José Centeno. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII, Spain • Juan Antonio Estrada. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • Máximo García. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • Antonio Gil de Zúñiga. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • Ivone Gebara. Theologian and philosopher. Brazil • Axel Hernández Fajardo. Emeritus Professor at the Escuela Ecuménica de las Ciencias de Religiones. Universidad Nacional. Costa Rica • Rosa María Hernández. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • Mary Hunt. Theologian. Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER) • Gabriela Juárez Palacio. Theologian. Co-founder of Teólogas e Investigadoras • Rosa Leiva. Federación Latinoamericana de Presbíteros Casados. Ecuador • Juan Masiá. Theologian. Japan • Federico Mayor Zaragoza. President of the Fundación Cultura de Paz and the Comisión Internacional contra la Pena de Muerte. Spain • Cyprien Melibi. Theologian. Cameroon • Arnoldo Mora Rodríguez. Co-founder of the Departamento Ecuménico de Investigaciones (DEI). Costa Rica • Mario Mullo. Federación Latinoamericana de Sacerdotes Casados. Ecuador • Carmiña Navia. Theologian. Colombia • Marisa Noriega. Theologian. Co-founder of the Asociación Mexicana de Reflexión Teológica Feminista. Mexico • Gladys Parentelli. Auditor at Vatican II. Venezuela • Federico Pastor. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • Victorino Pérez Prieto. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • Suyapa Pérez Scapini. Theologian. El Salvador • Margarita Maria Pintos. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • Javier Omar Ruiz Arroyave. Activist. Masculinidades Liberadoras. Colombia • José Sánchez Suárez. Theologian. Comunidad Teológica de Mexico Santiago • Sánchez Torrado. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • Fernando Silva. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos de Juan XXIII. Spain • Aida Soto Bernal. Asociación Presbíteras Católicas Romanas. Colombia • Juan José Tamayo. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • Elsa Tamez. Theologian and biblical scholar. Mexico • Andrea Toca. Theologian. Co-founder of the Asociación Mexicana de Reflexión Teológica Feminista. Mexico • Fernando Torres Millán. Theologian. Coordinator of Kairós Educativo. Colombia • Olga Vasquez. Theologian. El Salvador • Evaristo Villar. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain • Juan Yzuel. Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII. Spain.

Above: Cardinals and bishops at the end of a morning session of the Synod on the Family – Vatican City, October 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

For Francis DeBernardo's excellent coverage from Rome on the Synod on the Family, see:
On Synod’s First Day, Differing Opinions on What Can Be Expected – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 6, 2015).
Synod Day Two’s Question: Who Is Inside and Who Is Outside the Church? – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 7, 2015).
In Advance of the Synod, Global Network of Rainbow Catholics Launches in Rome – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 8, 2015).
Archbishop Discusses African Bishops’ Silence on Criminalization of LGBT People – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 9, 2015).
Will Language Be the Only Thing That the Synod Updates? – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 10, 2015).
A Synod Discussion Asks the Question: What Is Mercy? – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 11, 2015).
Synod Fathers on Gay Issues Couldn’t Be Any Further Apart Than They Already Are – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 12, 2015).
Trying to Interpret the Language of the Synod – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 13, 2015).
Allowing Local Strategies Sounds Like a Good Idea – Except If You’re in Newark – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 14, 2015).
Should the Church Be a Mother or Father to Families? What’s the Difference? – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 15, 2015).
Challenges of Reporting from the Synod: Homophobic Statements, Leaked Documents, the Rumor Mill, and How to Keep Up With It All – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 16, 2015).

Recommended Off-site Links and Updates:
Having the Wrong Discussions . . . – Questions from a Ewe (October 13, 2015).
Synod System Stacks Deck Against Women – Mary E. Hunt (National Catholic Reporter, October 6, 2015).
The Synod, LGBT Catholics, and Women: Meh – William D. Lindsey (Bilgrimage, October 13, 2015).
Cardinals’ Secret Letter to Francis Warns of Plot to Rig Reforms – David Gibson (Religion News Service, October 12, 2015).
Christians Have Hurt a Lot of LGBT People. It's Time To Embrace Them Instead – Sr. Simone Campbell (The Huffington Post, October 10, 2015).
Homosexual Relationships: Another Look – Bill hunt (The Progressive Catholic Voice, September 8, 2012).
We’ve Got to Accentuate the Positive, Synod Bishops Say – John L. Allen Jr. (Crux, October 9, 2015).
At the Synod, the Moment of Truth – Rocco Palmo (Whispers in the Loggia, October 9, 2015).
German Group at Synod United: Church Doctrine Has Developed Over Time – Joshua J. McElwee (National Catholic Reporter, October 15, 2015).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Beyond the Hierarchy (Part 1)
• Beyond the Hierarchy (Part 2)
• Beyond the Hierarchy (Part 3)
• Beyond the Hierarchy (Part 4)
• Beyond the Hierarchy (Part 5)
• Beyond the Hierarchy (Part 6)
• Beyond the Hierarchy (Part 7)
• Human Sex: Weird and Silly, Messy and Sublime
• Sex as Mystery, Sex as Light (Part 1)
• Sex as Mystery, Sex as Light (Part 2)
• Making Love, Giving Life
• Intrinsically Sexual
• A "Truly Queer Theory" on Sex
• The Non-Negotiables of Human Sex
• Sons of the Church: The Witnessing of Gay Catholic Men: A Discussion Guide

Blossom images: Michael J. Bayly (Port Macquarie, March 2015).

"Trajectory is More Important Than the Current Status"

. . . So says Frank Cocozzelli in response to an article I shared yesterday on Facebook. It was an article about how Pope Francis, at the opening of the Synod of the Family, had, "reminded everyone that the Catholic Church is against gay marriage."

As I mentioned on Facebook, it would have been more accurate to say that the pope reminded people that the Catholic hierarchy is against gay marriage. This hierarchy, of course, is not "the church." No, the church is much bigger that the Roman Catholic clerical caste. And in many parts of the world, Catholics very much support marriage equality for their gay loved ones. It's a support that is growing. Yes, the trajectory of the Catholic faithful is more important than the current entrenched status of the hierarchy.

And this trajectory is for greater recognition, acceptance and celebration of God's loving and transforming presence in the lives and relationships of LGBTI people. It's thus the trajectory of the sensus fidelium, the "sense of the faithful" – a sense that's already far ahead of the bishops, mired in their erroneous and dysfunctional understanding of both gender and sexuality and thus, as Jason Steidl reminds us, the "systematic sin and injustice" that is institutionalized homophobia.

Yet I believe that even the bishops will, in time, join us in the holy journey of ever-expanding consciousness and inclusion.

And I take heart in the words of Buffy Sainte-Marie, who in an interview earlier this year, shared the following insight:

Everybody's always waking up. . . . We're all ripening every minute, all of us – even the guys that we think are the "bad guys." They too are evolving. So for me the whole idea is being willing to mutate, in a good way, and recognizing in other people that each of us is evolving, ripening, growing in our own way. That is very good news.

Indeed!

And it's this same generous and hopeful insight that Buffy expresses in her song "We Are Circling."

We are spiraling, spiraling together;
Onward, inward, creature to creation.
Holy Mystery, Mother Earth – Child Birth;
This is Mother Nature, this is sacred.

. . . We are ripening, ripening together;
Babies, elders, bozos and angels.
This is how we grow,
this is how we get to know;
This is celebration, this is sacred.

Related Off-site Links:
Pope Opens Synod; Calls for Welcoming Church But No Gay Marriage – Philip Pullella (Reuters, October 4, 2015).
Pope Francis Opens Roman Catholic Synod Amid Gay Row – BBC News (October 4, 2015).
Rainbow Catholic Network Launches as Pope Condemns Same-sex Marriage – Nick Duffy (Pink News, October 5, 2015).
Pope Francis’ Actions May Speak Louder Than His Words on LGBT Issues – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 4, 2015).
This Pope is Keeping Hope for Change Alive – Margery Eagan (Crux, September 16, 2015).
The Pope's Encore: Reforming the Church – Mary E. Hunt (The Baltimore Sun, October 2, 2015).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Remembering and Reclaiming a Wise, Spacious, and Holy Understanding of Homosexuality
• The Onward Call
• Good News on the Road to Emmaus
• Celebrating Our Sanctifying Truth
• Marriage: "Part of What is Best in Human Nature"
• A Head and Heart Response to the Catholic Hierarchy's Opposition to Marriage Equality
• Catholic Hierarchy Can Overcome Fear of LGBT People
• Progressive Catholic Perspectives on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 Marriage Equality Ruling
• Singing Their Own Song in Ireland

"I Am a Happy and Proud Gay Priest"

And he does look happy, doesn't he?
He and his boyfriend.

I'm happy for them both.

The priest is Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa, who was fired yesterday from his mid-level position in the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith after coming out in newspaper interviews in Italy and Poland. In these interviews he said that he was happy and proud to be a gay priest, and that he was in love with a man whom he identified as his boyfriend. Charamsa's firing sadly confirms my previously expressed contention that truth-telling is the greatest of sins in a dysfunctional church, and must therefore be swiftly punished. Still, I remind myself that expulsion is often the cost of true discipleship. I also take heart from the fact that Charamsa's courageous stance is a hopeful sign that not all gay men in the Vatican are giving the rest of us a bad name.

Francis DeBernardo, Executive Director of New Ways Ministry, has issued a thoughtful statement on both Charamsa's coming out and his firing. Here's part of what he writes:

[Monsignor Charamsa's] revelation is an acknowledgement of the truth of the way God has made him, and, like millions of other LGBT Catholics, his self-acceptance and self-affirmation will help him better understand God’s love for him. For the Catholic Church, his news is another step in our growing process of coming to better terms with our LGBT brothers and sisters.

It is sadly disappointing that the Vatican fired him when they learned of his announcement. He now joins the long list of LGBT people and allies who have been fired from jobs in Catholic institutions because of LGBT issues. It is unfortunate that Church leaders did not see Charamsa’s announcement as an opportunity for further dialogue with someone they have known and trusted.

We hope that his news will help the bishops of the world gathering in Rome this weekend for three weeks of synod discussions which will include pastoral outreach to families with LGBT members. His witness to the holiness of the lives of LGBT people and the goodness of their relational lives could help these church leaders discern more appropriate and accepting forms of pastoral care. His testimony of struggle and overcoming fear should help these bishops see the challenges and joys that many LGBT people and their families face.

Of course, I've long concluded that there will never be "more appropriate and accepting forms of pastoral care" that are universal and lasting until the official teachings of the church on both gender and sexuality are changed – a process that can only begin with these same teachings being forthrightly challenged and named for what they are: erroneous and dysfunctional. In her recent op-ed, "The Pope's Encore: Reforming the Church," theologian Mary E. Hunt rightly considers the promulgation of such theological teachings as an example of an "anti-LGBTIQ effort" and thus "morally repugnant." Yet, as you'll read below, she also offers a "papal next step" toward the development of a "healthy, good, natural and holy" theology of sexuality.

It is time to end the gay charade in the Roman Catholic Church. The sea of men in every church and papal meeting during the U.S. visit underscored a homosocial power structure. It is an open secret that a high percentage of clergy and religious leaders are same-sex loving people, whether sexually active or not. For those same men to collude in anti-LGBTIQ efforts, including legislation and theology, is morally repugnant. A papal step next step would be to speak openly and frankly about the range of sex/gender options among Catholics and help people see the many healthy, good, natural and holy ways there are to love.

I'm happy that Monsignor Charamsa is modeling for the members of the hierarchical church this "next step." I just love the images of him and his partner Eduard. May the Spirit of clarity and love which inspired their relationship and compelled Charamsa to embody and speak his truth, similarly inspire and transform the hearts and minds of all within the clerical caste of the Roman Catholic Church. Let the transformation of this terribly dysfunction system and its impoverished sexual theology begin!


Related Off-site Links:
Vatican Sacks Gay Priest After Highly Public Coming Out – Philip Pullella (Reuters, October 3, 2015).
Vatican Fires Gay Priest on Eve of Synod – Nicole Winfield and Pietro DeCristofaro (Associated Press via Yahoo! News, October 3, 2015).
Gay Priest’s Revelation Is Big Step for Himself and the Church – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, October 3, 2015).

UPDATES: More Details Emerge About Gay Priest Dismissed from Vatican After Coming Out – Bob Shine (Bondings 2.0, October 5, 2015).
Gay Priest Fired by the Vatican Says the Church Should Stop "Destroying Our Lives" – John L. Allen Jr. (Crux, October 14, 2015).
Gay Priest Who Lost Vatican Job Assails the Church in Letter to Pope Francis – Gaia Pianigiani (The New York Times, October 28, 2015).
Not All Gay Catholics Are Pleased About How Vatican Priest Came Out of the Closet – Anthony Faiola (The Washington Post, November 11, 2015).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Truth-Telling: The Greatest of Sins in a Dysfunctional Church
• When Expulsion is the Cost of Discipleship
• Homosexuality and the Priesthood
• Officially Homophobic, Intensely Homoerotic
• A Fact That Should Be Neither Surprising Nor Derogatory
• Let's Face It: The Catholic Church is a Gay Institution . . . and That's a Good Thing!
• Vatican Stance on Gay Priests Signals Urgent Need for Renewal and Reform
• Report: Homosexuality No Factor in Abusive Priests
• Catholic Church Can Overcome Fear of Gay People
• The Many Manifestations of God's Loving Embrace
• What Is It That Ails You?
• What the Vatican Can Learn from the X-Men
• Trusting God’s Generous Invitation
• Sons of the Church: The Witnessing of Gay Catholic Men - A Discussion Guide
• Remembering and Reclaiming a Wise, Spacious, and Holy Understanding of Homosexuality
• Remembering John McNeill

Quote of the Day

The leaders of our Church need to humble themselves and listen to the people of the Church. Catholic families all over the globe have carefully considered both Church teaching and the reality of their LGBT members’ lives, and have resoundingly rejected doctrine in favor of loving embrace. Church officials are decades behind the faithful in realizing the true Gospel teachings about LGBT people. We call on them to actively listen to the call of the Spirit spoken in this truth, or I fear the upcoming Synod will lead to more pain, more alienation, and more devastation in the lives of LGBT people and families everywhere in the world.

– Marianne Duddy-Burke

Excerpted from "LGBT Catholics Say New Vatican Document
is 'Inadequate and Alienating,' Call for 'Official Input'
into Synod on the Family"
DignityUSA.org
December 9, 2014

Related Off-site Links:
The Vatican's New Questions About LGBT Ministry – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, December 10, 2014).
New Vatican Document to Prepare for Synod on Family: How to Care for "Persons with Homosexual Tendencies"? – William D. Lindsey (Bilgrimage, December 9, 2014).
Pope Speaks of Parents of LGBTs, As Video Series Examines Family Experiences – Bob Shine (Bondings 2.0, December 8, 2014).
Vatican Says Bishops Should Be Led by Pope on Issues Relating to Gay Families – Nicole Winfield (Associated Press via LGBTQ Nation, December 9, 2014).
The Catholic Hierarchy Has Never Been More Confused About Gay Rights – Antonia Molloy (The Independent, December 8, 2014).
Cardinal Schönborn: Synod 2015 Must Concentrate on the Realities of Family Life – Christa Pongratz-Lippitt (National Catholic Reporter, December 9, 2014).
New Catholic Survey Asks About People with "Homosexual Tendencies" – Jack Jenkins (Think Progress, December 10, 2014).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• LGBT Catholics Respond to Synod 2014's Final Report
• On the Feast of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus, Thoughts on Marriage Equality in the U.S. and the Vatican's Synod on the Family
• "The Church is Better Because of the Presence of LGBT People"
• Quote of the Day – October 31, 2014
• A Parent's Prayer
• Voices of Parental Authority and Wisdom
• The Bishops' "Guidelines": A Parent's Response
• Catholic Rainbow (Australian) Parents
• Grandma Knows Best
• Aunt Peg Tells It Like It Is
• Signs and Wonders Continue
• Daniel Maguire: "Heterosexism, Not Homosexuality, is the Problem"
• The Triumph of Love
• Rediscovering What Has Been Written on Our Hearts from the Very Beginning
• Beyond the Hierarchy: The Blossoming of Liberating Catholic Insights on Sexuality
• Trusting God's Generous Invitation
• The Many Manifestations of God's Loving Embrace

Image: Kristen Solberg.