Ever More Hideous

The thoughts of a hermaphrodite werebeing

1. Shelob 12.7.06 / 7am

   “The next question being, can one be Catholic and gay”

   Anything is possible [grin], and the most improbable can be some of the best. But people have to choose their battles, and requiring the RC church to live up to its highest ideals rather than its lowest common denominators and legislative tendencies is not necessarily in anyone’s job description. I believe one can be a gay Roman Catholic, but members of the GLBT communities have to make the best choices they can; individuals have to decide on a case by case basis, or even a month to month basis, if it’s in their best interests.

   I had a long debate about re-joining the RC church as an adult because I don’t accept the historical teaching on this issue, among others. Father Tony grinned when he saw I’d written “bull shit!!!” in the margins of my catechism in several places. I was lucky enough to have a thoughtful, truly compassionate priest leading our religious ed. classes.

   Father Tony pointed out that neither the historic teachings nor the briefs that modern RC popes issue carry the special stamp or seal that indicate that the pope is *claiming* to speak based on divine revelation — to be speaking without error — to be speaking for God. So, even if a person believes the RC Pope *can* speak infallibly under the right conditions, the items put out, even the more recent ones by JP2, were and are just the learned and long considered opinions of a very powerful man. JP2 did not claim to be speaking infallibly, nor has any Pope in recent history. JP2 (or any pope for that matter) may have been a strong leader in many ways, capable of shaping trends, policies, and actions worldwide, but he was a human, and therefore capable of error – and he knew it. I’m sure he thought he was right, but that don’t make it so. Benedict XVI is the same, though I think he will continue to surprise people in many ways.

   The basic teaching of the current catechism indicates that ideally, all non-married people should remain celibate and that all people should refrain from masturbation. (Excuse me while I ROTFL for a moment). While no longer married, I have never felt “called to celibacy” at any time in my adult life. Lived it and endured it for long periods of time. But I’ve never been “called” to it!

   So — by the rules, sexually active non-married’s *should* be treated equally — with equal compassion and kindness as they work to reconcile their own ideas and choices, formed in the context of “the full catastrophe” of living and the sublime messiness of the real world, with the ideals the RC church currently promotes. [yes, I’ve deliberately side-stepped the definitions of “consent” and “adult” since the metaphysical and religious discussions of what constitutes informed consent and what constitutes a decision made fully and consciously with culpability if applicable fills books, and I’m already yammering on enough topics so far! We can tackle that one later!]

   When that compassion is not offered equally, then something’s wrong with the system, and it’s not living up to its own ideals. Only by requiring the RC church to continue to examine, re-examine, and re-evaluate how it tries to fulfill it’s mission and ideals, can we help make the human social-historical entity of the church move closer to the “divine” inspirations that are supposed to be its core.

   Now Father Tony knew damned well that I used birth control and was living with my boyfriend. We’d discussed these things, my then-current personal situations, and the differences between my thoughts, ideas, decisions, and the RC church’s ideals and what those ideals, as written, were trying to promote. I received communion then and still do.

   I agree with Mary Anderson’s comment completely. A *good* priest, even one who believes unequivocally in the current catechism, is interested in helping people live better lives, not by legislation and condemnation, but with compassion, encouragement, emotional and spiritual support, etc., things which can only be offered with inclusion. These are not fostered by exclusion or excessive guilt, fire, or brimstone. If a person believes in the sacrament of the Eucharist, an act of faith designed to help promote unity and community (communion) among church members as well as between the human and the divine, then cutting someone off from this source of strength and inclusion may qualify as blackmail, but it doesn’t do a damned thing to help people find the strength to make good choices (as defined by themselves at the time as they try to build their best lives, or by the church in the abstract, or by any source as an ideal). Nor does it help people comprehend good interactions between people or between people and large socio-historic entities.

   If the church is hoping to encourage people to choose ( again, that aspect of free will is critically important to the RC church) to accept all the historical ideals, then blackmail is a very poor tactic, and contrary to all the ideals of acceptance, forgiveness, and support that the Mass represents. If the “promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders” (1860) when speaking of “sins”, then how much more diminished or compromised is a choice to participate in Communion if compliance with the historical teachings and social approval of a person’s participation is achieved through blackmail? What becomes of a sacrament so compromised? So diminished? Participation in a sacrament also requires voluntary and free consent. And what of the culpability of those who apply the pressure?

   To be a fully responsible, fully human member of any organization requires one to think, evaluate, and take responsibility for one’s own actions whether in line with that organization’s ideals or not. As a non-married, sexually active, heterosexual, adult member of the RC church, I fall short of many thousands of Christian and RC ideals every day. Many by choice because I don’t agree with them, many for other reasons. Yet I continue to participate in my local church, and to speak, listen, think, and encourage others to do the same. I also attend mass when the mood strikes and take part in communion.

   The RC church can only be improved if other human beings who recognize the fallibility of an ancient, slow-moving, world wide socio-historic entity also continue to take part fully and thoughtfully. Sins, stones, glass houses, etc., — you know the drill [grin]. There are bigots everywhere. If the RC church has something positive to offer someone, if people value that heritage or that system and wish to take part in the RC church as a living, learning, changing entity, the more the merrier! A few more minds and voices to help keep the old elephant moving can only be a good thing.

   Personally, I returned to the RC church because I wanted the ritual comfort I’d been familiar with as a child, because I valued the sense of consistency and responsibility inherent in being expected to act on the ideals I believed, and because, knowing just how fallible I am, I find comfort in the processes of reconciliation, absolution, and communion. It’s nice to know that there’s a system in place to assist in recovering from screwing up; I find comfort in the level of acceptance of my humanity that the existence of that system represents.

   I felt a return possible because I’d recognized that the RC church is a human construct with a core of higher ideals and with mythologies I find useful in constructing my life and in making good choices for that life, and because I’d recognized that historically and now, the RC church is constantly changing. Not quickly. The only quick changes have involved pyres for many and alienation for many more. The slow deliberateness of this elephant is frustrating, but careful. And on paper at least, the elephant tries to be consistent. In practice – it’s made up of human beings, not gods, and human beings need help. Repeatedly! [grin] Hope this proves interesting fodder. Sorry if it’s too long winded!

   –Shelob
   http://caution-blind-driver.blogspot.com/

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