2012

2012-08-04 John W

"Where do you stand on the issue of same-sex marriage?"

Yesterday I posted an article Where is the middle road in today's Church?

In a comment on that article (see comments at bottom of above link), Laura Kuntz said:

I guess I would like to know how you feel about same-sex marriage, if you put that in the category of "anything goes" or if you think there is room for dialogue and acceptance on this? I am a straight woman, married 25 years, but have come, over time to support, strongly, the idea that the dedicated, loving relationships of gay people are worthy of honor and dignity. I've appreciated your website, but would appreciate knowing where you stand on this.

Thank you Laura for your comment. My middle of the road thinking about this issue is not a straight out "No" (it's totally wrong, same-sex marriage people must be condemned) nor a straight out "Yes" (it's totally ok, governments should allow same-sex marriages)

My thinking is summed up in these beautiful words from the moving article A Mother's Plea:
"Let us open our doors of God’s church and welcome everyone without discrimination; let Jesus do the rest.
Let’s help Our Lord’s kingdom come, so that His will can be done. Let Him feed, medicate, nourish and love.
Let Him be the potter. If the clay is not of good quality, then let Him decide"

Obviously these words are not meant to be taken to an extreme. We're not meant to welcome someone who comes into our church carrying a machine gun or who is high on drugs etc

But "everyone without discrimination" well describes the policy of Jesus in the Gospels. Jesus never once turned anyone away.
All "clay" was welcome, especially clay that was rejected by the religious leaders of the time

And Jesus told us not to judge the quality of someone else's "clay"

We need to ask what does Jesus think about same-sex marriage?

This raises the controversial issue of how to interpret various Bible passages (seemingly) referring to homosexuality....not to mention the basic issue of conscience and formation of conscience

I've found great wisdom and compassion in the writings on this topic by Francis MacNutt. I highly recommend these words of his

To be honest, I've yet to see an article anywhere answering the very real questions raised by Francis MacNutt about the health hazard of (male) homosexual acts

If MacNutt is correct, then male homosexual acts are a health hazard
.... and objectively are wrong

At the same time we must immediately add....people who follow a gay life-style must be welcomed in the same way that Jesus would welcome them....with a love that does not condemn even though it might disagree
....yet in a way that does not send the wrong signal to young people (male homosexual acts are ok)

I have found great wisdom in this article by Brian Lewis

Laura, I hope all this makes some sort of sense. If you or others would like to post further comments, please do so. If anyone would like to write a longer article on this issue, I am happy to publish it. You might have noticed many articles on this website this year supporting same-sex marriage, as well as monthly reminders for Melbourne's Inclusive Catholics Mass. For me, "middle-of-the-road" Catholicism means dialogue, never censorship. Only by sincere and respectful dialogue can we help each other in the search for truth.