"Light In The Loafers" - sorry, I made that up - I can't remember the title but this painting is also by Botero.
Around the feast of St. Catherine of Siena I wrote about having been told by a woman that Fr. Benedict Groeschl had told her that he thought St. Catherine may have been a lesbian. I wrote that I felt it was impossible for Fr. Groeschl to make such a statement. I mentioned how people who shop my Store will often ask if there are any saints who were gay and I tell them no. I explain that someone's so-called sexual orientation does not define them as a person. That God "created them, male and female" as the scripture teaches. Homosexuality is a disorder and God did not create homosexuality. Now some saints may have had this temptation just as they might have had other temptations of the flesh. We know in the life of Catherine the demons tempted her in many vile ways, as they did Anthony of Egypt, yet they were not defined by the temptations.
I had a comment posted from a man who politely disagreed with me. He seemed to believe that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in their statement on homosexuality, after having declared it a disorder, and an intrinsic moral evil, also remained neutral on the orientation itself, only condemning homosexual activity. That is a misread or misinterpretation at best. On one level they're saying just because one may have this proclivity, this orientation, this temptation, does not constitute a state of sin. Acting upon it does however. Furthermore, the Church never has stated that this orientation is either neutral or good. It clearly states that the inclination itself must be understood as an "objective disorder", because "it is more or less a strong tendency toward an intrinsic moral evil." The homosexual lifestyle and subculture is never harmless or even good, nor can it be deemed an alternative lifestyle, much less equivalent to traditional marriage.
Nevertheless, a person with this tendency may indeed live a devout and faithful Catholic life if he/she is living a chaste and celibate life in obedience to the teachings of the Church. In and through such a life, accompanied by prayer and penance, frequent recourse to the Sacrament of Penance and the Eucharist, one may find complete freedom from a sin that otherwise ensnared, enslaved, or even just deceived the individual. Some people can emerge from such a lifestyle by the grace of God, others may suffer the effects, yet may experience the interior freedom of the Sons of God by grace. To say otherwise is to call God a liar. Nevertheless the world mocks such notions and the gay agenda accuses those that hold such beliefs as guilty of hate crimes. It takes great courage and perseverance to go against popular culture. Let us pray for those souls who do so.
I must say that this is what is wrong with churches that affirm homosexuals in their lifestyle and encourage same sex relationships and want to call it marriage, as well as encourage these persons to adopt children, when clearly their life is disordered. (And yes, I am definitely referencing SJA.) In doing so they insist that the rest of the congregation, indeed the universal Church and all the world say that what is evil is good and visa versa. We surely can apply the words of Our Lord to these churches and congregations, and especially their priests and ministers, when He states that they circle the earth and the sea in order to make one convert and they end up making them fit for hell more than they themselves are. (See Matthew 23:15)
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