9/8/2016 PapalTheologianonGayIdentity|DanielMattson|FirstThings

PAPAL THEOLOGIAN ON GAY

IDENTITY
by
Daniel Mattson
7 . 11 . 13

In my last essay at First Things , I echoed the words of Pope Benedict writing about the

pastoral care of the homosexual person by saying, only what is true can ultimately be

pastoral. Rev. Wojciech Giertych , O.P., the Theologian of the Papal Household, last week
echoed the words of Pope Benedict when he said, the best way of treating people with

dignity is to tell them the truth, and if we escape from the truth, we are not treating them
with dignity. This truth, which is blunt, precise, and di cult to hear, yet honoring of mans

dignity, is that homosexuality is against human nature.

The Papal Theologian provides a valuable contribution as well to the ongoing debate here at
First Things about the acceptability of a gay identity within the Churchs anthropology:

[I]n the American language you have a distinction between the word

homosexual and gay. A homosexual is a person who has, to some

extent, this homosexual condition. And somebody may have this

di culty, and his friends, his neighbors will not know about this. Hes
dealing with this in cooperation with the grace of God and may come

out of this di culty and come back to normal human relationships.

Sometimes adolescents, in the moment when their sexual sensibility is

appearing, and if they have been distorted by others, they go through a

phase of di culty in this eld. But as they mature they will grow out of

it. Whereas a gay is somebody who says, I am like this, I will be like
this, I want to be treated like this, and I want special privileges because

I am like this. Now if somebody is not only homosexual, but a gay,

https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/07/papaltheologianongayidentity 1/4
9/8/2016 PapalTheologianonGayIdentity|DanielMattson|FirstThings

I am like this. Now if somebody is not only homosexual, but a gay,

declaring, This is how I am, and I want this to be respected legally,

socially and so on, such a person will never come out of the di culty.

In order to come out of any di culty, one naturally must rst recognize that it is one. In my

rst post here on the subject, I contend that the only way to fully receive the grace the
Church has to o er is to understand homosexuality as a wound: The good that comes from

homosexuality is the redemption Christ brings as a result of the wound. Recently I quoted
Cardinal Ratzinger cautioning against viewing homosexuality as being in anyway good . As

we know from our savior, bad fruits are the result of bad trees, and the Catechism tells us that
the root of homosexuality has a psychological genesis. The Papal Theologian echoes the

teachings of the Catechism and Benedict when he calls homosexuality a distortion of

humanity, and views it as a negative condition which he calls a trap that people fall into
for various reasons, and not necessarily for a fault of their own. He describes one possible

reason by saying, there are people who are emotionally fragile, because they come from
broken families, because contraception and abortion has destroyed families, has generated
divorces, people who are born and unloved, and not formed wellnotice, they are
emotionally fragile, and they easily fall prey to sexual deviations.

Contrary to beliefs re ected in the recent reparative therapy ban in California, the Papal
Theologian makes it clear that the condition is neither innate nor immutable. He says the
condition is not necessarily permanent and that some are passing through a stage and

that not every person will always be with that di culty. That being said, he emphasizes
that the important thing is to help such people nd themselves, to return to an emotional
and moral integrity.

Here in America, more and more members of the hierarchy re ect a similar disapproval with

choosing to identify as gay. It seems no accident that the Vatican appointed the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops point man on the defense of marriage to become
Archbishop of San Francisco. While Bishop of Oakland, Salvatore Cordileone censured the

Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministry as not being authentically Catholic, in
part because the terms [lesbian and gay] werent in the churchs vocabulary, and were

https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/07/papaltheologianongayidentity 2/4
9/8/2016 PapalTheologianonGayIdentity|DanielMattson|FirstThings

part because the terms [lesbian and gay] werent in the churchs vocabulary, and were

promoted by groups opposed to the churchs moral teaching. In a recent article on so-
called same-sex marriage, Archbishop Charles Chaput eschewed the terms gay or
lesbian, or even, in his case, homosexual, in favor of variants of same-sex attracted.
When asked about those who choose a gay identity during a Q & A in 2011, Cardinal

Raymond Burke , Americas leading prelate in the Vatican, said that those who claim a gay
identity must say to themselves that this is not [my] identity, but an aspect of my life which I
need to address, which is out of sync with the way God has made me and called me into
being.

The Papal Theologian echoes Cardinal Burkes comments on identity when he says,

[T]he important thing . . . when somebody has a homosexual tendency,

is to tell such an individual, this is not everything that you are. There

are many other qualities in you which are good. You may be an artist,
you may be a writer, you may be good in your work, you may be a
sportsman, [or] you are charitable. There are many aspects of your
being. Whereas a gay focuses on this condition, and makes out of it

the supreme sacrament, the supreme justi cation, the supreme

expression of the identity of the individual. Well, once that is elevated
and is treated as the supreme [and] the most important bit of
information that we have about the individual, such an individual will

never free himself from this perverted state, and he will never be happy.

Happiness is freedom to live as God created us to be. Pope Benedict XVI tells us that man is

a creature having an innate message which does not contradict our freedom, but is instead
its very premise. Benedict describes modern thinking on sexuality, and particularly the
notion of gender versus sex, as mans attempt at self-emancipation from creation and the
Creator. Man wants to be his own master, and alone always and exclusively to determine

everything that concerns him. Yet in this way he lives in opposition to the truth, in
opposition to the Creator Spirit. St. Paul tells us that , it was for freedom that Christ set us

https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/07/papaltheologianongayidentity 3/4
9/8/2016 PapalTheologianonGayIdentity|DanielMattson|FirstThings

free; therefore keep standing rm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Benedict
points us to where our freedom is ful lled:

Man . . . has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot

manipulate at will. Man is not merely self-creating freedom. Man does
not create himself. He is intellect and will, but he is also nature, and his
will is rightly ordered if he respects his nature, listens to it and accepts
himself for who he is, as one who did not create himself. In this way,
and in no other, is true human freedom ful lled.

Fr. Giertych reassures us that the grace of God heals whatever distortions we may have,
whatever di culties we may have, on the condition that we initiate, we commence the
pilgrimage, we start the journey of living out our lives with the grace of God. Christ teaches
us that in order to be truly free, we must rst be taught the truth, and be humble in
acknowledging it. I believe that a necessary step on the journey towards freedom for people
with same-sex attraction is to embrace a radical and counter-cultural coming out: a
coming out from all sexual identities contrived in the mind of man, and instead humbly

acknowledging and accepting the fullness of what it means to be made male and female, in the
image and likeness of God.

https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/07/papaltheologianongayidentity 4/4