The Third Way from Blackstone Films on Vimeo.
Can one be gay and teach in a Catholic school? Yes, if they can uphold the Church's teaching and promote it as this film's witnesses do. It is when there is an ideology that opposes the Church's teaching on chastity and God's design of marriage based on natural law that we must say, no! Not here!Indeed, there is a "third way" and it is the Catholic way! God bless all those with same sex attractions and struggles yet work daily with the grace of God to live chastely and to love chastely! And when they fall, they turn to God's mercy and healing and reconciliation and forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance.
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You could substitute alcoholism, drug addiction and pornography for same-sex attraction in this film. There are many more in the Church family that struggle with these. I don't know that we need to say there is a "Third way" and certainly for many there is not an an easy way. There is the way that God has given us which is to pray and sacrifice for these of our brothers and sisters. God has given value to these prayers and sacrifices of ours for us to use to make the Divine Treasury of His graces available to those who need help. It is God's grace that saves and redeems all sinners.
God's Divine Mercy anticipates us in our struggle against sin and temptation. We must never allow our approval to those who say "I can't change my sinful behavior,please accept me as I am". Where is the faith and hope in that attitude? God would never ask or expect us to do something which is impossible for us to do. Ther are mental, psychological and physical issues that can complicate matters but nothing is beyond the reach of Divine help if a person makes a sincere,concerted effort to change and has a dedicated prayer life and recourse to the sacraments. We must all dedicate some of our prayers to those who struggle with sinful behavior because the intercessory prayer of others can be of immense help for these people.
Now that’s more like it! I hope everyone watches this video. It is very educational and moving and much more in line with the compassionate posts that have appeared on this Blog in the past. My advice: Don’t read people like Erick Erickson, with their sometimes nasty tone, watch this video instead! Many thanks to Father McDonald for posting this video, and to Father Pablo for sending it.
As Father McDonald himself has recognized in this posting as well as in several earlier postings on this Blog, not all homosexual people will be able to live up to the Church’s ideal of chastity. Indeed, homosexual persons clearly face a different kind of struggle in trying to live up to this ideal than do heterosexual persons. The requirements of chastity allow heterosexuals a way to satisfy their sexual desires. No such way is available to homosexual persons, which is another reason their situation is a special trial in the eyes of the Church. But the video is certainly a beautiful presentation of, and invitation to, the ideal for a homosexual person. It is also a realistic presentation of the many struggles along the way towards this ideal.
As one of the homosexual Catholics in this video observes, even though the Catholic Church is more accepting of homosexual persons than some other denominations are, the Church also has some way to go in realizing its ideal for how the rest of us should relate to and treat homosexual persons. So, if Catholics want homosexual persons to reach the Church’s ideal of chastity, the rest of us will have to do our part too.
P.S. As a reminder, in case it is needed: The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states in section 2357:
Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained.
After going on to disapprove of homosexual acts in the remainder of section 2357, the Catechism states:
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
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