This is what His Holiness said as copied from the Vatican Radio story:
No to gender ideology, protecting the complementarity between men and women
The complementarity between a man and a woman is being questioned by the so-called gender ideology in the name of a freer and more just society, the Pope observes. In fact, he warns, the differences between men and women are not a question of “opposition or subordination but rather of communion and generation… always in the image and likeness of God." Without mutual giving- he adds - neither can have an in-depth understanding of the other.
My Comment: It is unfortunate that the Holy Father has to tell bishops of the Catholic Church to say no to gender ideology. Every Catholic should be saying yes to the Church's teachings not only about morality but also about the nature of marriage. And it isn't just about having an "in-depth understanding about the other" as though Catholicism is now reduced to simply a psychological or sociological reality. Our psychology and sociology will be just fine with or without gender ideology. But our salvation might suffer when we commit sin!
Actually, I don't think this is what the Holy Father said, as normally the Church states things in a more positive way when it comes to the truths of religion. We are a religion of "yes" not "no" meaning that we say yes to God, to God's truths found in Sacred Scripture and Tradition and yes to the salvation God offers us through our live in Him and His Church. When we way yes to God, we say yes to heaven. When we say no to God we say yes to hell.
Why should Catholics embrace the truths of God, not just that about marriage as important as it is, but even smaller things like not stealing paper clips from the office? Because in saying yes to God we say yes to life with God forever and in saying no to God we say no to God for ever. In other words, we tell God we prefer sin and hell to grace and heaven.
I'm not sure that same sex marriage will be the end of civilization. It will create a new social order to be sure. But I know of many homosexuals who are quite peaceful, very productive and contribute to the well-being of society. Sinners do that, no matter their sin preference.
To couch everything about sin in the context of what happens in the here and now misses the point I think.
Religious leaders like the pope need to couch all of our moral teachings within the context of the afterlife.
I will not shun people who are homosexual or have a civil marriage life together. I won't be in their face with placards telling them how wrong their gender ideology is.
I will teach my parishioners about the truth of marriage and ask them to say yes to God's design of marriage discovered by everyone in the world through natural law and made more explicit in Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
But the new normal as it concerns the way marriage is being corrupted will not bring an end to the world and it might not even make our lives more miserable. Gender ideology is simply gender ideology. Hell is hell and is more effective as a deterrent to sin than anything else I know.
17 comments:
Not exactly what I would call a forceful or CLEAR statement by the pope. But apparently you think this is an example of the pope clearly teaching the Faith. Ok. Why didn't he call anybody uncharitable names like he does to Tradidional Catholics who are actually trying to live the Faith. Is it only faithful Catholics who get to be corrected, judged and condemed by this man?
And still silence about Ireland. An entire country abandons the Faith and his response is nothing. Scandalous! And he will answer before God for that.
Francis isn't exactly a St. Paul or even a St. Francis. Would Saint Francis have been silent about what is going on. I don't mean the invented hippie Francis from a 1970 movie but the real St Francis. You know the one who called evil what it is evil. The Saint Francis who called non believers to convert to the Faith and tried to save their souls. The St. Francis who loved the liturgy of the Church. The Saint Francis who demanded his religious actually live the religious life as it had always been lived.
I'm actually lamenting the weakness of His Holiness' statement and using the wrong hermeneutic to do so. But with that said, I would suspect there are more Catholics in hell than others since we have the truth and thus the fulness of truth and are held to a greater accountability at our personal judgement and the Catholic Church will be held to a greater accountability tat the General Judgement. The Holy Father should lambast priests and lay Catholics who miss the mark.
Human sexuality is obviously oriented towards the procreation and education of children. Contraception leads couples to suppress this natural orientation, which, in turn, makes it difficult for them to define sexuality and gender in any sensible way. The trick now is for the Holy Father to point all this out without loosing his popularity.
We, the people of God, get most of our information from the post-Christian, anti-Catholic secular media complex.... almost all of which is POLITICALLY CORRECT and tells us what's the new evolving norm, what's the proper way to look at things, the right things to say and think about sex, marriage, the family, etc.
When 10 channels are running X rated to PG rated sitcoms or shows on "alternative lifestyles" and how awesome and wonderful they are and how evil, rot gut, mean-spirited anyone is who begs to differ.... it has a real impact.
Most people want to belong to the herd. Most people are followers. So when every movie, every sitcom, growing numbers of 'family and children entertainment', sports stars, the nightly news, the pop culture stars are all promoting gay-everything as well as promoting the normalization of porn and oral/anal/masturbation/casual promiscuity.... it all has an effect.
And when the Church's only response is muted and divided by prominent theologians and nuns getting air time praising the 'evolving norms' as perfectly fine.... it's no wonder that most Low information Catholics assume that it's OK to be gay and we are not to judge the moral status of sodomy or sex outside of sacramental marriage.
We're losing the youth. We've lost much of the Millennials and Gen Xers. How many go off to college and lose their virginity (if not before then) and don't "come back" to the Church when they start having kids? Lots.
So what's the plan? Do we have a plan? It doesn't look like there's a plan at all. We're in total reactionary, "chickens with their heads cut off" mode reactionary mode. We've let the secular culture gain the initiative or didn't put up a fight to head them off at the pass.
I vividly remember prominent people pooh poohing a drive to a Federal Constitutional amendment on marriage in the early 1990s as "not needed"- when that would have put a lid on a lot of things. No, instead we settled for DOMA and the other side IMMEDIATELY SET OUT to undermine culture and change hearts and minds while we did....nothing.
In brief, Jus…"the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity…"
Fr.McD....not a very good sales pitch for conversion to the Catholic church. Sounds like you're saying to them that they should join us and they can have a better chance of goung to Hell. I think I'd stick with my United Methodist or Unitarian Universalist group.
If someone out of complete ignorance that is not their own fault rejects the Catholic Faith, how can they go to hell? But let's say you went through the RCIA and believed all the truths of the Church, but did not convert because it would make your family mad or you might go to hell if you didn't live up to the truths, so you remain a Methodist or Unitarian, then, you would be held accountable. So, don't become a Catholic and don't dare to learn the truths of Catholicism or else, tongue in cheek I write. :)
Nice tap dance Fr. The comment about going through RCIA is beside the point. So is the talk about making your family mad. The point is that you said that "there are more Catholics in Hell than others". Want this Southern Baptist to join up? No way. Not interested.
I would agree that, generally speaking, it is better to phrase things in the positive, like "the Church supports marriage as being between a man and a woman" etc.
However, in two and a half years, I believe the Pope has literally never publicly said "homosexual acts are immoral", or "homosexual marriage is immoral", or "the homosexual tendency is disordered" etc.
Accentuating the positive is one thing, but is quite another to be literally silent on half of the equation.
This idea of gender as opposed to sex (gender was a grammatical term until at least 1970) is quite correct; gender is an artificial concept as to what is masculine and feminine whereas sex is biologically determined as to what is male and female. Occasionally there might be genetic mutants whose sex might be difficult to ascertain, but most of the 'transgender' community are not in this category; they have a psychosis which suggests they may have been 'born into the wrong body' but this is quite literally impossible.
It will make our lives more miserable. We will not be able to raise our families while we are under attack for our beliefs and our children are taught to ignore us by every institution in our country. It will become a action of law, too. People must bake cakes for homosexual marriages or face legal action. There is no privacy. What we think and do is controlled by law and we cannot break a law. We are in a state of original sin from or government and it stays its hand in return for compliance. Our sacraments are under direct attack and we are the ones about to sell them out.
Yes, RCG. The good people should have started shooting years ago...
Jolly, I have it on the highest authority that the anti-Christ will marshal an incredibly large army with which to march on the saints.
Now....why would he need a massive army if the saints were unarmed sheep milling about disarmed and dispirited?
It's pretty clear that he needed or will think he needs the army on account of an opposing force standing guard. He will march on them assured of victory and they'll watch him come knowing that absent a miracle they will lose. but they'll marshal nevertheless.
We must start the counter-revolution to overthrow the sexual revolution not with the conviction that we'll win but with the conviction that unless we stand up the miracle won't come.
Nolan - Why is "this is quite literally impossible"?
JusadBellum, very well put...
"I will not shun people who are homosexual or have a civil marriage life together. I won't be in their face with placards telling them how wrong their gender ideology is."
I won't either. If however, the opportunity arises- say the issue of same sex marriage comes up- if you believe in the Truth of the Faith, then you are obligated to defend Church teaching as marriage being the God ordained union between one man and one woman. This can be done from both the pulpit and the confessional. "Admonishing the sinner and instructing the ignorant" are two of the spiritual works of mercy. Furthermore, there is the issue of scandal. There are young minds around and being formed, and while some of these young people, once they are out and living on their own, will stray from the Faith, they should by that time have enough instruction and example to know where the Church stands on issues of morality. There are some who will be corrupted by poor family situations and God will judge these as only He, in employing His justice and mercy, can.
There is private and public sin. Both can be mortal, but the latter, because it can induce others to sin and broadcasts bad example, requires greater satisfaction to God's justice. Someone may view pornography (which of course is a grave matter) in the privacy of their home, but the effect of the sin is multiplied by those who are actually involved in the creation of it. We should be more concerned about what offends God and not that by correction and admonishment we might offend our neighbor.
We are told over and over again by society and government that we can be anything we choose if we try hard enough -- that's what America -- freedom -- is all about!
While the topic is gender ideology, more broadly it is equality ideology: that every human, group, animal, plant and objects have equal rights (except fetuses) no matter how the subject or object self-identifies even if it can't self-identify. Those who subscribe to such thinking will never be satisfied and under constant delusion. They equate equality with Utopia and that no boogey-man-in-the-sky is necessary for Utopia.
The world is not perfect. Someone, somewhere will desire someone else's stuff and will take it by force, if necessary.
Their road to Utopia is paved with Abortions.
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