Tag: Misogyny

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Decoder Replay

— Can Catholicism embrace all sexualities?

One parishioner argues that the Church should welcome gay members. The Pope is just now cracking open the door by offering a small blessing.

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Editor’s note: On 18 December 2023, Pope Francis issued a ruling that priests could bless same sex couples, as long as the blessing was not part of a marriage service. It was a small but important step considering that the Catholic Church has long condemned homosexuality. In October 2023, the Pope announced that the Church will now allow transgender people to be baptized. The rulings sparked a backlash in some countries, and in response the Vatican issued an 8-page clarification.

In this Decoder Replay, we republish a personal reflection essay by Joseph Katusabe originally published April 2022, that argued that the Catholic Church should welcome people of all sexualities. Katsube is a citizen of Uganda, where homosexuality is now a criminal offense punishable by death. At the time of publication, Katusabe was a student at the African Leadership Academy, a News Decoder partner institution.

We launched Decoder Replay to help readers better understand current world events by seeing how our correspondents and students decoded similar events in the past.

“Let’s go to church, people!” my mother shouts to us every Sunday morning.

My sleep is not essential because the enthusiasm I wake up with is astounding. I love my religion. I love Catholicism.

The older I get, the longer my prayers and the more I realize the importance of the foundation that my family and church have given me: a belief system with answers to all questions man hasn’t answered. This same belief system has shaped the calm person I am. Without it, I would be lost, without meaning.

I’m far from alone. The Roman Catholic Church is one of the largest faiths on the planet — and growing. The faith claims more than 1.3 billion followers worldwide. For most of these Catholics, religion is the foundation of their identity; however, for a significant minority, religion prevents them from embracing their identity. The more they discover who they are, the farther their authentic selves are from the doctrines of their founding religion.

I am talking about gay Catholics.

You are either gay or Catholic.

While I’m not gay, for others, like Matthew LaBanca, being gay means having to choose between Catholicism and one’s identity, but never both. LaBanca’s story, one of many, about him as an LGBTQI+ member losing his job as music director in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn parish the moment he married his boyfriend, attests to the inexistence of a middle ground.

You are either gay or Catholic.

Logically, because of Catholic rules, he could not wed his boyfriend in the Catholic Church, which had witnessed his best and worst moments for 46 years. Why? If the Bible says that we, as humans, have to stick to the core principle and commandments of the Catholic faith — “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” — then why do individuals not accept everyone as they are? If you would love to be fired from your job because of your identity, then fire people for who they are.

I am Joseph — a name with a religious legacy that my great-grandfather trusted me to inherit. I have attended staunch Catholic schools in the formative and adolescent years of my life. I have assumed leadership roles that require me to go to the Basilica every morning to teach my peers how to perform Mass correctly. These positions often meant that I addressed questions about religion and why things are done differently in the Catholic Church. Although I rarely had solid answers — if anything, I had even more questions — one thing I knew for sure was that in Genesis 19, God destroyed Sodom and Gomora for their grave sins, specifically their acts of homosexuality, which implied that God opposed homosexuality.

But I believe that only God can make a final judgment on who lives or dies; therefore, I reject the prejudices and the othering of the LGBTQI+ community by the Catholic Church, and I will continue to hope, pray and speak out about my belief that the Church should do so as well.

It takes a staunch, straight Catholic to dismantle prejudices against gays.

I know that some might ask, “Why not just leave the Church and find one that is more open and liberal?” My response is that just as it takes a Ugandan to effect change in Uganda, it takes a staunch, straight Catholic to dismantle the prejudices against the LGBTQI+ community in the Catholic Church. Besides, no human is perfect; the Church leaders are also human. Thinking of them as flawless humans is a misleading mindset. This is a fact that Jesus recognized.

In Matthew 16:23, Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” From this Bible verse, Jesus rebukes the rock of the Church, Peter, indicating that the Church heads don’t have the right to judge what’s good or bad because they are not perfect beings themselves. The role of the Church leaders is to provide a safe space for everyone to grow and a belief system with answers to questions man hasn’t answered.

I believe that denying the existence of gay people is questioning God’s choice of creating a very diverse world. Everyone should be celebrated regardless of their sexuality.

It is my prayer that gay Catholics should keep their jobs, that the Catholic Church should welcome everyone and that only God should judge what is right and wrong. Amen.

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!

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Pope defends same-sex blessings declaration, says it is misunderstood

— He suggests that those in the Catholic Church who have resisted it have jumped to ‘ugly conclusions’ because they do not understand it

Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer at the Vatican, Jan 7, 2024.

by Philip Pullella

Pope Francis on Sunday defended a landmark decision approving blessings for same-sex couples, suggesting that those in the Catholic Church who have resisted it have jumped to “ugly conclusions” because they do not understand it.

In a television interview, Francis made his first public comments since the Dec 18 declaration sparked widespread debate in the Church, with bishops in some countries, particularly in Africa, refusing to let their priests implement it.

“Sometimes decisions are not accepted, but in most cases when decisions are not accepted, it is because they are not understood,” Francis said in response to a specific question about the December declaration.

“The danger is that if I don’t like something and I put it (the opposition) in my heart, I become a resistance and jump to ugly conclusions,” he said during a link from his Vatican residence with the “Che Tempo Che Fa” programme on Italy’s Channel 9.

“This is what happened with these latest decisions on blessings for all,” he said, referring to the declaration known by its Latin title Fiducia Supplicans (Supplicating Trust). It was issued by the Vatican’s doctrinal department and approved by him.

Since the original declaration, the Vatican has been at pains to stress that the blessings did not amount to an approval of gay sex and should not be seen as anything remotely equivalent to the sacrament of marriage for heterosexual couples.

But even a clarification earlier this month from the Vatican’s doctrinal department did not sway bishops in Africa, where in some countries same-sex activity can lead to prison or even the death penalty.

They issued a letter last week saying the December declaration had caused “unrest in the minds of many” and could not be applied because of the continent’s cultural context.

Some bishops in France told their priests they could bless gay individuals but not couples.

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!

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between “joy” and fear that it “revives wounds”, Catholics tell us why they plan to ask for it

In mid-December, the Vatican authorized the blessing of couples “in an irregular situation” for the Church, including LGBT+ couples. A “strong” gesture of recognition, believe some of them, interviewed by franceinfo. But they fear arbitrary application, likely to rekindle the trauma of marriage for all.

“I always dreamed of getting married in a white dress in Church.” The wish of Agathe, a young transgender Catholic aged 26, seemed to her for a long time “inaccessible”because of “the complicated relationship between the Catholic Church and trans people”. If the Vatican does not officially recognize gender transitions, it has nevertheless taken a step towards LGBT+ couples, a month after opening baptism to transgender people.

In a document published on December 18 and approved by Pope Francis, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, a sort of Vatican ministry, authorizes the blessing of couples “in an irregular situation” in the eyes of the Church, including remarried couples and LGBT+ couples. In the Catholic religion, this blessing takes the form of a “short prayer, often accompanied by a gesture, usually a sign of the cross, by which one invokes God Father, Son and Holy Spirit”details the glossary of the Conference of Bishops of France.

A “recognition” welcomed with “joy”

“It’s a gesture that can be given quite widely, which is done to support people”but which is distinguished from sacraments such as baptism or marriage, notes Céline Béraud, sociologist, research director at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) and specialist in issues of gender and sexuality in Catholicism. “This text tries to welcome LGBT+ couples as much as possible with a strong gestureshe assures. This is the first time that something positive has been associated with them in a Church text.. Symbolically, it is a recognition of their state of life (…) which probably does good to people who have suffered ecclesial homophobia for a long time.”

The announcement is actually judged “positive” by Agathe, who is considering taking the plunge with her partner once their relationship is more advanced. “Even if in itself, it is not a marriage or an acceptance of homosexuality by Christian morality, it is still a voice of the Church which blesses a couplealso reacts Edouard, 36 years old. This means that there is a divine echo that comes to accompany the union, and that is very strong.” The thirty-year-old says he “welcomed with joy” the news from the Vatican, as he has plans for a civil marriage with his partner of 29 years, Alexander.

“I also perceive this announcement as a form of reparation, after the damage that certain words of the Church may have had in LGBTQIA communities.”
— Edouard, homosexual Catholic

“I who have long felt illegitimate in the eyes of God, that a man of the Church agreed to bless me, that comforted me”, adds Guillaume, 35, who was blessed during the summer with his partner, Luca, 50, on the eve of their civil marriage. A ceremony performed “in small groups“while the Vatican did not yet authorize this act.

The formalization of an existing practice

Like Guillaume and Luca, couples seen as “irregular” by the Church could already, in fact, “obtain, in a discreet way, a blessing” with certain volunteer priests and deacons, reports Céline Béraud. “There are plenty of people who love each other and who don’t have the right to marry; and there are plenty of people who are married, but who don’t really love each other. For me, it’s love who goes first”justifies Jean-Paul*, priest in the west of France, who has blessed so many LGBT+ couples that he no longer counts them.

For these “LGBT friendly” prieststhe Roman announcement was greeted with relief. “I’m a little more serene: at least it won’t be a witch hunt”cowardly Emmanuel*, priest in a parish in the Paris region who blessed a gay couple in 2023 but feared “let it be known”. However, we should not imagine that the announcement will lead to an influx of requests from LGBT+ couples. “People who want a blessing are very religious, they already have contact with priests. They will obtain it as they have already obtained it for years”believes Céline Béraud.

A very framed blessing

For many, however, the announcement remains bittersweet. In the Vatican text, “LGBT+ people are always reduced to the status of fishermen, It’s really violent.” regrets Edouard, who would have liked the Church to go “further away”. Because opening the blessing to LGBT+ couples does not reflect a normalization, for Catholicism, of homosexuality, bisexuality or transidentity. “This is the classic doctrine of the Church: we condemn acts but we welcome people”notes Céline Béraud. “I think that society is not capable of accepting more than that today, and that it is already enormous”estimates Guillaume.

“When I think of the love that Alexandre and I have for each other, of the sweetness that accompanies our relationship, I don’t have the impression that we are doing anything wrong.” — Edouard, homosexual Catholic

In fact, inequalities compared to heterosexual couples persist. “The text does not return to the doctrine of Catholic marriage, perceived as a sacrament which unites a man and a woman in an indissoluble manner”, recalls Céline Béraud. In this context, the blessing that can be granted to LGBT+ couples is in theory “very restrictive” : She “must be dissociated from the moment of civil union and in no way resemble Catholic marriage, whether in actions, words or clothing worn”explains the sociologist.

Obstacles and reluctance

Several religious leaders have also hastened to limit the Vatican’s message. The bishops of western France have thus advocated the blessing of individuals and not of couples, in order to avoid any “scandal” Or a “confusion” with marriage. The Conference of Bishops of France has called for “a broad and unconditional welcome” people, but again without mentioning couples. African bishops have also warned that they will not bless couples because it “would be in direct contradiction with the cultural ethos of the communities Africans”reports The cross.

These reluctances, shared by some of the faithful, are sometimes accompanied by clearly homophobic words. “VSEveryone comments to say horrible things about homosexuals, what they are entitled to or not, that their relationships are unnatural, against the will of God…”regrets Emmanuel, who fears making those first concerned relive the trauma of marriage for all.

“We talk about people, about Christians, and we treat them as if they don’t exist, as an abstraction.” — Emmanuel*, Catholic priest

Will Agathe have to give up her dreams of a white dress? “No one will go and check how these blessings are made”, assures Céline Béraud. It is therefore a safe bet that, as today, a multitude of forms of blessings will coexist, depending on the wishes of the couple and the person chosen to practice them – from a brief time of prayer to a celebration in company loved ones getting closer to a wedding.

This arbitrary nature does not reassure the LGBT+ believers interviewed. “As these blessings are not uniform across the territory, I am afraid that the options of place and date” of this ceremony “be limited”confides Agathe, who sees this moment as a religious union. “What approach will be proposed to couples who want this blessing? What gestures, what words will be spoken on this occasion?”also worries Edouard, who fears that a blessing given by a priest or deacon with little training in LGBT+ issues is likely to “revive wounds”. And the thirty-year-old concludes: “Much still remains to be done.”

* First names have been changed.

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!

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Francis counts his blessings

— Has the pope’s statement on same-sex marriage created more problems than it solves?

“Fiducia Supplicans” should probably be seen as a culmination of Pope Francis’s personal engagement with the issue of same-sex love, which began with his 2013 remark in response to a question about gay Catholics: “Who am I to judge?”

By Miles Pattenden

Pope Francis has endorsed same-sex couples; or he hasn’t; or he allows them to be blessed but only as separate individuals. The news out of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith (DDF) following the publication of Fiducia Supplicans (a declaration “on the pastoral meaning of blessings”) has been various and confusing.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the DDF’s beleaguered Prefect, last week had to issue a press release “clarifying” the declaration’s reception and interpretation.

Fernández, like Pope Francis, claims to be clear about two things:

  • The blessings discussed in Fiducia Supplicans are not a substitute for marriage — nor should they be confused as offering anything sacramental or equivalent to marriage.
  • The Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality remains unchanged — that is to say, the Church regards homosexual feelings as regrettable but not sinful. Consummating an act of same-sex love is, however, wrong because all non-potentially procreative sex and all sex outside of marriage is contrary to God’s will for humanity.

This latter position is consistent with the various stances that individual popes, cardinals, and theologians have taken over the course of the twentieth century and during the first two decades of the twenty-first.

Of course, it does not satisfy gay Catholics who argue that the perception that God is against same-sex love is a product of historical bigotry rather than divine revelation. They, moreover, point to the fact that most heterosexual Catholics also routinely ignore the Church’s teachings on sex outside marriage — and this does not stop priests and bishops agreeing to marry them.

Conservative Catholics, on the other hand, sometimes seem to worry that even framing the situation in such terms (hate the sin, love the sinner) is just a cover for those who would prepare the ground to change Church teaching.

Juxtaposing God’s unlimited love and mercy with a somewhat petty, arbitrary prohibition on a particular loving act can be argued to be highlighting an inconsistency in the Church’s position — even if there are sound theological reasons to defend it.

What “Fiducia Supplicans” tried to do

Fiducia Supplicans should probably be seen as a culmination of Pope Francis’s personal engagement with the issue of same-sex love which began with his now celebrated (or notorious) 2013 remark in response to a question about gay Catholics: “Who am I to judge?”

Gay Catholics, and liberal Catholics, have pinned their hopes on him to usher in reform ever since — on this issue and on other issues relating to women in the Church, clerical marriage, divorced Catholics, and sex outside marriage. Conservatives and traditionalists, by contrast, have grown increasingly suspicious.

Last year, Francis responded to five “dubia” (or questions) which a group of conservative cardinals sent to him. From the outside, their effort appeared to be intended to box him in on these subjects — and on the gay question, in particular. In fact, they opened something of a Pandora’s Box, because they gave him the chance to avoid an outright condemnation of being in a gay relationship.

The pope reasoned, magnanimously, that:

In our relationships with people, we must not lose the pastoral charity, which should permeate all our decisions and attitudes. The defence of objective truth is not the only expression of this charity; it also includes kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness, and encouragement. Therefore, we cannot be judges who only deny, reject, and exclude.

He invoked a concept of “pastoral prudence”, which dictates that a priest:

must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more persons, that do not convey a mistaken concept of marriage. For when a blessing is requested, it is expressing a plea to God for help, a supplication to live better, a trust in a Father who can help us live better.

In a way, Fiducia Supplicans just repeats this message, clarifying a somewhat ambiguous further statement that Francis made: “Decisions that may be part of pastoral prudence in certain circumstances should not necessarily become a norm.”

The main points the text makes are simply that blessings are ubiquitous in Christianity, they have different meanings, and they need not take on specific ritual or liturgical forms. They can be “spontaneous” and, when spontaneous, they need not be taken to mean something specific. In this way, it is possible to “bless” gay couples (or anyone else) without condoning their lifestyle or actions.

One can sympathise with Cardinal Fernández in thinking that the pope’s 2023 answer to the dubium raised more questions than it answered and might have merited a timely interpretative statement to settle debate about it. But Fiducia Supplicans has patently not settled debate — in large part because neither side is willing to accept it at face value. Both supporters of reform to the Church’s teaching on homosexuality and opponents believe it sets down a marker that will be used in new ways.

Critiquing “Fiducia Supplicans”

For liberal Catholics, Fiducia Supplicans can seem, in some ways, a mere acknowledgement of the obvious: that God is moved by love and mercy and that the point of blessings is to recognise and give thanks for that.

For Cardinal Fernández, the document’s point is probably something different. It attempts to diffuse the issue by defining a series of propositions on which the pope has allowed significant speculation to build.

For instance, if a “blessing” is simply a spontaneous gesture of thanks to God — what is referred to in Fiducia Supplicans as an “ascending” blessing — then it is hardly something that any reasonable person could confuse with the sacramental rite of marriage.

On the other hand, if the blessing is what the document terms a “descending” blessing — a request to God to extend his grace — then it is little more than a prayer. It is an act that asks God to grant something which he may or may not do — but what it asks God remains ambiguous.

Too Jesuitical by half?

The conservative fear about Cardinal Fernández’s interpretation of the blessing of gay couples is this: a gay couple can understand it as a blessing on their union and their friendship, but a conservative priest can, with equal legitimacy, understand it as exhorting God to help the couple, through his grace, to see the error of their ways.

Fernández may think this takes the theological heat out of the matter — by allowing different parties to believe it has different effects — but it does not.

At the moment, no conservative priest will consent to bless a gay couple, which makes the proposition just advanced seem ridiculous. Yet one can imagine why a conservative priest might be anxious that the pope is preparing the ground to require him to do so by creating a Jesuitical loophole for his conscience which can later be closed. The Church of England appears to be going through much the same process of self-inflicted contortions with regards to its own “gay marriage” debate.

These arguments, moreover, form part of wider critiques against Francis and his approach to the pontificate. Conservatives now also criticise Fernández for showing a deplorable lack of judgement.

The apparent naïveté in promulgating Fiducia Supplicans and then clarifying it damages the papacy, as an influx of requests for papal blessings on parchment sheets (a special kind of document all Catholics can request from the Vatican) for same-sex couples now shows.  Francis has thus been put in a bind, which he may not have intended. As Christopher Altieri notes:

he can’t refuse [these requests] without appearing stingy and legalistic — “rigid” is a word for it — but he can’t grant them without violating both the letter and the spirit of the very declaration that created the conundrum in the first place.

Yet Fiducia Supplicans surely also represents yet another papal grab for authority over Church teaching. In defining so closely what is a blessing — spontaneous or otherwise — it implicitly removes discretion from bishops about how to judge the actions of their own priests. This is no more popular than when Francis curbed their licence to authorise the Tridentine Latin Mass.

Such arguments have force, moreover, because gay blessings are just one front in the battle. Recent reports that Francis is being urged to allow priests to marry or even to let lay people have a say in the process for electing his successor are alarming conservatives just as much. And with the battle on so many fronts, it is not clear how best to oppose the pope. It is not even clear which of these causes, if any, he is most serious about advancing in the perhaps short time he has left.

2024 could be a turbulent year for the Catholic communion. No doubt all Catholics are praying for wisdom from all sides as they try to resolve amicably the forces unleashed.

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!

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Promise of change but much more to do after pope’s same-sex blessing decision

1 of 2 | Leo Egashira, a leader with Dignity/Seattle, a faith community of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender Catholics, in Seattle on Dec. 22, 2023.

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When Pope Francis met in October with leaders of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics at the Vatican, Seattle’s Leo Egashira said it was a pivotal moment.

Given the “glacial” pace of change for the church, he said the picture of LGBTQ+ Catholic leaders meeting with the pope would have been unthinkable even 10 years ago.

Egashira, who was a longtime board member of DignityUSA, a U.S. organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ Catholics and is involved in the Global Network, said the meeting was a “tacit blessing” and an opening that portends great hope for change in the church.

Then last month’s decision by Pope Francis to allow blessings for same-sex couples took that change a step further.

“I think it’s an acknowledgment that our voices are being heard, and that the leaders are realizing that all people are part of the church and that it’s not an exclusive club,” Egashira said. “I think that the current pope has a very pastoral leadership style, and that pastoral leadership style calls for inclusivity.” Egashira described a pastoral approach as seeing and addressing the personal and spiritual needs of an individual as opposed to judging people for their adherence to specific rules.

But, he said, it is just a first step. “Eventually, I hope it does lead to not only acceptance, but support for LGBTQ Catholics,” he said. “Acceptance is the lowest minimum bar. And this is a step toward that. But I think people deserve and want much more than that.”

Egashira was born into a Seattle Japanese American Catholic family and is a member of the Central District’s multicultural Immaculate Conception Church. He is one of only two of his surviving eight siblings who is still part of the church. Egashira said most of his siblings no longer found the church to be aligned with their beliefs or relevant to their lives.

As a proud gay man, Egashira is determined to stay and fight for change in the church from within.

While the focus of DignityUSA has long been on inclusion for LGBTQ+ Catholics, Egashira emphasizes that addressing misogyny and patriarchy in the church are also critical to making progressive change.

“The basic cause of homophobia is misogyny,” he said. “You’re not going to be able to address homophobia … or transphobia adequately without addressing misogyny. It’s the fear and hatred of women that animates transphobia and homophobia.”

Bishop Edward Donalson III, of the Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Engagement at Seattle University and a board member of Faith Action Network, agrees.

Bishop Edward Donalson III is with the Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Engagement at Seattle University and is a board member of Faith Action Network.

Donalson said at the root, it’s the “hatred of the feminine” that undergirds homophobia. “All anti-LGBTQ ideology is moored in misogyny and cis hetero patriarchy — not just patriarchy, it’s a specific cis hetero patriarchy,” he said. “Cis” is shorthand for cisgender, or a person whose gender identity aligns with the gender they were assigned at birth.

It’s important to understand, Donalson said, that the pope’s statement on blessing same-sex couples does not change Catholic theology.

“It does not make same-gender marriage sacramental,” Donalson said. “And that’s an important distinction, both for Catholics who are worried that their church is changing and for LGBTQ folks who might be somewhat deceived by what the messaging is, or somewhat confused by the messaging.”

But, he said, the statement does acknowledge the humanity of LGBTQ+ Catholics who choose to be legally married in the places around the world where legal marriage is an option. It’s not surprising that it came from Francis, Donalson said, because “everything about Pope Francis has been a clear indicator that he has an eye toward compassion. And this is directly in line with his eye toward compassion.”

Yet most importantly, Donalson said the pope’s statement is an opportunity for the church to have a deeper conversation about what it means to bless and what it means to marry. “I think what the pope has done is presented an opportunity for the church to interrogate itself,” he said.

Donalson said that despite all that could be said about the church, it creates community and a place for people to connect to something bigger than themselves worldwide. “People — particularly post pandemic, in an era of absolute isolation — are drawn to places of community, compassion, care,” he said.

Egashira said it’s a deep commitment to caring for all people through charitable work and pastoral care that represents the best of the church.

“The core tenets are, I think, unassailable. And almost anyone can live with it. It’s this when you get all the trappings, the institutional trappings and the power and the politics that go along with it, that it becomes perverted,” he said.

“In times past … the Catholic Church has been the strongest proponent of civil rights and equality,” Egashira said. “And so that aspect I do like, but the fact that in its own house that it has a severe form of misogyny, severe homophobia, it’s really hard to reconcile that with many of the good actions of the Catholic Church.”

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