LETTERS
2001 LETTERS
December
November
October
September
July/August
June
May
April
March
February
January
ARTICLES
NEWS
ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
LETTERS
JUNE 2001
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
I so enjoyed your survey of local parishes. Somehow, I missed participating, but was thrilled that my parish, Blessed Sacrament, received #12 Best Sermon, and that one of my favorite Southern California priests, Father Bishop, ranked #7... in my book, they rank #1 and #2, respectively. When the media or my fellow Catholics decry the lack of priests, I usually respond that it's better to enjoy "quality over quantity" any day -- being spoiled by excellent theologians will do that to a person!
Frances Weaver
Los Angeles
Editor's note: The numbering of responses was random; it did not represent any ranking system.
AT ODDS WITH CHASTITY
In regards to Father Gerald D. Coleman's column in the April issue of the Orange County Catholic ["An Open Letter to San Diego News Notes and Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission"], the first thing to say is that we must all strive to be charitable to God, our neighbor, and ourselves in addressing the disordered orientation known as the homosexual condition. Father Coleman seems to indicate the possibility, and even urge moral approval of, "committed, chaste, lifelong unions between homosexual persons."
Both normal heterosexuals and those with homosexual inclinations should try to live chastely. However, unions of the nature Coleman seems to be promoting are terribly at odds with the selfsame struggle to live chastely. Our fallen nature calls for prudence in our efforts to be chaste: "prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; 'the prudent man looks where he is going.' [Prov 14:15.]" -- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1806. We are obliged to avoid persons, places, and circumstances which are near occasions to sin. Lifelong unions imply that individuals subject to homosexual inclinations would be living together in close confines, as do normal heterosexual married couples, and such situations invariably increase the difficulty of refraining from acting upon their respective inclinations. It is moral for heterosexuals to act on their heterosexual inclinations, but immoral for those of homosexual orientation to act on their homosexual inclinations.
With the aid of the sacraments and good counsel (as is offered by the Catholic group Courage), heroic self-denial and continual conversion, homosexually-inclined persons can live chaste lives and even triumph over their homosexual condition to begin a normal heterosexual life. However, their efforts to be chaste are drastically inhibited when, added to their recurring struggle with disordered passions, they are continuously presented with both the object of these passions and the easy means to gratify them, as would be the case in a lifelong union of the sort under discussion.
Returning to charity, "ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one's passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct." -- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1792.
Stephen M Tallman
Orange
CAUGHT IN THE SNARE OF HUMAN RESPECT
In his "Open Letter" to the Los Angeles Mission, Father Gerald Coleman quotes documents that do not carry any authority and are not representative of universal Church teaching (as he specifically claims that they are). In order to understand the lack of weight and authority carried by the documents Father Coleman cites, one should read Apostolos Suos -- On the Theological and Juridical Nature of Episcopal Conferences. This apostolic letter of John Paul II delineates the nature, purpose, limitations and degree of authority pertaining to episcopal conferences. It was promulgated on May 21, 1998. The document can be found at: http://www.petersnet.net/research/retrieve.cfm?recnum=454
Father Coleman cites a document, Always Our Children, but he fails to inform his readers that the document was actually released by a subdivision of a small committee without the permission of the entire National Council of Catholic Bishops. He also neglects to inform us that the document was met with a storm of controversy because it gives appalling advice; yet Father Coleman ignores these realities. Always Our Children counseled that parents, who notice homosexual tendencies in their child, to adopt a "wait and see attitude." This advice was criticized by many bishops (most notably Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of the diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska), as well as by Father John Harvey, who founded Courage, a group which supports homosexuals in their struggle to remain chaste. Father Harvey wrote a criticism of the document which is easily accessible on the internet at http://www.narth.com/docs/catholicbishops.html
What is deeply disturbing is the worldly concerns these priests and bishops demonstrate for the souls in their care. They never point to the supernatural. They seem terribly unconcerned that unnatural attractions to intrinsically evil acts are evidence of a deep need for God. They give little or no thought to the moral law except to dismiss it through loopholes and technicalities. They give advice which will lead even the most well-meaning souls to the near occasion of mortal sin. They never seem to counsel these people that they must, not should, but must do everything in their power to root sin out of their lives. It is difficult to understand how advising couples to live in an environment which exacerbates the opportunity to offend God is beneficial to their spiritual well being. Where are Father Coleman's endorsements of Courage? Where are his exhortations to study the truths of the Catholic faith, read the lives of the saints, pray and frequently receive the sacraments?
We all have weaknesses which get the better of us. Some of us have more difficult, painful, or even humiliating weaknesses than others; but the remedies for all remain the same: constant union with God through prayer and the frequent reception of the sacraments. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John.15:5) These are the words of Our Lord. Apart from Him we are helpless. St.. Alphonsus Ligouri (Doctor of Moral Theology) and St. Teresa of Avila (Doctor of Prayer) bluntly state that the soul that does not practice mental prayer cannot be saved. St. Teresa even says that the soul who neglects prayer needs no devil to carry them to hell, for they carry themselves there with their own two hands. St. Alphonsus Ligouri specifically states that all whosoever are damned are damned because of sins against purity, or at least not without them.
Those who are entrusted by God with the care of His flock bear a grave responsibility for which they must render an account. Just read Luke 12:42-48, where it is clear that the stewards who feed are priests and bishops. It is also clear that Our Lord will punish more severely those who know better! Imagine a priest who advises souls that sin is no longer sin so long as it "conforms to their conscience." The only excuse such "shepherds" will have is to claim that they were too stupid to know better. What a particular judgment to undergo!
Would that we could have priests and bishops who take Our Lord at His word. If only our shepherds possessed fear of the Lord, which Scripture says is the beginning of wisdom. It seems that many priests and bishops are caught in the snare of human respect, which is how Adam was ensnared by the devil, who knew that Adam would choose to offend God rather than experience his wife's displeasure.
Pray for our Holy Father, our priests and our bishops. They have a tremendous responsibility for which they will have to give a full account.
Mark Well
Orange, CA
ONLY FIVE TO TEN MINUTES FOR PORNOGRAPHY
An exceedingly charitable brother padre describes your Mission as "ecclesiastical pornography" and refuses to look at it. Being retired, and a fast reader myself, I give it five to ten minutes of my time, and invariably ask myself: what really motivates intelligent -- or at least articulate -- people like yourselves to keep this kind of paper in print? What kind of people would sponsor it?
I'm sure, Father Coleman must have thought along the same lines when he ventured to talk with you on his pastoral-theological treatment of a subject -- a reality -- with which he is not only familiar, but which he presents with the utmost clarity; preserving of course our Catholic Church's "orthodoxy" on which so many weirdos (excluding yourselves) feel they have, or would like to have, a monopoly.
Please let us know -- not personally, for heaven's sakes -- in one of your closing issues, what you are really about, or what you think you are about. Meanwhile, you have an elderly priest's prayer. God bless.
Monsignor John V. Sheridan
Our Lady of Malibu Church
Malibu
WE MUST ACCEPT SEXUAL MINORITIES
Mr. Weiss attacks Father Liuzzi as a heretic and equates homosexual orientation with pedophilia, which is not a sexual orientation. The research is quite clear that the vast majority of those who molest male and female children are heterosexual. In fact, some researchers believe that few, if any, homosexuals are child molesters. Unacceptable sexual practices (i.e. pedophilia, harmful fetishes, etc.), are often referred to as "paraphilias." Individuals appear because of differing brain development or even brain injuries after birth to be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or transgendered.
Since we know that persons are born with a number of different sexual types that are not specifically "male and female" (e.g. hermaphroditism, numerous arrangements of sex chromosomes leading to differing sexual behaviors, etc.), it is apparent Mr. Weiss is unaware of the complex events that lead to various types of gender and sexual orientation which are not chosen by the individual. Neither sex of assignment at birth nor the sex chromosomes appear to determine both physical and mental sexual status.
I have appended my paper, Sexual Orientation: Science and Society, as a reminder of God's diverse creation and the need for understanding and acceptance of benign sexual minorities. The paper has over 450 citations and clearly indicates that science is not on the side of Mr. Weiss; neither is the Roman Catholic Church, which has long recognized that sexual orientation is "constitutional," hence, biological, in origin. A distinction is made by the church between being homosexual and acting on natural homosexual urges. While the Church rejects the latter, it asks parishes to include homosexuals in the communion of worship, and some bishops have even asked parents not to force their children into therapies aimed at changing sexual orientation. If one is to believe the scientific literature, it is impossible to change a sexual orientation, except by psychosurgery of the mating center in the brain -- a procedure not available in the United States and universally condemned by medical groups as unethical. A few homosexuals can learn to act like heterosexuals (pseudoheterosexuality) and perform with the opposite sex, usually while fantasizing about the same sex. "Reparative" therapies, said to make homosexuals into heterosexuals, take many years, and most are failures. Proponents like NARTH [National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality] refuse to reveal their statistics on "cures" or place articles into peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Norman C.Murphy, Ph.D.
Oceano
Editor's note: While the Church distinguishes between the homosexual orientation and homosexual acts, calling only the latter "sinful," she nevertheless calls the homosexual orientation an "objective disorder" since it is directed to objectively sinful acts. To call homosexuality natural is to say that God or nature intends that some engage in genital acts that are clearly contrary to the natural structure and purpose of genital and other organs. To call homosexuality natural, thus, is to deny that there is any purpose or order in nature. The Church does not deny the possibility of a biological origin for homosexuality. If it could be proven (and it hasn't been) that homosexuality is biologically caused, it does not follow that it is natural. In that case, one could as well describe homosexuality as a biological defect, as certain congenital diseases are described.
NARTH has placed articles in peer reviewed scientific journals. Two articles appeared last year in the April and June issues of Psychological Reports. The second of these, "Retrospective Self Reports of Changes in Homosexual Orientation: A Consumer Survey of Conversion Therapy Clients," reports the results of a survey of 882 dissatisfied homosexuals, 726 of whom had received conversion therapy. Thirty-five percent reported that, after therapy, they had experienced no change in their orientation. "As a group," though, said the report summary, "the participants reported large and statistically significant reductions in the frequency of their homosexual thoughts and fantasies that they attributed to conversion therapy or self-help. They also reported large improvements in their psychological, interpersonal, and spiritual well-being." Please see our News section, this issue, which touches on one of Dr. Murphy's points.
WHO GAINS BUT SATAN?
I have sought God in prayer regarding your editor's note reference to II Corinthians 12:7-9 that followed my letter which you printed in your April 2001 issue. Clearly, the reason for which God allowed Paul to be buffeted by Satan's messenger was to keep him from becoming too elated, too proud, over the visions and revelations which God had given to him. Paul says that what he has seen and heard would be worthy of boasting about if God would allow it.
In this scripture, it is rather that God keeps Paul from sinful desires by allowing the buffeting by Satan's messenger -- not that the buffeting keeps him subject to the sinful desires. Nowhere did Christ Jesus say that one must endure suffering due to sinful desires; rather, He continually set people free.
The chains and lies of deceit by which Satan gains the agreement of the free will and then hogties and imprisons human beings into the life of homosexuality and other sins are horrendous. Who gains by perpetuating hopelessness for those suffering from homosexuality and other sins? Who gains by telling me, God may have chosen you to remain under homosexual or lesbian oppression and desires? It is the Liar and the Father of Lies. Know that homosexuality is not genetically caused. Know it is satanically suggested and impressed on people who are susceptible to such lies.
Claudia-Marie Person
Sacramento
Editor's note: Christians struggle against sin until they die. Since to struggle with sin is to struggle against evil desires and inclinations, these desires and inclinations will accompany us until death. Indeed, we shall be freed from these in eternity, and we may be freed from some of them in this life; but the fact remains that even the just suffer from evil desires, which are not sins unless they are given in to. One may be freed from homosexual desires in this life; but one might not. I don't see why we should give homosexuality a special status apart from other moral disorders.