ARTICLES

NEWS

ROAMIN' CATHOLIC

Contents © 1999
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

The Whole Truth, Please

LOCAL COURAGE SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR RESPONDS TO LIUZZI

"Homosexuality is a household word whether that household is liberal or conservative," wrote Father Peter Liuzzi, in "Homosexuality and the church," an article published in the August 21, 1998 issue of The Tidings, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In this and in a subsequent August 28 article, Father Liuzzi, director of the Los Angeles Archdiocese's Office of Lesbian and Gay Ministry, spells out the ideas and motivations of his ministry.

A short time later, Father Richard L. Perozich, pastor of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church in San Diego and San Diego spiritual director to Courage and Encourage (Catholic ministries to homosexuals), wrote a letter to the editor of The Tidings, citing pertinent passages from the Church's magisterium in response to Father Liuzzi. This letter was not published.

What follows is a summary of the main points of Liuzzi's first article, followed by Father Perozich's citations. (Reference will be made to Father Liuzzi's second article where it clarifies what is stated in the first article.)

In his letter, Father Perozich wrote: "I read the article 'Homosexuality and the Church: What the Church teaches, what it doesn't teach, and why you need to know.' It begins to touch the surface of the richness of the Church's teachings on human sexuality." Indeed, Father Liuzzi's first article touches very little on Church teaching. Most of that article bemoans the polarization of "ultra-conservatives" and "ultraliberals" in the Church on homosexuality. "Some liberal Catholics," writes Father Liuzzi, "think that everything the church has ever said about homosexuality is simply outdated and wrong. Some more conservative Catholics hold that the only place in our church for homosexuality is the confessional. Others in the same camp would hold that homosexuality is something for the psychiatrist's couch."

Though Father Liuzzi says that he sometimes feels "that the whole question about homosexuality is...one of those factors that could divide and destroy the church," he says he believes that a dialogue within the Church between conservatives and liberals is necessary to resolve controversies in a balanced fashion. He calls liberals and conservatives to anchor themselves in the "radical center"--Scripture and Tradition--which are not "ends in themselves" but point us to Christ. The radical center," he says, "is the place of departure" and "where we return with some new knowledge or development of doctrine once the controversy is resolved."

Father Liuzzi: "I root my concern in the present teachings of our church. I am also ready to embrace whatever else the church may teach about this subject in the future. Being well-versed in our teachings does not mean that I always find those teachings convincing or obvious or compelling. I believe because I am a member of a believing and teaching church and a community of faith that invites all of us to avoid excessive individualization."

What does Father Liuzzi say the Church teaches about homosexuality? The Church, he writes, has changed "nothing we have been taught about human sexuality." What the Church has changed, however, is her "attitude toward persons with a homosexual orientation." The Church, says Father Liuzzi, "clearly recognizes that some people do have a homosexual orientation," though "its origins remain a mystery." Because "the church lives with the fact, it is obvious that homosexuality is more than a matter of sin and confession" but "demands a more complete pastoral care and understanding."

Father Liuzzi quotes the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "Homosexuality refers to relations between men and between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction towards persons of the same sex." Explaining this statement, Liuzzi writes: "'Relations,' 'experience,' 'exclusive,' 'attraction' are positive words and no mention is made here of sexual activity. In the mind of the church, homosexuality does not assume sexual activity. Homosexuality is also a way of relating, feeling and experiencing oneself in relationship to others--both men and women. Unwarranted assumptions of sexual activity often stand in the way of dialogue and understanding. It also sends a message that undermines the clear teaching of the church."

This last citation ends Liuzzi's treatment of Church teaching in his first article. Father Perozich, in response to Liuzzi, cites other passages from the Catechism and other Church documents. Father Perozich writes:

"1. The Catechism tells us that every man and woman should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity: male or female. Catechism #2333, 2334.

"2. It calls each of us to 'accept the vocation to chastity: the successful integration of sexuality and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being...expressed...in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman.' (2337) 'Chastity has laws of growth which progress through stages marked by imperfection and too often by sin....' (2343)

"3. From the context of the Catechism's section on chastity and homosexuality, the Catechism's definition could only be construed with difficulty to be considered 'positive words' in #2357. Mention is made of sexual activity in this definition wherein it states, 'Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that: homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.' Persons with same sex attraction should not be presumed to be engaging in homogenital activity, but by the Catechism's definition, this component of sexual attraction cannot be diminished."

In his second article, "Debunking the myth of a 'cure' for homosexuality, Why the church does not encourage homosexual persons to change their orientation," Father Liuzzi broadens his exposition of Church teaching on homosexuality. Though he states that "[t]he church does speak strongly to gay people on acting on their sexual urges as disordered and objectively sinful," and that "genital activity is limited to marriage" (and "only" that "genital activity that leaves the shared act sexual act absolutely in its natural state of being open to the transmission of life"), Liuzzi refrains from calling the homosexual inclination objectively disordered. Though Liuzzi so refrains, Perozich in the fifth and eighth points of his letter, shows that the magisterium does not. He writes:

"5. The Church's full teaching on human sexuality needs to be addressed to persons with same sex attraction as well as to the immediate family and the Church family. 'Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil: and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder. Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not.' Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons #3, 1986.

"8. '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.'--Catechism #2358."

While Father Liuzzi admits that the Scriptures "contain condemnations of same-sex genital activity and the church finds a foundation for its teaching in these Scriptures," he is quick to remind us that "Scripture alone...is never the final word about homosexuality in the Catholic church. Tradition, too, must be consulted. A "Scripture only approach," says Liuzzi, "can too easily lead to declarations like: 'abomination' and 'excluded from salvation.' Those few words, unaccompanied by Tradition or the magisterium of the church can easily lead to excluding and treating homosexual persons unjustly."

What does Tradition teach us? It "leads us to realize," writes Liuzzi, "that while same-sex relations are condemned in the Bible, homosexual orientation is a very recent concept unknown and not addressed in the Bible. We are assured that the church will continue to study and develop its understanding of orientation and its pastoral concerns while safeguarding its teachings."

Given Church teaching, Liuzzi says certain "challenges" and "opportunities" await "homosexual persons." One challenge is chastity. "Each of us is called to be chaste according to our state in life," writes Father Liuzzi. "The church avoids patronizing homosexual members when it does not excuse them from a chaste life." This chastity, he says, entails rediscovering and appreciating the celibacy of Jesus, who "did not renounce the gift of sexuality," but "gave it a radical interpretation. He embraced the drive, the attraction, the passion, the ecstasy" in "creating new life." That new life, says Liuzzi, Jesus realized in His self-sacrifice which "is not unlike that self-giving that husband and wife give to one another" though it "far surpasses it. Jesus re-birthed the entire human race. No one was more radically sexual than he. No one was more intimate than he. No one was more generative than he. We saved [sic], not by a married man, but by a celibate lover."

Though all are called to the "celibacy of Jesus," Father Liuzzi says "[n]one of us may ever reach its fullness...being on the journey is what is important--i.e. moving toward a different kind of love that fortells the future." This celibacy, says Liuzzi, is especially difficult for a "gay Catholic" who "is called to a chaste life in a basically unchaste church" where "[s]eventy to eighty per cent of heterosexual Catholics practice some kind of artificial birth control. Many Catholics practice in vitro fertilization and live without benefit of marriage. The divorce rate soars."

What does the magisterium say of this call to chastity? Father Perozich cites two passages, the first from the Catechism (#2359), which states that "[h]omosexual 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." The 1992 document, Non-Discrimination of Homosexual Persons (#3) declares, "[a]s in every moral disorder, homosexual activity prevents one's own fulfillment and happiness by acting contrary to the creative wisdom of God. The church, in rejecting erroneous opinions regarding homosexuality, does not limit but rather defends personal freedom and dignity realistically and authentically understood."

Another challenge facing the "gay or lesbian Catholic," writes Father Liuzzi is that "he or she remains a sexual being and needs to discover what that means. He or she must recognize and celebrate legitimate intimacy needs...Not to be in some union with at least one other human being is a violation of our very nature." This intimacy, presumably, Liuzzi thinks is to be found in the family and the Church. In his first article, Liuzzi writes that the "proper context for homosexuality is the family" and "also the church, which is God's family." The Church, he says, "has doctrinal and moral teachings that give shape and direction to homosexual persons." His Office of Lesbian and Gay Ministry, says Liuzzi, is the vehicle by which the Archdiocese of Los Angeles reaches out to these persons.

The Church agrees that families and the Church herself should reach out to homosexuals, as Father Perozich points out in his letter. However, the Church emphasizes the necessary components of such an outreach. Citing the U.S. bishops' 1998 document, Always Our Children, Father Perozich writes that "in the context of the natural family and within the Church family 'Parents must always be vigilant about their children's behavior and exercise responsible intervention when necessary.'" Likewise he quotes the Pastoral Care for Homosexual Persons, #15, which says: "No authentic pastoral programme will include organizations in which homosexual persons associate with each other without clearly stating that homosexual activity is immoral. A truly pastoral approach will appreciate the need for homosexual persons to avoid the near occasions of sin."

In conclusion, Father Perozich writes:

"Natural and Church families in general are accepting of people. What causes problems in these families are occasions when a member seeks special status for any reason, proclaims what is wrong as right, insists on ways to justify immoral tendencies or behaviors. Any parish will welcome all people regardless of any tendency to moral disorder, be it sexual or other, if one acknowledges a tendency to sin for what it is, does not try to elevate it to special status, justify it, practice it, or otherwise present it as positive. If a parish or diocesan ministries try to say what the Church does not say about same sex attraction, it will encounter resistance from the truth in the hearts of the faithful, and must accept responsibility for any adverse reaction which may inevitably and unfortunately affect those who suffer same sex attraction.

"The whole truth of the Church, and nothing but the truth of the Church, please."

TOP