11.15.06
Catholic Church Opposed To The Gay, Film At 11
I confess that I was somewhat surprised to see, as I opened my morning e-mail of the day’s headlines from the Washington Post, that “3 Christian Groups Move To Condemn Gay Sex” was, for some reason, considered to be news. [Link]
Naturally, because I am apparently a well-trained little monkey who cannot physically prevent myself from clicking on any link in which the words “gay sex” appear, I decided to go look at the article. Whereupon I discovered that, in a stunning volte-face, the Catholic Church has decided to (yawn) reaffirm its institutional condemnation of same-sex nookie, yet apparently feels that this is not in any way contradictory to the spirit of inclusivity. “The truth is always welcoming,” quoth Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of New Jersey.
Well, when the truth is that homosexual liaisons — particularly between men — have been an unspoken staple of Church life in and out of the monastery for oh, at least a millennium and a half now, I guess I can see how it might be welcoming in a sorta secret handshake kind of way. (From what I understand from the few folks I know who’ve spent long periods within the resolutely homosocial Catholic clerical establishment, that’s not necessarily too far off.)
And not in any way to equate homosexuality and pederasty, but, er, doesn’t it strike anyone else as being just a wee tiny bit disingenuous for the Church to come out waggling its big cartoon finger (hi, Anne!) at The Gay when it continues to protect its own altar-boy-buggerers? Are we to assume that what they really mean is that consensual homosexual sex between adults is capital-W Wrong, but sex between an ordained member of the Catholic clergy and a child below the legal age of consent is A-OK?
(There’s a transubstantiation joke in there somewhere, but damned if I’ve had enough caffeine yet to be able to make it.)
Oh, also, it seems that Baptists from North Carolina are down on sodomy, and the Presbyterians in Pittsburgh are about to go after one of their ministers for marrying a lesbian couple. You know how the Presbyterians get. (Scottish. Which explains a great deal. As a friend recently explained, in Scotland you can’t go encouraging fornication. Because that might lead to dancing.)
Methinks the clergy doth protest too much, really. Not necessarily that they’re all secretly queer, though some of them probably are. But these sorts of “we’re still against The Gay, you know” statements surely do smack of the rantings of a discomfited old codger shaking his fist at those dang young people, out there hooting and hollering and wearing tight trousers and doing God knows what all… that no one else is finding in the slightest bit remarkable any more.