PASTORAL CARE FOR HOMOSEXUALS MUST NOT BYPASS DOCTRINE

By Dr. JAMES LIKOUDIS

     Bishop Matthew H. Clark has distributed in all parishes his “We All Need Redeeming” letter to justify his welcoming, this week, a conference of the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries [NACDLGM] to Rochester, N.Y.

     The group’s founder, the Rev. Jim Schexnayder, has expressed his gratitude for “the support Bishop Clark has given our conference” (Speaking Out, Sept. 14).

     Both Bishop Clark and Rev. Schexnayder defend the gay ministry group as representing legitimate “pastoral care” fully in accord with Catholic teaching. However, many Catholics and other Christians disagree.

     It is distressing that both the gay ministry group and Bishop Clark’s letter sanction the vocabulary of homosexual activists in using the terms “gays” and “lesbians”. Such terms reflect the political language of propagandists seeking to have society accept the homosexual condition as though it were not disordered, to condone homosexual acts as moral, and to accept homosexuality as a normal variation of the human condition.

In its love for every person, the Catholic Church knows that there can be no true pastoral care for homosexuals experiencing pain and confusion unless they have access to the full truth of Catholic teaching concerning their spiritual condition. The [above-mentioned] gay ministry group does not give them the full truth.

     The Rev. John Harvey, noted American Catholic moral theologian on the subject of homosexuality, has observed:

“The term ‘gay and lesbian ministries’ is an oxymoron. As our experience has shown, such ministries do not provide a spiritual program for chaste living. I see nothing of this in the National Association of Gay Ministries”.

     Is the Gay Ministry Association a “legitimate group loyal to Magisterial teaching”, as Bishop Clark says, or does it ignore or fudge Catholic teaching on chastity, the moral obligation of homosexuals to practice celibacy, and the necessity to have frequent recourse to the sacrament of penance for God’s forgiveness and restoration of purity of heart?

     Is the Gay Ministry Association interested merely in human rights for homosexuals or is it a vested interest group seeking to influence legislation at every governmental level to obtain special rights for homosexuals?

     If the group is a “legitimate ministry,” why are dissenters from Catholic teaching speaking at the Rochester conference? The Rev. Richard Peddicord is the author of “Gay and Lesbian Rights” which blatantly supports the goals of radical “gay and lesbian” activists.

Representatives of the local diocesan “Gay and Lesbian Ministry” are noted for their silence concerning the spiritual need of active homosexuals to change their immoral lifestyle and live chastely. One will not hear from them the teaching found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that:

“Homosexual acts are acts of grave depravity”; that “those who behave in a homosexual fashion are among those who shall not enter the Kingdom of God”; and that “the sins of the Sodomites” are among the “sins that cry to Heaven”.

     Lip-service to Catholic teaching is not enough. Adherence to key elements of Catholic doctrine might have prevented Rev. James B. Callan’s “gay and lesbian ministry” or the scandal of 20 Rochester diocesan priests celebrating Masses in a non-Catholic church for members of Dignity of Rochester (an [homosexual] organization at odds with Catholic doctrine).

     Neither the Gay Ministry group nor Bishop Clark’s letter addresses the serious abuse by priests permitting active homosexuals to receive Holy Communion without prior confession.
In his letter, Bishop Clark unfortunately misleads readers in giving as a quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church a passage from another document that has no juridical authority in the Church, namely, the controversial “Always Our Children” by a committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

     In attempting to call for action against “prejudice and discrimination” and for “full, equal, participation of homosexuals in the life of the Church,” he omits key distinctions and nuances insisted upon by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in its document “The Pastoral Care of Homosexuals”.

     In conclusion, the gay ministry group represents more of a problem than a solution in regard to the pastoral care of homosexuals. Serious ommissions in “We All Need Redeeming” provide more evidence that to remain silent on key aspects of Catholic teaching on the pleas of pastoral care is to be neither pastoral nor caring.

James Likoudis

About Dr. James Likoudis
James Likoudis was an expert in Catholic apologetics. He is the author of several books dealing with Catholic-Eastern Orthodox relations, including  “The Divine Primacy of the Bishop of Rome and Modern Eastern Orthodoxy: Letters to a Greek Orthodox on the Unity of the Church.” He has written many articles published by various religious papers and magazines.

Reprinted from “SERVIAM” Newsletter, Sep.-Oct. 1998

Andrew Likoudis is a Catholic scholar and entrepreneur with degrees in Communication from Towson University and Business Administration from the Community College of Baltimore County. He has served as a Fellow of Economic Development at Johns Hopkins University in collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropy and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, and afterwards as Fellow of Marketing Development at Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses, in collaboration with TargetGov.


His professional experience also includes a role as a business development administrative assistant at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. Additionally, he has nearly a decade of experience providing hospitality hosting with Airbnb. Currently, Andrew is serving as a full-time summer intern at EWTN, where he writes long-form commentary and analysis for the National Catholic Register, with a particular focus on the post-conclave Church and reform.


Andrew is the founder and president of the Likoudis Legacy Foundation, a research institute dedicated to ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, and serves as editor-in-chief of its journal, The Kydones Review. His writing has been featured in Catholic Review, Where Peter Is, Catholic World News, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Fellowship and Fairydust Magazine, and Philosophy Now. His academic interests focus on the sociological intersection of faith and culture, also hosting a column, Nature and Grace, at Patheos.com. He has edited six books on Catholic ecclesiology and the papacy, and has compiled and edited over ten volumes in total.


Andrew is a member of the International Marian Association, and an associate member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, the Mariological Society of America, and the Society for Catholic Liturgy. He additionally serves young as a adult community representative on the Lay Pastoral Council of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and is a dedicated parishioner at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, America’s First Cathedral.


Outside of his professional endeavors, Andrew enjoys kayaking, cooking, basketball, dancing bachata, and playing chess.

“James Likoudis was a courageous defender of the faith and a gentle ‘man of the Church’. It is praiseworthy that this new Foundation has been established in his honor, and is working to preserve and build upon his remarkable legacy. I support its efforts in promoting his scholarly contributions…May this initiative enrich the Church’s pursuit of Christian unity.”

Joseph F. Naumann

Archbishop Emeritus of Kansas City

GIVE
Verified by MonsterInsights