You have probably received a card inviting you to join the Pro-Life Action League’s Face the Truth Day this Wednesday, August 20. We will meet at Madison and DesPlaines in time to be stationed on the Kennedy Expressway overpasses, from 9:00 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. From 11:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. we will be at the Daley Plaza, and from 3:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. at Wacker Drive and Madison Street. There will be three more Face the Truth Days on Sept. 17, Oct. 15 and Nov. 19
Church Teaching on Homosexuality Attacked
A recent Vatican Document dealing with the problem of homosexuality is being attacked by politicians, news columnists and liberals all over the world. What the document says is what the Catholic Church has been teaching for 2,000 years: that same sex unions are immoral and against the common good, and that Catholic lawmakers have a moral duty to publicly oppose efforts to legalize these unions since homosexual behavior can never be approved by the Church.
It adds that legal recognition of such matters obscures humanities basic values. No matter what others decide, the Catholic Church stands firm in opposing homosexual acts.
One writer attempting to make a case for change argues that the open debate in the U. S. Episcopal Church over the appointment of an active homosexual to the an epicscopal see in New Hampshire is healthy. Robert McClory scatters bits and snatches of church history in an attempt to show that open debate on homosexuality is probably better than the eleven-page document from the Vatican.
He’s saying in essence that open debate might lead to a different Catholic view on same sex unions because the Vatican has been wrong in the past, when it should have held open debate. His examples run the gauntlet from Galileo’s discovery that the earth is not the center of the universe to the blame visited upon the Jews for Christ’s death, through usury and the doctrine that outside the church there is no salvation.
McClory’s Tired, Old Arguments
Whatever McClory’s intentions, he fails to point out that whatever evolution there has been in the Church over the past two millennium, the Church has not and cannot mislead in matters of faith and morals and that open discussion, which usually happens anyway, can’t change the basics. Homosexual activity is being discussed but the Church teaching on it remains the same: it is serious sin.
The examples McClory uses, besides, are all answerable with enough time and discussion. For instance, a huge argument is going on right now about the role played by the Jewish leaders in Christ’s crucifixion, but even though the Church has dropped “perfidious” in its Good Friday prayers, the fact of Jewish involvement in the Crucifixion is simply history.
But the point is that Romans, Christ’s followers, you, me, all had a role in the crucifixion because it was a sacrifice God decided had to happen in time but transcends time. It involves us all. And it’s the only Hope any of us has of eternal life. It’s not a matter of placing blame but of embracing the good that came from it. We are all to blame.
All of McClory’s arguments have been answered over and over for many years, even the one about “outside the Church there is no salvation.” It’s just that the answers aren’t as short, quick and easy as presenting those tired arguments.
The Truth Can’t Change
McClory, a Catholic, must know that what he is attempting won’t work. With all the dirty linen hung out over the years, the Church continues to require certain things for salvation and forbid others, and McClory knows that. Trying to make the Catholic Church Protestant doesn’t work, no matter how hard you try.
So don’t hold your breath waiting for the Vatican to withdraw its July 31 same-sex marriage document. It won’t happen. It can’t. Sorry, Bob.
