Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven
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| Sunny Days in Heaven Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven |
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Wednesday, May 01, 2002 Oh, to not be Sullied Andrew Sullivan, always looking for a reason to be left off the religious/moral hook about his homosexual behavior thinks he's found it from William Buckley. "Buckley is intellectually honest and personally unimpeachable. His prose can be hard to understand at times (and there's a chance, reading this piece, that he means something different). But he surely makes a good point. The church tells us gay Catholics that it's not our fault we're gay, but we should be completely chaste and without any physical or emotional intimacy, even if, unlike priests, we have no higher vocation to make sense of it all. Got that? A life utterly without real intimacy - as a Christian vocation. In practice, I know of no priests who can tell real, breathing gay men that this is a feasible way to live without going nuts or turning into the kind of twisted neurotic that turns out to be typical of some gay priests. Anyway, thanks, Bill, for at least a modicum of compassion and an attempt to see things from the uniquely difficult position of the gay Catholic. Such honest empathy is a sign of a civilized and decent soul." The problem is that Andrew is again turning religious practice and faith into minimalism (something which the priesthood has perfected, also). A quick perusal of the NT might remind Andy that Jesus was a maximalist when it came to the things of God and doing his will. Although, Jesus does concede that his statement against marrying in this life may be too much for many people to accept. But there is never a suggestion by Jesus, Paul, or others that holiness and celibacy (or sexual continence) are beyond human reach - God's grace etc. makes all things possible accordingly. But Andrew's throwing up his hands in defeat and shrugging his shoulders to say, "Who can expect me to be able to do these things?" is a bit silly. Are you not an adult, after all? Are you not capable of not being led by your genitals? If we can ask young people to not act according to their powerful desires and impulses (and see that many succeed in doing so), are we not to expect mature adults to be able to contain and restrain their libido? I have occasionally told my daughter, when I see her watching movies and TV shows that I think are a bit too sexualized or gory, that those who touch pitch will be defiled. Images and desires placed in the mind are not so easily erased. Better not to have seen vile things than to later want to forget them. The mind and memory is not so forgiving even though God is. So too with Andrew Sullivan - if you touch pitch, it's not so easy to wash off; and trying to pretend that pitch is good for the skin is simply hopeless. Furthermore Fool's Folly (link at right) has more on Sully's blog and her own two cents to add. She got there ahead of me, though. posted by Mark Butterworth | 12:05 PM | |
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