I'm glad you talk about Augustine and I've always kind of been fascinated regarding the changes in sexual teaching in the Church and I'm often reminded that for most of Church history it basically taught what you can have sex and enjoy it, but only if you intend to have a child ... and marriage is a compromise with the fallen nature of human kind (of course today it is a sacrament). Part of what bothers me is that ToB kind of opened up at least straight sexuality and admitted that sexual relations were a good in and unto itself (and Humane Vitae flirted with this) It's almost schizophrenic in that on one hand the Church wants desperately to hold on to connecting sexuality to procreation yet also open it up to thinking about it as an genuine expression of love. I think, if anything, work on the Church's teaching regarding sexuality is very unfinished and these two seemingly diametrically opposed ideas need some creative and Spirit inspired inquiry. Thanks for your writing on this.
I think it's a remarkably challenging topic to address in a comprehensive way. One of my worries is the way in which some ToB advocates try to separate it off from the broader Christian tradition
Challenging to to address in a comprehensive way on its own and even more challenging considering the culture war environment we live in today. Keep up the good work bro. I've long enjoyed your blog (I think I need to subscribe hehe)
Wow this challenged my thinking. I've been wading through Christopher West's work (a couple books and a bunch of his podcasts) so while I think I'm familiar with a lot of his most popular content and ideas in 2024 there is still a ton of stuff especially older works I can't speak on. It appears to me that he's getting away from the conversion therapy rhetoric mentioned in the article although not explicitly most of his most recent work just avoids it. It pains my heart to know he promoted those terrible ideas. As much as I wholeheartedly reject the idea that we can somehow control or influence our orientation, I'm not sure I can align with the perspective expressed here either. I feel that to say God didn't change the man in the example's orientation, he just discovered he was bisexual...well didn't God make him bisexual? And how can anyone know they won't one day also discover they are bisexual? I feel like we're trying to pinpoint whether this man always had the potential to be bisexual within him vs God changing his orientation, but we're missing the point of the joy and good gift this man received from God's hand. I don't think it's wrong for me to believe that work could be repeated in my own life or even for me to pray for it, but I must utterly reject the notion that my prayers will in any way determine the outcome I receive. It may not be in God's plan to change my orientation this side of eternity, and I must also pray for grace to carry the cross of my orientation all the way to the end.
Anyway here's my biggest takeaway: West promotes his TOB teaching like they are this rich source or healing and joy, yet he's over here sharing stories about how 30 years later he's still sometimes in the pits of despair unpacking old sexual sins and trauma. He preaches a message of hope, but delivers a struggle that smacks us in the face with the depths of our depravity. Which I would argue isn't so bad a thing to the extent that it drives us to prayer and the cross and God's rich mercy and grace. But it feels disingenuousness to me right now to paint marital union like it's this enjoyable, blessed joyful thing that brings healing. Like maybe it was that before the fall, but aside from procreation, it seems like it does more harm than good? Or at least there is so much bad tied up with it. My faith obligates me to believe God can heal sexual brokeness, but it seems like very few Christians even those who have TOB ever reach the level of healing West proclaims is possible.
I do think West has a lot of good ideas though that anyone - dare I even say affirming Christians - can get behind. That our bodies are good. They're good because grace comes not despite our bodies but through them in the sacraments. That our bodies were created to incarnate self donating love. Jesus' tenderness with our broken humanity. Etc
What if you reverenced the act of YOUR creation? You have dignity, you are made in God’s image. The act that created each of us should be treated as sacred, holy. The act that creates each of us deserves respect.
As a woman it is hard to forget that act brings new life no matter how much I may want to use it to express love and devotion. A young woman’s formation with menstruation, bodily changes and the monthly reminders creates a very different reality regarding the act.
Civilization depends on the act to create the next generation, another reason to treat it with reverence and respect.
Acts that imitate the act of life shouldn’t cause people to disrespect or disregard the sacredness of the act of life that happens between a man and a woman, but we don’t regard the act as we should. We are casual about it, make a joke of it, make it a vulgarity (I.e. your f-bomb), make it a selfish act. What if you treated the imitation acts with respect out of reverence for the real act, the act that produces life and conveys love.
All imitation acts (contracepted acts , homosexual acts) can distort the fullness of the act of life. Who does this hurt? Ultimately, it makes the act of your and my creation less precious and beautiful.
"If straight Christians get to paint over the views of those early “negative” theologians when it came to sexuality and desire, then don’t LGBTQ+ Christians get to do this as well?"
Presumably the reason we do not get to do this, is that, for the CC, straight sexuality is - evils such as concupiscence apart - morally & teleologically good. Whereas homosexually is "intrinsically disordered" and "can by no means be approved". So that it is not morally & teleologically good. So that, in the nature of the case, a gay relationship, however real the affection, care for each other, generosity, faithfulness etc., shown in the course of it, would be impossible to regard as a good thing.
I think the quotation is comparing things that - if one holds to the Church's teaching on homosexuality - are not in reality analogous, but are instead crucially different.
From the POV of the Magisterium of the CC, I think a same-sex union is wrong, not incidentally or indirectly, but entirely, intrinsically and directly - unlike a canonically valid marriage, which will be wounded by human sin, but not, in itself, be a sinful undertaking. That seems to be the thinking anyway.
The CC has always allowed for the possibility of holiness within marriage; that there could be such a thing, was not thought up in the last few years, but goes right back to the NT. Whereas the Church has never allowed for the possibility of holiness in even a committed and faithful gay relationship.
Chris, this is an insightful and inspired piece. I very much enjoyed the clarity and depth of your analysis. I can tell you have struggled with this issue and are motivated by a genuine desire to bring some measure of relief to LGBTQ+ Catholics striving to reconcile their sexuality and faith. As I am all too well aware, the Church is often less than helpful on this front.
I strongly agree with you: The Church must work toward "a more dynamic integration of Augustine and John Paul II and a general rejection of the theories peddled by West and Evert." As you note, the true impact of JPII's ToB on the Church's approach to human sexuality is still unfolding. While I welcome what this has meant in terms of love and sexual erotic expression for heterosexual Catholics, there is still much serious work to be done for LGBTQ+ Catholics who, quite frankly, have been either ignored (at best) or harmed, as you effectively point out above.
I think there’s a basic methodological error in the following approach:
1) I have a certain experience that inclines me to certain kinds of behavior. 2) But since official church teaching condemns said behavior, I have a conflict to resolve. 3) Rather than accept that my will and experience is not the final arbiter of what is true and good, and undertake the difficult work of purification of the will and metanoia, I will concentrate my attention on demonstrating that my inclinations are justified and the church is wrong… so that it’s the church that should change, rather than me.
It’s very easy to reason poorly out of one’s concupiscence, and the result can be a kind of warmed-over rationalization, deeply informed by a hermeneutic of suspicion, which causes one to look at the world through a specific lens of brokenness and to re-read all of the tradition in the light of what one desires to be true.
A surer path is to accept the wisdom of a mystic like Saint John of the Cross, who wrote: “Since a double measure of bitterness must follow the doing of your own will, do not do it even though you remain in single bitterness.”
Everything surrendered to God with generosity and trust is, in the end, transformed and made resplendent when it is then received back from God transfigured and illuminated by a wisdom and joy that can only be received from the Creator, not produced by the creature.
Hi Clayton! Thanks for your comment! I am a bit confused, as I’m not sure how it ties in with this particular piece. But I appreciate your sharing here.
I'm glad you talk about Augustine and I've always kind of been fascinated regarding the changes in sexual teaching in the Church and I'm often reminded that for most of Church history it basically taught what you can have sex and enjoy it, but only if you intend to have a child ... and marriage is a compromise with the fallen nature of human kind (of course today it is a sacrament). Part of what bothers me is that ToB kind of opened up at least straight sexuality and admitted that sexual relations were a good in and unto itself (and Humane Vitae flirted with this) It's almost schizophrenic in that on one hand the Church wants desperately to hold on to connecting sexuality to procreation yet also open it up to thinking about it as an genuine expression of love. I think, if anything, work on the Church's teaching regarding sexuality is very unfinished and these two seemingly diametrically opposed ideas need some creative and Spirit inspired inquiry. Thanks for your writing on this.
I think it's a remarkably challenging topic to address in a comprehensive way. One of my worries is the way in which some ToB advocates try to separate it off from the broader Christian tradition
Challenging to to address in a comprehensive way on its own and even more challenging considering the culture war environment we live in today. Keep up the good work bro. I've long enjoyed your blog (I think I need to subscribe hehe)
Wow this challenged my thinking. I've been wading through Christopher West's work (a couple books and a bunch of his podcasts) so while I think I'm familiar with a lot of his most popular content and ideas in 2024 there is still a ton of stuff especially older works I can't speak on. It appears to me that he's getting away from the conversion therapy rhetoric mentioned in the article although not explicitly most of his most recent work just avoids it. It pains my heart to know he promoted those terrible ideas. As much as I wholeheartedly reject the idea that we can somehow control or influence our orientation, I'm not sure I can align with the perspective expressed here either. I feel that to say God didn't change the man in the example's orientation, he just discovered he was bisexual...well didn't God make him bisexual? And how can anyone know they won't one day also discover they are bisexual? I feel like we're trying to pinpoint whether this man always had the potential to be bisexual within him vs God changing his orientation, but we're missing the point of the joy and good gift this man received from God's hand. I don't think it's wrong for me to believe that work could be repeated in my own life or even for me to pray for it, but I must utterly reject the notion that my prayers will in any way determine the outcome I receive. It may not be in God's plan to change my orientation this side of eternity, and I must also pray for grace to carry the cross of my orientation all the way to the end.
Anyway here's my biggest takeaway: West promotes his TOB teaching like they are this rich source or healing and joy, yet he's over here sharing stories about how 30 years later he's still sometimes in the pits of despair unpacking old sexual sins and trauma. He preaches a message of hope, but delivers a struggle that smacks us in the face with the depths of our depravity. Which I would argue isn't so bad a thing to the extent that it drives us to prayer and the cross and God's rich mercy and grace. But it feels disingenuousness to me right now to paint marital union like it's this enjoyable, blessed joyful thing that brings healing. Like maybe it was that before the fall, but aside from procreation, it seems like it does more harm than good? Or at least there is so much bad tied up with it. My faith obligates me to believe God can heal sexual brokeness, but it seems like very few Christians even those who have TOB ever reach the level of healing West proclaims is possible.
I do think West has a lot of good ideas though that anyone - dare I even say affirming Christians - can get behind. That our bodies are good. They're good because grace comes not despite our bodies but through them in the sacraments. That our bodies were created to incarnate self donating love. Jesus' tenderness with our broken humanity. Etc
What if you reverenced the act of YOUR creation? You have dignity, you are made in God’s image. The act that created each of us should be treated as sacred, holy. The act that creates each of us deserves respect.
As a woman it is hard to forget that act brings new life no matter how much I may want to use it to express love and devotion. A young woman’s formation with menstruation, bodily changes and the monthly reminders creates a very different reality regarding the act.
Civilization depends on the act to create the next generation, another reason to treat it with reverence and respect.
Acts that imitate the act of life shouldn’t cause people to disrespect or disregard the sacredness of the act of life that happens between a man and a woman, but we don’t regard the act as we should. We are casual about it, make a joke of it, make it a vulgarity (I.e. your f-bomb), make it a selfish act. What if you treated the imitation acts with respect out of reverence for the real act, the act that produces life and conveys love.
All imitation acts (contracepted acts , homosexual acts) can distort the fullness of the act of life. Who does this hurt? Ultimately, it makes the act of your and my creation less precious and beautiful.
"If straight Christians get to paint over the views of those early “negative” theologians when it came to sexuality and desire, then don’t LGBTQ+ Christians get to do this as well?"
Presumably the reason we do not get to do this, is that, for the CC, straight sexuality is - evils such as concupiscence apart - morally & teleologically good. Whereas homosexually is "intrinsically disordered" and "can by no means be approved". So that it is not morally & teleologically good. So that, in the nature of the case, a gay relationship, however real the affection, care for each other, generosity, faithfulness etc., shown in the course of it, would be impossible to regard as a good thing.
I think the quotation is comparing things that - if one holds to the Church's teaching on homosexuality - are not in reality analogous, but are instead crucially different.
From the POV of the Magisterium of the CC, I think a same-sex union is wrong, not incidentally or indirectly, but entirely, intrinsically and directly - unlike a canonically valid marriage, which will be wounded by human sin, but not, in itself, be a sinful undertaking. That seems to be the thinking anyway.
The CC has always allowed for the possibility of holiness within marriage; that there could be such a thing, was not thought up in the last few years, but goes right back to the NT. Whereas the Church has never allowed for the possibility of holiness in even a committed and faithful gay relationship.
Chris, this is an insightful and inspired piece. I very much enjoyed the clarity and depth of your analysis. I can tell you have struggled with this issue and are motivated by a genuine desire to bring some measure of relief to LGBTQ+ Catholics striving to reconcile their sexuality and faith. As I am all too well aware, the Church is often less than helpful on this front.
I strongly agree with you: The Church must work toward "a more dynamic integration of Augustine and John Paul II and a general rejection of the theories peddled by West and Evert." As you note, the true impact of JPII's ToB on the Church's approach to human sexuality is still unfolding. While I welcome what this has meant in terms of love and sexual erotic expression for heterosexual Catholics, there is still much serious work to be done for LGBTQ+ Catholics who, quite frankly, have been either ignored (at best) or harmed, as you effectively point out above.
Keep up the excellent work.
I think there’s a basic methodological error in the following approach:
1) I have a certain experience that inclines me to certain kinds of behavior. 2) But since official church teaching condemns said behavior, I have a conflict to resolve. 3) Rather than accept that my will and experience is not the final arbiter of what is true and good, and undertake the difficult work of purification of the will and metanoia, I will concentrate my attention on demonstrating that my inclinations are justified and the church is wrong… so that it’s the church that should change, rather than me.
It’s very easy to reason poorly out of one’s concupiscence, and the result can be a kind of warmed-over rationalization, deeply informed by a hermeneutic of suspicion, which causes one to look at the world through a specific lens of brokenness and to re-read all of the tradition in the light of what one desires to be true.
A surer path is to accept the wisdom of a mystic like Saint John of the Cross, who wrote: “Since a double measure of bitterness must follow the doing of your own will, do not do it even though you remain in single bitterness.”
Everything surrendered to God with generosity and trust is, in the end, transformed and made resplendent when it is then received back from God transfigured and illuminated by a wisdom and joy that can only be received from the Creator, not produced by the creature.
Hi Clayton! Thanks for your comment! I am a bit confused, as I’m not sure how it ties in with this particular piece. But I appreciate your sharing here.