This past week, I was able to give a talk to the youngsters of an Indy-area Catholic High School. It was a chastity/homosexuality talk, and it was good for me to be in front of high school kids again. They were really great, even though they didn't have to be.
In my talk, I noted that there are two really loud camps in the homosexual debate -
1) the liberal left (you can't help but act on your attractions)
2) the religious fundamentalist right (you will burn in Hell for your attractions)
And I then noted, as we've discussed on here many times, in the middle is the Catholic Church.
A teacher came up to me afterwards (a really nice guy) and noted that most Protestants are not in the "religious right camp" and stand with the Catholic Church in the middle saying that attractions themselves are not sins.
The interesting thing was that once the man started talking and fleshing out what he believed, it became clear that he
a) believed that his beliefs (and his ecclesial community's beliefs on the matter) are in line with the Catholic Church and
b) those beliefs were not actually in line with the Catholic Church
It is both a blessing and a curse for Protestants - the ability to not have to nail down cleanly what one believes in a Catechism. The doctrinal ambiguity of Protestantism is often seen as a good thing by most Protestants because Catechisms are "Roman inventions", but in practice the ambiguity creates serious problems when trying to have serious conversations about matters of Faith.
Doctrinal ambiguity essentially turns one's own interpretation of Scripture into the Rosetta Stone for unlocking the mysteries of God. In discussing Faith with other people, then, it becomes easy to say "Oh, I believe that too" or "I don't believe in that" because nothing is set in concrete - everything a person uses to understand God is locked inside one's self.
At the same time, and surely unsettling to Protestants, is the awareness that when relying on one's own interpretation of Scripture, there is nothing providing guidance from beyond one's self, external to one's self.
Doctrinal ambiguity has the appearance of being freeing, but when lived it would have to be quite unsettling and Hellish.
Thank God for the Catholic Church.
Oh yes, the homo hating priest. speading hate to highschool children again. yes the church has its stance. but what about child molesting priests? Divorced straight catholics? Strange? During Jesus's time on Earth? Never heard him say a word against it, (gays/homosexuals).. Plenty going on in Rome. nothing in the 10 commandments. before you throw stones Fr. perhaps you should check your own closet. Jesus preached Love, and forgiveness, oh, and it was the chief Priests who gave him up to be Crucified. Oh, and the Roman Soldier who came to Christ to help his young slave...I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word... and He cured him.... yeah just keep peddling your slanted versions of the Church policys....the ones you want to persicute...maybe they will let you crucify gays, or burn them to a stake, or stone them...Happy Easter!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, the homo hating priest. speading hate to highschool children again.
DeleteWe also teach that stealing is wrong. Does it follow from that that we hate bank robbers? Not at all.
yes the church has its stance. but what about child molesting priests?
The Church teaches that child molestation is evil. Those priests that are proven to be in violation of that should be removed from ministry and turned over to secular authorities.
Divorced straight catholics?
I think you mean divorced Catholics who have remarried without having their previous marriage properly annulled. Such people should not receive communion, nor hold an official position in the Church.
During Jesus's time on Earth? Never heard him say a word against it, (gays/homosexuals)..
Not directly, but neither did He directly say anything about bestiality or incest, yet these are still evil. He did however indirectly affirm the evilness of homosexual "sex" when He confirmed the judgement visited on Sodom and Gomorrah.
Plenty going on in Rome.
This is the invalid (and dubious) "Everybody's doing it" argument.
nothing in the 10 commandments.
Again, there is nothing in the 10 commandments about incest and bestiality, so this is a fallacious appeal to finer detail.
before you throw stones Fr. perhaps you should check your own closet
However, "bearing false witness" IS a violation of one of the 10 commandments, so I caution you to tread lightly.
Jesus preached Love, and forgiveness
Yes, but he also preached repentance, so this is a fallacy of omission, or cherry picking.
oh, and it was the chief Priests who gave him up to be Crucified.
True, but has no application here.
Oh, and the Roman Soldier who came to Christ to help his young slave...I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word... and He cured him....
Yes, because of the centurion's faith. Being a centurion is not evil in and of itself.
yeah just keep peddling your slanted versions of the Church policys
I believe the readers can tell that there is nothing slanted about Church teachings. They are not policies in the sense that once the Clinton Administration begins and sweeps away the Reagan policies. The Church's teachings on chastity and human sexuality are true and unchangeable.
the ones you want to persicute...maybe they will let you crucify gays, or burn them to a stake, or stone them..
Fr. Hollowell has not said or even implied any of that. See the above about bearing false witness.
Happy Easter!
It can be a very happy Easter if one repents of their sins and believes all of Our Lord's teachings as given to us through His Church.
Funny that you come out so vehemently against Fr. here and in turn the Church and yet do not have the courage to post your name. Big words for a shadow for a picture.
DeleteI will pray for you and a conversion of heart. Happy Easter to you!!
Oh Scott....Is there any reliable history that confirms the existence of the "10 Commandments" you are talking about? Any archeological findings, reliable history that can be corroborated? Where are these "10 commandments" at right now? In the Vatican somewhere? In a museum somewhere? Please provide something that corroborates the existence or prior existence of the "10 commandments" and where they are at or what happened to them. How about that "Ark of the Covenant" as well? Thank You.
DeleteI'm assuming this is a different anonymous than the one who wrote that scattershot screed (aside: Fr. Hollowell--I won't tell you how to run your blog, but please consider a "consistent handle" policy). In any case, I'm not going to try to establish Biblical reliability here as one can do a net search and dive into the reams of commentary on it. If one thinks it is all bosh, there is probably nothing I could say to change his mind, so I see nothing to be gained from re-inventing the wheel. The first anonymous specifically claimed there was "nothing in the 10 commandments" about homosexual "sex". That, and his other declarations on Scripture is at least tacitly or conditionally accepting that the Bible in general and the ten commandments in particular found in it are reliable enough that he thought it reasonable to make an argument from silence from it. I've adequately demonstrated that this is a fallacious argument from silence.
DeleteHAHAHAHA! Nice answer Scott W. So you can't find a darn thing to corroborate the existence(or past existence) of the supposed "10 commandments?? Yet you act as though they once existed?!?! And you "obey" something that nobody on the planet can prove once existed?!?!?! And you tell people to "tread lightly" cause they were violating one of the "10 commandments"?!?!? Excuse me while I go LOL!!!! Would it be a fair statement to say they might not have ever existed in the first place, Scott? I think so.
DeleteHAHAHAHA! Nice answer Scott W. So you can't find a darn thing to corroborate the existence(or past existence) of the supposed "10 commandments?? Yet you act as though they once existed?!?! And you "obey" something that nobody on the planet can prove once existed?!?!?! And you tell people to "tread lightly" cause they were violating one of the "10 commandments"?!?!? Excuse me while I go LOL!!!! Would it be a fair statement to say they might not have ever existed in the first place, Scott? I think so.
DeleteYou do realize that your "HAHA's" and "LOL's" must sound utterly hollow to anyone reading them right? Yes, I believe the Scripture is God's Word. I've read enough of the history and bibliographic evidence to conclude that this belief is reasonable. You can scoff at this and skip off merrily confident that you scored some rhetorical points, but I don't think even honest scoffers think the Bible was only written a hundred years ago or something. But thank you. I always know I'm on the right path when I get responses like this.
Thank God for Jesus Christ and the Church (those who worship, believe and act on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit). At this point, too many of the Catholic Church leaders and laity, that are in the public square, have fallen into grave error. Too much has become business and politics instead of doing the will of God. So, I thank God for the beauty of my faith. I thank God for showing us His tremendous love for us which we'll celebrate this next week but there aren't enough priests like you Father Hollowell. We need loving faithful priests who are able to explain what we believe in a loving manner. Of course saying the religious right hates homosexuals is an exaggeration. I think they hate what homosexuals are trying to do though. To allow same sex marriage or same sex couples to adopt is an affront to our Lord and the idea there is consideration for that is appalling. It speaks to the poor evangelization of our society by the Catholic Church. The bishops like to pride themselves in their many hospitals, universities and Churches but it is those institutions that have been silent or worse implicit in the growing acceptance of homosexuality which has lead to the historic Supreme Court case that will start this week. Our Church leaders have stressed social justice over spiritual works of mercy, business over the will of God, politics instead of standing for the Truth!
ReplyDeleteNo-one has been hospitalized or treated for some imaginary disease called 'homophobia'; so stop harassing and bullying people into accepting a perverted lifestyle or legally condoning it. Most of us know better.
ReplyDeleteThe Church hates the sin, NOT the sinner. This has been the constant theme of Fr. Hollowell's talks (and a wonderful work, that is). Our young people need Truth and guidance, not slogans and mores that lead them to both personal and spiritual ruin. If you live in the Western world, just take a look around you and ask yourself: how did we get here? The answer lies in people like you and the attitudes you exhibit toward authority social norms. So come down from that pillar of arrogance and thank God for the Catholic Church. She exists to shine the light on what you try to spread in the darkness. Above all, use this week to reflect on the true meaning of Christ's love for sinners and do some repentance.
Have a blessed Easter.
Thanks for your post. You're a good guy.
ReplyDelete