I have a bunch of old drafts of posts I started, but never completed…I am just going to start putting them up, because…why not?
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On the one hand it’s easy for me to roll my eyes at the Vatican’s latest messaging about LGBTQ+ marriages/unions. It’s eye-rolling because it’s just so ridiculous–like we are supposed to believe that God has a problem with two humans loving each other and joining together in some kind of union. Catechism 101 teaches us God loves all, and God loves love. But of course this isn’t catechism 101, and it’s more complicated (and political) than that. And ultimately, even though I know that God has no issue with me or my marriage (nor do any of the nuns or priests with whom I’ve regularly spent time with over my years of teaching at a College that was originally founded by a Catholic order of nuns), the Vatican’s word is far more powerful than mine in changing/or making up the minds of many.
My family is Catholic. Like so many other members of the LGBTQ+ community, I was raised Catholic. I went to Catholic elementary schools and I went to a Catholic College (where I thankfully learned that the Catholic educational tradition isn’t and need not be wed to the Catholic faith traditions). I know that for many Catholics and for members of my family the Vatican’s dogma is meaningful, and that this stance in particular causes an internal conflict for those who love me, but likely continue to feel uneasy with who I am and how I live my life because of this (I’m sorry…I know I could be struck down for this sacrilege…), to be frank, idiotic and hate-based statement from Pope Francis.
So on the micro-level this affects me personally, it affects my family personally.
More generally though we are seeing numerous examples of what happens in a society in which leaders promote hate. We witnessed the rise of the alt-right, which led to an increase in outward expressions of racism and ultimately to an insurrection in our country’s capitol, under the leadership of Donald Trump. We are also now seeing even more outwardly visible signs of racism and hate crimes directed toward Asians and Pacific Islanders. This is also due to leaders who have spent a year trying to place blame on China for the Corona virus and calling this things like Kung-flu and the China virus. This racism has always been with us, of course, however when leaders condone its existence and expression, then folks feel more free to act in especially malicious and violent ways toward people of color and other minority groups.
From this, I can only guess that with the Pope’s words will come a certain freedom for people to express their homophobia in more malicious and violent ways. So on this level, the Catholic church’s unfounded homophobia, affects all of us.
Life with Levi 