Christian homosexuality and morality today: "Who am I to judge?"

Article by Nathalie Sarthou-Lajus and François Euvé published on the monthly of the French Jesuits Etudes (France) of October 2014, freely translated by Gianluca Caselunghe

"If a person is gay and look for the Lord with good will, who am I to judge? ". These words of the Pope, pronounced on the return from Rio de Janeiro's GMG to respond to a journalist who put him on the existence of a gay lobby in the Vatican, left their mark. Pope Francis includes what matters or being brothers of homosexual people. A new evangelical air circulates in the Church, echoing the words of Jesus in the "mountain speech": "Not judged in order not to be judged"(Mt. 7,1)

It is also a warning addressed to the scribes and the Pharisees of our churches: we are wary of morality but of a certain moralism that fits to judge and condemn a person depending on his sexual orientation. In fact, in the French debate on the "mariage pour tous"[The marriage for homosexual people] A homophobic vocabulary has also re -emerged within the Christian communities.

We are experiencing a period of profound changes in our vision of the human. The evolution of customs as well as the development of human sciences, techniques and knowledge on the evolution of life, involves a faltering of familiaric representations.

Those who seem to be immutable foundations find themselves shocks. The emergence of any "modern" novelty is not necessarily positive and requires a discernment on what is truly bearer of life and fertility.

Homosexuality is difficult to treat because it deeply touches human experience and has socio-political effects. We let ourselves be caused by the Pope's question in reopening the reflection on homosexuality, beyond the prejudices.

Two articles of this number (of the monthly Etudes) will contribute on the topic, one centered on a pastoral approach ("What place for homosexual people in our Christian communities?"By Claude Besson) while the other on the theme of moral theology ("Homosexuality and Christian morality today"By Laurent Lemoine), a construction site still open despite the publication of Xavier Thévenot's pioneering works.

How can you be homosexual and Christian? Is there a Christian way of living one's homosexuality and that of others? What people and homosexual couples live and experience deserves to be understood. To tell the truth, these issues come out of the enclosure strictu sense of homosexuality. But they question the ways in which Christianity puts itself in dialogue with its times, taking into account the evolution of customs and the contribution of human sciences regarding the construction of sexual identity.

First of all, a certain gap must be recognized between the discretion of the Gospel that already existed at the time, not only on homosexuality, but also on sexuality and love relationships in general and the punctual prescriptions, often severe, of the catechism of the Catholic Church.

This gap leaves the possibility of different interpretations. Pope Francis' intervention distinguishes the behavior of the individual from certain social claims. It does not oppose the fact of accepting one's homosexuality and seeking the Lord.

Indeed, it has the merit of turning the approach of the morality of sexual and emotional life towards attention to people, of a trust in their faith in Christ and lets hope for a relaxation of the "ecclesial doctrine".

The goal is not to formulate a judgment on people, nor on what they live, but it is in the announcement of a good news, that of the merciful love of Christ in which everyone can take part. What unites us as Christians is the recognition of each participation in the same divine filiation.

Each person is the same in dignity, regardless of sex and his sexual orientation. Therefore, how can we limit ourselves to identifying the few biblical passages, which are few and not clear as one would like to say, that they "condemn" homosexuality, without putting them in the light of this good news?

How can one be satisfied with a pastoral care of the welcome that sends the homosexual person in an almost unsustainable way, distinguishing between respect for his identity and the refusal of sexual behavior considered "disordered" since contrary to the law of the difference of the sexes?

As if the sexual desire, whose origin is complex and enigmatic, was not part of the identity of a person? As if you can order an individual not to practice his sexuality if this responds to the moral requirements of consent and does not damage others?

The biblical passage "male and female created them" (Gen. 1,27) enhances the difference of the sexes. It is in the relationship with the opposite sex that we can experience the otherness and fruitfulness of the life donated. But the biblical exegesis as well as human sciences have taught us that attention to these differences is inscribed in a cultural history and cannot be reduced only to an attention to anatomical differences.

The recognition of otherness is the result of long and difficult learning that applies to all couples and all living relationships. Being of the same sex does not prevent us from recognizing otherness and experiencing one's difference.

Being of the same sex does not make this recognition easier, as can demonstrate the testimonies of the numerous forms of marital violence. If the dominant social model of the fruitfulness of a life and a couple's relationship is proven since the birth of a child, this is not however the only fruitfulness capable of nourishing a person and allowing him to realize themselves.

Some relationships "open to another type of fruitfulness, a social fruitfulness", which "is no less important in the eyes of the Church".

Original text: "Here Suis-Je Pour Juver?"

https://www.revue-eutdes.com/article/quis-je-pour- Juuger-16391