Orthodoxy is the Catholic Church’s cross. Even a Pope with relatively liberal leanings finds it impossible to change the Church’s dogma. He may say some pretty things, but the Church remains clear on its position vis-à-vis same-sex relationships. They are a sin.
The Church is faced with a dilemma. How can it appear loving, while stamping on the right to love of some of its congregants? It tries the mealy-mouthed, “Love the sinner but hate the sin”. This is self-serving nonsense. Our sexuality is a large part of who we are. And if you say that you love me, but hate the intimacy I share with my lover, then I don’t know what you think you are loving.
Anyway, enough philosophy. Let’s get to the good part. The part where Catholic Churches in Germany celebrate what nature — if not God — has made commonplace and unremarkable. The love between members of the same sex and the unions they enter into.
As ‘The Local’ (a site for German news in English) reports:
“Catholic churches around Germany were offering blessings for gay couples on Monday in a protest against the Vatican's refusal to approve same-sex partnerships.
More than 100 churches around the country have signed up to host services under the motto “love wins” on or around May 10th in the scheme initiated by priests, deacons and volunteers.
At the services, all couples will be invited to be blessed – regardless of sexual orientation.”
Notice “all couples — regardless of sexual orientation”. The Church isn’t promoting gay marriage as ‘better’. It isn’t demanding gays get ‘extra rights’. It is only treating all people the same. Also note, it isn’t blessing polygamy (just couples) or relationships with inanimate objects. (Although a church by me does have an annual ‘Biker Blessing’ for the riders and their machines).
Nor are German Churches blessing the shallow, the temporary, or the convenient. They echo their millennia of tradition by applauding commitment and stability. Which is what so many couples hope for. Although not all achieve it. As the German Catholic group, “Love Wins” (comprising 100 churches) says on its website,
“We raise our voices and say: We will continue to stand by people who commit themselves to a binding partnership and bless their relationship,”
This is in direct contravention of the proclamation of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the Vatican agency responsible for outlining and defending church doctrine. In March it ruled that same-sex unions could not be blessed despite their “positive elements”. The CDF made itself clear by adding that while God “never ceases to bless each of His pilgrim children in this world… he does not and cannot bless sin”.
I am no theologian, and I still can’t grasp why God would create sin - although Catholic authorities, who have had 2,000 years to work on the problem, have neat little answers for that. However, the more important matter is the assertion that homosexual behavior is a sin.
This contention is grounded in a couple of biblical verses. And — while other prohibitions against mixing fabrics, planting more than one type of seed, cutting one’s hair, getting inked, mediums, astrology, eating blood, shrimp, pork, and dressing immodestly, et al. are dismissed as antiquated, only relevant to Jews, or simply ignored — homosexuality is still a big no-no.
This is particularly hypocritical when you consider the systemic Catholic cover-up of men raping boys. The Church prohibits priests who “present deep-seated homosexual tendencies” and yet, when faced with the criminal expression of these tendencies, largely chose to ignore them.
But let’s return to the positive. In March, 2,600 German priests and deacons, as well as 277 theologians, signed a petition decrying the CDF’s inflexible inhumanity. They picked May 10th as the day when churches in cities including Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Munich would hold traditional masses as well as open-air services and online events to bless gay unions.
Why May 10th? The date was chosen for the blessings because it is associated with God sending Noah a rainbow – a symbol often used in support of the LGBT community.
Love is always worth celebrating. And if you believe in God you probably consider love one of his great blessings. Bearing that in mind, I’ll let Birgit Mock, co-chair of the German Synodal Path’s working group on sexuality, have the last word:
“We must finally recognise as a church that sexuality is part of life – and not only in a marriage between a man and a woman, but in all faithful, dignified and respectful love relationships.”