A Call to Love Like Christ: Support for CUAllies is not best expression of Christian love

Joseph M. Thomas, First Year Masters Student
April 26, 2012
Filed under Quill

In the 125^th Anniversary edition of The Tower, an article entitled “A Time for Reaffirming CUA’s Mission at 125 Years” argued basically that for us to truly live our mission as a Catholic university we should allow the recognition of CUAllies, “the unofficial LGBTQ/Ally student organization” on campus. The implication of this article was that the University is not providing a “safe, welcoming and affirming environment for LGBTQ students” because this group is not officially recognized. It was further implied that it is unloving and unchristian to not affirm this group.

I would like to respond to this by saying that love, Christian love, does not require affirmation and acceptance of all behavior, though it does require acceptance of all people.

Today’s rhetoric on the LGBTQ question implies that homosexual and similar lifestyles are on an equal par with the heterosexual and that if someone does not respect that as a free and equal choice then he or she is being insensitive or heartless, denying others their choice of how they love. But this loses sight of human nature and is the truly unchristian option.

The Church makes it clear that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,” and are “contrary to the natural law” (CCC #2357). The Church does not say that people who have homosexual inclinations are not welcome in the Church. On the contrary the Catechism says specifically that we must not discriminate or be insensitive to any with such inclinations, and I would never want to say otherwise.

However, lack of discrimination does not translate into affirmation of behavior which is intrinsically disordered. It is a conflation to say that the Church is not being loving because it does not excuse and accept sinful behavior. Christ loved and accepted all, sinners and tax collectors, but that does not mean that He accepted their sinful behavior, as is clearly seen when he forgives the woman caught in adultery and ends by saying “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.” (John 8:11) Christ loved that woman, but did not accept or “affirm” her sin.

Unconditional Christian love does not imply affirmation of a chosen lifestyle which violates the nature of God’s plan for man, though it does definitely imply acceptance of the person (i.e. the sinner but not the sin). This does not mean that LGBTQ students, so self-identified, have nothing to contribute to our community, but the University should not affirm their lifestyle or advocacy as LGBTQ. The job of the Church is to call sinners away from their sinful behavior (myself included) and toward “Christian perfection” (CCC #2359), not to affirm them in that behavior which is, in reality, taking them further from God because it is disordered.

We are Catholic. Let us truly love our brothers and sisters by calling them to the life of virtue God is calling us all to, not to turn our eyes from a problem for fear of being insensitive.