Earlier this week there was much furor in the press about comments attributed to Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan stating “transsexuals and homosexuals will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Fr. James Martin S.J. posted on this twice in America Magazine first “instructing” the Cardinal on what the Catechism says and then later posting another response to the Cardinal’s comments.
When I first saw this story I immediately figured it was typical medial slice and dice of the Cardinal’s comments taking them deliberately out of the full context of what he had said. Twice I responded in the comments with this suggestions. Though the comments were mostly full of people angry with the Cardinal’s comments. I had commented that this was likely media distortion, which is so common, and really should be the charitable reply to the story. To think that the Cardinal believed that those with same sex attraction can not be saved is a rather silly conclusion. Yet of course this is what the news stories asserted and this is the conclusion that Fr. Martin replied to. I figured I would only have to wait a day or so for the real story.
On Wednesday, the Pontifex.roma Web site published comments attributed to Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán that state “transsexuals and homosexuals will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
The cardinal, however, said in a statement sent to ZENIT on Thursday that his words were taken out of context. The cardinal said he was referencing the Bible, specifically St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, 1:26-27, which says (in part), “Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity.”
“This is what the Word of God says, it isn’t what I said,” Cardinal Lozano Barragán affirmed. “Now, I have never said that a particular homosexual cannot be saved, because he can be saved.”
“Many times one is not a homosexual through one’s own fault; it all depends on one’s education and environment,” the prelate clarified.
Cardinal Lozano Barragán reiterated the Church’s teaching on grave sin: “The only thing I can say is that for grave fault to exist, in addition to needing grave matter, one needs full knowledge and full consent: Where one of those three conditions is lacking, there is no grave fault.”
Above all, the cardinal stressed that he is not the one who judges people, since God is
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Some of the original stories even mentioned the Cardinal’s point on only God judging. Yet somehow they still inferred that the Cardinal meant all homosexual go to heaven. It is simply the teaching of the Church that all those who continue in grave sin and meet the conditions of mortal sin and never repent of this can not be saved. There are plenty of caveats to the original statement and it seems obvious to me that the Cardinal had mentioned them and the media just picked up on St Paul’s words and excluded any nuances not germane to their characterization.
So will Fr. Jim Martin, S.J. reference the ZENIT piece (if it comes to his attention)? I have no way to contact Fr. Martin directly, though I did leave a link to the ZENIT article on his last post on the subject. His posts previously on Church teaching on homosexuality seemed at odds to me with him lecturing the Cardinal on what the Catechism teaches. He seems to infer when he wrote his last piece on homosexuality that the Church has something wrong in it’s theology in that those with same-sex attraction can not participate fully in the life of the Church. I would just like some clarity from him as to whether he fully agrees with all aspects on the truth of the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. But being just another pundit on in the internet i won’t expect one.
This story is also a cautionary for all Catholic pundits in responding to stories. We often jump to uncharitable conclusions where more charitable answers are possible. Unless you see a full transcript of someone’s comments we should be prudentially skeptical. Certainly we can respond to something that is reported, but we should also be careful to throw in caveats about what was reportedly said with some implied skepticism. What annoyed me about Fr. Martin’s post is that there was no such caveats and it was totally assumed that this is what the Cardinal meant.
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Truly, habitual sinners who obstinately continue in inordinate anger, or in dishonoring their parents, in coveting others’ belongings, or in willfully neglecting the widow and the orphan in their need, as well as the ones who continue in sins against chastity – whether heterosexual or homosexual – cannot hope for Heaven.
Sadly, the Culture of Death has embraced sin of all sorts – murder, covetousness, blasphemies, lust, and the Culture loves to proclaim that such sins represent “progress”, “compassion”, “a woman’s right to choose”, “emancipation”. Lusts of various kinds the Culture of Death particularly loves to celebrate and defend – grave sins against chastity of a homosexual nature are an especial favorite with the Culture, and those unfortunate souls who have lamentably given themselves over to these sinful practices, the Culture asserts are behaving in a praiseworthy manner.
It is so important to continue to cry out with the Prophet Isaiah, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil!” Woe to those who call sin “progress”, who call offenses “blessings”!
It is also important to remember that each of us has much work to do to remove, with the help of God’s grace, sin from his or her own life and to grow in virtue, especially in faith, hope, and charity. It is amazing in how little the amount of time I spend finger-pointing, I become dangerously distracted from the work I need to do to get my own house in order – neglecting prayer, self-examination, recollectedness. Whether the foolish virgins had fallen asleep or whether they had sat pointing fingers at others, they had run out of oil for their lamps by the time the Bridegroom arrived, and were turned out of the Banquet.
Let us keep our eyes on the oil level of our own lamps, and let us not spill a drop. Let us pray continually for sinners, sinners of all stripes, and especially for ourselves.
In the spirit of helpfulness, I just want to expand on the Cardinal’s remark that it all depends on one’s education and environment. By “education” he means “up bringing,” that is, the deliberate efforts of parents and other educators to form one’s character; by “environment” he means “everything else,” that is, one’s peer interactions, personal choices, subjective reactions, prenatal influences, genes, and so forth. It seemed important note that biology is part of environment, because otherwise the Cardinal could easily be misinterpreted as ruling out a priori a purely biological model of sexual orientation.
The Mexican Cardinal spoke like a man.
Many limp wristed Europeans could not comprendo his straight talk.
As a life long Catholic and Mexican (since 1951) I easily understood.
I need to find out where he says Mass in Mexico and start attending.
Santa María de Guadalupe Esperanza nuestra, salva nuestra patria y conserva nuestra Fe
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“Santa María de Guadalupe Esperanza nuestra, salva nuestra patria y conserva nuestra Fe.”
(Roughly translates to): Our Lady of Guadalupe, our Hope, save our country and preserve our faith.
Beautiful. A joy to read in Spanish and in English!
Routinely, the massmedia misleads a mere quote os scripture in a big bruhaha. But God writes right with twisted lines. This debate ancovered this root of massive degradation:
As I posted in ACI Prensa:Publicado por: Guillermo Bustamante
Perú 03/12/2009 07:40 EST
Calificación: Excelente
El esclarecimiento es simple: los homosexuales, como todos nosotros pecadores, tenemos la falla del pecado original. San Pablo alude, inequívoco, a los INCONTRITOS (ACTIVAMENTE SALIDOS DEL CLÓSET. MAYORÍA ACTUAL) que ya tienen como patente de corso el hacerse mártires profesionales, y desgraciadamente desorientan a millones de jovencitos, que by the way no nacen y se hacen gay comprados por el creciente turismo sexual de estos consentidos degenerados.
Rough translation: Clarifying is simple: nomosexuals, as all we sinners, have the original sin failure. St. Paul refers, unequivocally to: the INCONTRITE ONES, (DEFIANTLY) OUT OF THE CLOSET, ACTUAL MAJORITY), that already present themselves with the corsair patent of being professional martyrs, and disgracefully confuse the youth, whom by the way aren’t born but made gay, bought by the increasing sexual tourism of those consented degenerates.
This is sad anyway you look at it. People have become more like animals than human persons. Unless we do penance and witness and pray many will suffer eternal damnation; heterosexuals who live lives of sexual sin and homosexuals alike. Those who will not repent in this life or at the second reproof (which I believe is the moment of death and largely depends on the prayer and penance of the Church,for we make up what is lacking in Christ body, the Church) they will not see God. Correct me if I’m wrong but there still is a place called hell. Mary said many souls(their bodies will follow) are falling into hell because there is no one to pray for them. We must increase our prayers and fasting(and other penances to see God’s kingdom come. Now I am going to pray the rosary. St. Padre Pio said “the rosary is the weapon” Peace
I quite agree with you. It seems that Fr. Martin likes to write around what he really wants to say.I am not precisely sure what this is. I too have been inclined recently to ask him why he does not simply clearly state his position on the issue of homosexuality. I suspect that even America could not allow certain positions. I am not claiming to know what his position is. I will say that the frequency of posts on homosexuality by Fr. Martin, and a seemingly near obsession on the topic is, at best, odd. I do not understand it.