Profile In Courage
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Monday, September 29, 2008 11:00 AM
On September 18, Jaime Soto, the coadjutor bishop of Sacramento, addressed a convention of the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries taking place in Long Beach, CA.
It didn’t go over well with some.
Several people walked out and there were some hostile questions when he finished.
But I think you’ll want to read what he said. It’s beautiful.
He begins by reflecting on Christ’s rebuke of Peter in the Sunday Gospel a few weeks back.
Jesus says “no” to his friend, Simon Peter, in no uncertain terms, “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” The words of Jesus to Peter must have shocked Peter. This is not the agreeable guy he had come to know and follow. He probably felt like prophet Jeremiah who in the first reading that same Sunday said quite bluntly, “You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped.”
There follows an eloquent exposition of the Church’s vision for sexuality drawn largely from Pope Benedict’s encyclical on charity. I think this is an unusual argument—and a particularly good point:
Marriage is also not the sole domain of love as some of the politics would seem to imply. Love is lived and celebrated in so many ways that can lead to a wholesome, earnest, and religious life: the deep and chaste love of committed friends, the untiring love of committed religious and clergy, the profound and charitable bonds among the members of a Christian community, enduring, forgiving, and supportive love among the family members. Should we dismiss or demean the human and spiritual significance of these lives given in love?
I love his conclusion:
we should let the words of St. Paul haunt us and unsettle us: “Do not conform yourself to this age.” In so many ways we can allow ourselves to be duped, fooled, by the fads and trends of this age. It is far better that we allow ourselves to be drawn into the ways and the manners of Jesus. The Lord Jesus challenges us as he challenged his friend, Simon Peter, to not conform to what is fashionable and convenient. He has so much more to offer us. Do not think as others do. Let us think as God does. He shows us the way, the truth, and the life.
RTWT. With a polite nod to the folks at Pewsitter for the story.
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