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LGBTQ+ Ideology Homily Series - part 2

Writer's picture: Father BenFather Ben

Updated: Jan 30

Between 2007 and 2023 the number of those who identify as atheist doubled in the United States.  Although this is still a minority in the United States – making up only 4% of the population – the number of those who do not identify with any particular religion or spirituality has also sharply risen.  This number of the religiously unaffiliated – those who practice no religion at all – rose from 16% of the population to 28% between 2007 and 2023.  The culture is rapidly shedding its belief in God and its respect for religion.  We find our society in a sorry state.

It is no coincidental correlation that as the culture has decreased in belief in God there has been an increase of acceptance of sexual depravity and a growing hostility towards traditional family values.  This is at the root of LGBTQ movement.  If proponents of this ideology have not altogether stopped believing in God, they have certainly forgotten who God is.  And, consequently, they have forgotten what it means to be human.  If we forget where we came from and who created us, we forget why we were made and where we are destined to go.  We forget that we belong to someone greater than us and that our life is not our own.

This is a critical difference between the Catholic Faith and LGBTQ ideology.  The Church has a radically different understanding of what it means to be human.  And because the Church insists on the truth of human nature, LGBTQ activists will accuse the Church and religion of being nothing more than a system of power that seeks to oppress humanity.  They would claim that a bunch of old men in silly, pointy hats want to scare people into following them thereby spoiling their fun and depriving them of happiness.  But this could not be further from the case.  At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus said that He came “to proclaim good news to the poor … to proclaim liberty to captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).  In becoming man, God came behind enemy lines to rescue us and set us free.  The Church in this world functions behind enemy lines and carries on this mission to free humanity from the powers of darkness and sin.

Therefore, by its insistence on the truth about human nature the Church seeks to free humanity from captivity to sin and self-destruction.  If we don’t fully understand what it means to be human then we are going to misunderstand what it is that threatens to hold us captive.  We forget what is good or bad for the human person.  Allow me to propose an analogy.

Suppose you want to own a fish and so go to the pet store.  You find a beautiful fish that is full of bright colors.  You purchase it and take it home with you.  Now, unbeknownst to you this is actually a saltwater species.  You place it in a freshwater tank.  Your fish grows ill and dies.  Because you did not understand the nature of this species of fish, you did not understand its design, you did not know what was good or bad for it.  You did not know that it needed saltwater to live.  Likewise, if we forget what it means to be human, the design of the human person, then we will not know what is good or bad for us, what threatens to poison us and the antidote to that poison.

So, how does the LGBTQ proponent understand what it means to be human?  What role does the human body and human sexuality play in human nature?  These are questions I want to explore and compare to what the Church teaches.

I will acknowledge that not every LGBTQ activist would give the same answer to these questions.  There is no LGBTQ catechism that systematically lays out this ideology.  However, there is a principle tenet that is at the root of this ideology.

Whether explicitly acknowledged or implicitly held, LGBTQ proponents believe that the human person is really the soul.  The self is really immaterial, a ghost housed in a machine.  If the body is truly non essential to human nature, then it can be manipulated in any manner we please without consequences that threaten the integrity of the person.  The body is viewed as a morally neutral tool that we can use without causing harm to the human person because the body is not the human person.  Therefore, there is no right or wrong way to treat your body or use your sexual faculties.  There is no inherent meaning in our sexuality.  Rather, it is merely an instrument of pleasure.  And true freedom is achieved when there is no opposition to my being able to do as I please.  This is why LGBTQ proponents do not like the Church.  They would say “no one has the right to tell me how I should or should not act with my body.  This includes the Catholic Church.  I am the only one who has the right and authority to determine what happens to my body and how I use my sexual faculties.  I belong to myself.”

Now, I want to look at what the Church teaches about human nature and our sexuality.

The Church teaches that “the human person, created in the image and likeness of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 362).  This means that a human person is composed of body and soul.  I am my body and I am my soul as they are united.  Therefore, what I do with my body is going to have an impact on my soul.  I am not a ghost in a machine or a purely physical being.  I am both a body and a soul together.  Therefore, how I treat my body and use my sexual faculties is going to affect me on a spiritual level.

Because we were created by God, there is a purpose to our bodies and our sexuality.  Sex is not merely for pleasure.  I do not determine and decide the purpose of my body and sexual faculties.  Its meaning is given to me by my creator.  The sexual act is a beautiful gift from God that is the deepest expression of love one can give.  Its use is only proper as an expression of marital love between a married man and a woman.  It is an act by which one says with one’s body “I love you totally and permanently.  I give you everything I have and everything I am.”  And this expression of love is literally life giving in that it has the potential to generate human life.

There are two purposes of the marital act.  The Catechism of the Catholic says “the spouses’ union achieves the twofold end of marriage: the good of the spouses themselves and the transmission of life.  These two meanings or values of marriage cannot be separated without altering the couple’s spiritual life and compromising the goods of marriage and the future of the family” (CCC, 2363).  Sex is meant for the bonding of the married couple and the procreation of children.  I should note that this does not mean that every marital embrace must result in the procreation of children but rather that, if the circumstances are such, procreation is possible.  But if we use our sexual faculties other than that for which they were created, it hurts us.  Our sexuality has inherent meaning and purpose.  Our bodies and sexual faculties are designed a certain way so that if they are not treated or used according to their purpose, it causes damage to the entire person.  It hurts our souls.  We do not decide the purpose of our bodies and our sexuality.  It is given to us by God.

But because of our wounded nature and sinful inclinations, we are often tempted to use our sexuality other than that for which it was created.  It is easy to throw in the towel and say that it doesn’t matter how we use our sexual faculties.  This is the solution of the LGBTQ ideology.  But even though they might deny the meaning and purpose of our bodies and sexual faculties, the truth about the human person and sexuality remains the same.  The truth about what it means to love and to use our sexuality to express love remains unchanged.  And if we want to follow Jesus this means striving to live in accord with the meaning and purpose of our bodies.  It means striving to live a chaste life.  Make no mistake.  This struggle can be challenging and even painful at times.  However, true love is not afraid of the cross.  True love is willing to suffer, to deny oneself and take up the cross just as Jesus did.  But with the cross comes the resurrection and the liberty that Jesus wants to give us.

To accept the freedom Jesus wants to give us we must recognize that we are broken and in need of healing, held captive and in need of rescuing.  But if we say “there is nothing wrong with any of my passions or desires.  I can do as I please.  I determine what is right and wrong.  What I do with my sexuality is up to me” we make ourselves God.  This is the sin of pride.  And until we have the humility to recognize who created us, how we are designed, and what we were created for, then we remain bound by the chains and shackles of pride.  Jesus came to proclaim liberty to captives and set prisoners free.  This was His message and this is the message of the Church.  The Church is not trying to trap humanity in an enslavement to arbitrary rules.  Rather, she invites all to the freedom from the oppression of sin that Jesus offers.  To accept this freedom and all of its fruits we must have the humility to accept God as our creator and His authority over our lives.  His authority is not that of a tyrant but rather that of a Father who loves us, knows what is good for us, and has our best interests in mind.


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