The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that, "Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection." (CCC, 2359).
Is John Kelly, Chair of Saint Cecilia's "Rainbow Ministry" in the Boston Archdiocese, committed to this teaching? At an internet profile page which may be found here, Mr. Kelly says: "I am a gay man looking for a sincere relationship...I am a gay retired man who is single and enjoying life. I am active at my Church [and serve] as Boston chair of the Rainbow Ministry....My motto in life is 'Live and Let Live."
Live and let live?
Pope John Paul II, in Christifideles Laici, No. 16, has this to say: "We come to a full sense of the dignity of the lay faithful if we consider the prime and fundamental vocation that the Father assigns to each of them in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit: the vocation to holiness, that is, the perfection of charity. Holiness is the greatest testimony of the dignity conferred on a disciple of Christ.
The Second Vatican Council has significantly spoken on the universal call to holiness. It is possible to say that this call to holiness is precisely the basic charge entrusted to all the sons and daughters of the Church by a Council which intended to bring a renewal of Christian life based on the gospel. This charge is not a simple moral exhortation, but an undeniable requirement arising from the mystery of the Church: she is the choice vine, whose branches live and grow with the same holy and life-giving energies that come from Christ; she is the Mystical Body, whose members share in the same life of holiness of the Head who is Christ; she is the Beloved Spouse of the Lord Jesus, who delivered himself up for her sanctification (cf. Eph 5:25 ff.). The Spirit that sanctified the human nature of Jesus in Mary's virginal womb (cf. Lk 1:35) is the same Spirit that is abiding and working in the Church to communicate to her the holiness of the Son of God made man.
It is ever more urgent that today all Christians take up again the way of gospel renewal, welcoming in a spirit of generosity the invitation expressed by the apostle Peter "to be holy in all conduct" (1 Pt 1:15). The 1985 Extraordinary Synod, twenty years after the Council, opportunely insisted on this urgency: "Since the Church in Christ is a mystery, she ought to be considered the sign and instrument of holiness... Men and women saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult circumstances in the Church's history. Today we have the greatest need of saints whom we must assiduously beg God to raise up".
Everyone in the Church, precisely because they are members, receive and thereby share in the common vocation to holiness. In the fullness of this title and on equal par with all other members of the Church, the lay faithful are called to holiness: "All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity". "All of Christ's followers are invited and bound to pursue holiness and the perfect fulfillment of their own state of life".
The call to holiness is rooted in Baptism and proposed anew in the other Sacraments, principally in the Eucharist. Since Christians are reclothed in Christ Jesus and refreshed by his Spirit, they are "holy". They therefore have the ability to manifest this holiness and the responsibility to bear witness to it in all that they do. The apostle Paul never tires of admonishing all Christians to live "as is fitting among saints" (Eph 5:3).
Life according to the Spirit, whose fruit is holiness (cf. Rom 6:22;Gal 5:22), stirs up every baptized person and requires each to follow and imitate Jesus Christ, in embracing the Beatitudes, in listening and meditating on the Word of God, in conscious and active participation in the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church, in personal prayer, in family or in community, in the hunger and thirst for justice, in the practice of the commandment of love in all circumstances of life and service to the brethren, especially the least, the poor and the suffering."
All of Christ's followers are invited and bound to pursue holiness. Cardinal O'Malley, does it seem as if Mr. Kelly is committed to chastity and holiness? Or rather hedonism and relativism? You know the answer Your Eminence. And you know what you should now do.
I am praying for you.
4 comments:
A man is placed in such a position when he embraces homosexual sex and "marriage"?
Strange times.
Kelly's professional profile page reads more like a dating page. Does he also have the "full confidence and support" of the Archdiocese? Why am I getting the distinct impression that the Rainbow Ministry is just a cloak for homosexual dating while undermining Church teaching?
Thought you'd like this Paul - I picked it up in comments section of another blog:
''In other news, the Archdiocese of Westminster has decided to scrap all local church assistance to Alcoholics Anonymous and like-minded groups. A diocesan bureaucrat announced that from the beginning of July they will be making special provision for alcoholic Catholics in the form of a weekly Drinkers' Mass in St Bacchus', Covent Garden. In keeping with pastoral precedent, the bidding prayers will be written by representatives from Heineken and Guinness, and post-Mass beverages and snacks will be available from an open bar in the church hall.
People often talk about Catholic prelates being homophobic, but what could be more genuinely homophobic than those who have heard the moral truth refusing to share it with those in need of it, and sidelining those who attempt to live in conformity with it. It is hard not to feel that confused adolescents and adults are being misled into putting their bodies and souls at risk by prelates who prefer to wink at mortal sin than get a few lines of negative press. The mentality that resulted in the abuse scandal hasn't left us.''
Well put Peter. If it's the truth which sets us free (John 8:32), why are some so afraid of the truth? Could it be that they prefer slavery to sin?
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