6
January 14, 2014
in the diocese
‘Always Our Children’ provides pastoral
message for ministers, parents of homosexuals
By Roberta Ward
“Always Our Children,” the 1997
document of the U.S. Bishops, formed
the basis of a Faith Formation workshop,
“Pastoral Message to Ministers and
Parents of Homosexuals.”
The workshop was sponsored by the
Diocese of San Jose Office of Pastoral
Planning Resource Committee and was
facilitated by Father John Curran, OMI
and David Kennedy of the Archdiocese
of Los Angeles.
The presenters’ message was that
“the Good News is that God loves us all
unconditionally.” Kennedy noted that
“being in the closet is unhealthy” but
many homosexuals, especially Catholics, feel safer not to reveal their identity.
Sometimes, he said, “when their
child comes out, the parents go in! It is
especially difficult to be gay and Catholic. Some remain Catholic but in the
closet; some reject religion but find out
they are missing something and want to
reconcile. How can we keep them and/
or welcome them back?”
Father Curran said Catholic gays
“have been taught self-hate. Many years
ago there was no such thing as ‘coming
out.’ They did the ‘right thing’–married,
had kids, but, some realized they were
living a lie.”
He said that ethnic cultures vary as
to how they handle homosexuality and
that, combined with family, church and
school connections are the most influential aspects of the issue for individuals.
Father Curran said that “coming out
is a lifelong process and it’s starting
earlier and earlier.” If not accepted, he
said, homosexuals can become victims
of alcoholism, drug abuse, depression
‘Coming out is a lifelong
process and it’s starting
earlier and earlier.’
and even suicide. “Even mild acceptance
will cut these statistics substantially.”
He pointed out that “Always Our
Children” was a pastoral letter that was
approved by the Vatican. “One of its
main messages,” he said, “is to say to
parents that they are not at fault as parents. Their children, and their sexuality,
are gifts from God.”
Kennedy said that it is possible to reconcile the pastoral letter with people’s
different views. “The Church condemns
certain actions,” he said, “and asks
peop le to wait regarding sexuality. Psychological and spiritual intimacy must
come first. Don’t rush into anything.”
Several people at the workshop had
questions regarding “primacy and
freedom of conscience,” and related
personal family situations.
Father Curran’s advice was that it is
the “duty of Catholics to know Church
teaching” as a basis for making any
decisions. Everybody has his or her
individual journey. People are living
different realities.”
He added that today there “are many
different manifestations of gender with
challenging relationships. I think keeping a sense of humor is very important
in dealing with all this.”
As a priest for 36 years, Father Curran
noted, “Primacy of personal conscience
is very important. The Church is not
your conscience.”
DONATE YOUR VEHICLE
and help families in need.
EASY PROCESS - FAST FREE TOWING - TAX DEDUCTION
We accept working or non-working cars, RVs, trucks,
trailers, boats, and motorcycles. Call or visit us online.
The Valley Catholic
Discerning Catholic identity through
conversational shards
By Joanna Thurmann
So-called “nones,” Americans who
do not identify with any religion, numbered approximately 7 percent in 1990
and about 20 percent now. One-third
of Americans call themselves “born
again.” Nine out of ten Americans say
they believe in God.
About three out of four say they pray
weekly; four of five daily. Four out of 5
say they believe in miracles, and a similar percentage of adult Americans say
they feel the need to grow spiritually.
These numbers send a message:
“We are not less religious. We are differently religious. We engage our traditions differently than our parents and
grandparents did,” said Dr. Jerome P.
Baggett in his talk, “Living Tradition
within a Post-Traditional Society: The
Transformation of American Catholic
Identity,” at the Faith Formation 2013
Conference in November.
Baggett is Professor of Religion and
Society at the Jesuit School of Theology
of Santa Clara University, a member of
the Graduate Theological Union’s Core
Doctoral Faculty, and Visiting Professor
of Sociology at UC Berkeley.
For his book, Sense of the Faithful:
How American Catholics Live Their Faith,
Baggett did a study of six Bay Area
parishes representing members of
varied educational, racial and ethnic
backgrounds, economic status and
sexual orientation.
The study surfaced what Baggett
calls “conversational shards,” expressions that tell how individuals live out
their faith, in a similar way that pottery
shards tell archeologists about the culture of a particular people.
The shards disclose that Catholics
successfully negotiate tradition, but
that’s also what makes them problematic. The shard that explains what
works “for me” shows that Catholics
acknowledge and respect religious
plurality. About four out of five say
non-Christians can be saved. “But what
is true for me may not be true for you,”
Baggett said.
The “good person” shard shows that
doctrines are held loosely. Five out of
Connect with
youth & young
adult Ministry
CarDonationCC.org
www.valleycatholiconline.com
1(866)565-5912
Dr. Jerome P. Baggett presented workshop
at recent Faith Formation Conference.
six American Catholics say that how
a person lives is more important than
whether they hold Catholic beliefs.
Being a “good person” is goal-driven,
self-monitoring and unscripted. “One
person can be good because he helps
the poor, while another considers
himself good because he hasn’t killed
anyone,” Baggett said.
The “my faith” shard relates to
“cafeteria Catholics” and those who
consider themselves “spiritual” versus
“religious.” This raises the question of
authority. “What is the value of a 2,000
year tradition if we all have our own?
Faith needs to be institutionalized to
be passed on. We bifurcated spirituality from religiosity. If we all have our
own religion, can we hold each other
accountable?” Baggett asks.
Examples of “reframing” show that
old religious themes and symbols can
still connect to the world, and that “innovating” can bring what’s outside the
tradition inside.
Baggett explained that the present
situation is not marked by wholesale
rejection of Catholicism, but personal
relationship to it.
If we look only at theologians as representative of past believers, we have
excessive exaggeration of past piety
and undue appreciation of current piety. Today, we are more saturated with
religious differences. “We have a robust
market of religiosity,” Baggett said,
“and we tend to appropriate parts of
the tradition which make sense to us.”
Although Americans have a distanced relationship to religious institutions, they are renegotiating that
relationship. “Parents want their kids to
have a ‘cognitive space’ for appreciating
the sacred,” Baggett said. That is why
they bring them to celebrate the sacraments, but those kids have questions.
They are not experiencing what their
parents said they could expect. Pray,
pay and obey isn’t working. “If you
don’t put something in the cognitive
space, it is a vacuum and something
else will occupy it – consumerism,
egotism, materialism,” Baggett said.
Sincere grappling should be taken
seriously as a source of theology. If
religion is only a set of intellectual
propositions and answers, Baggett
explained, then we have forgotten
mystery, experience and community.
Saying “I don’t know” is the beginning
of something deeper.