I am and, therefore, I know
Cogito, ergo sum, I think, therefore I am. It was, in fact, Emeritus Presi-dent Eddie Fenech Adami who quoted this extremely salient adage at the Times To Debate held last Tuesday, themed Is The Church 200 Years Behind The Times?
Cogito, ergo sum encapsulates the gist of the last interview given by the late Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, in which this visionary questions the validity and relevance of the Church today in a number of scenarios directly connected with us, the laity, whom, it seems, the Church has not yet fully accepted as made up of people who doubt and question the Church’s stand on issues like IVF, divorce and same sex marriage, which, in Malta, the gay lobby has accepted to call civil partnership.
Had Cardinal Martini died 10 years ago I very much doubt whether a debate like this could have been organised for the simple reason that there would have been very little public interest. Never in the history of the world has the man in the street been better informed.
I am not going to repeat the observations made at the debate here but merely pose the questions: where do we go from here? What can the Maltese Church do about the situation? What can we do to help?
It would be difficult for the Maltese Church to reform itself independently of the Vatican. That stands to reason. The Vatican itself is not in any fit state to introduce reforms, battered and bruised as it is with scandals of all kinds.
Despite my being a convinced Christian and a reluctant Catholic, my background, my education and my culture makes it impossible for me to be anything but upset by all this and makes me wonder how and when the Church can purify itself to the extent that it will remount the pedestal it once stood on if at all.
The Church has to come to terms with the fact that it is in no position to talk down to us anymore.
Already, as the Pro-Vicar general, Mgr Anton Gouder pointed out, the Church is a human organisation and, therefore, subject to error, which is all very well.
However, there are still those, even within the higher echelons of our own hierarchy, who insist on the fire and brimstone type of pronouncement that merely serves to put people’s backs up and put off even more people from attending Mass.
Sadly, should the Church not realise and remedy this, it will become a mere social nicety, little more than a beautiful setting for weddings and funerals!
As a gay person, I feel marginalised within a Church that, for the past 10 years, has singled out homosexuals as the whipping boys to deviate attention from transgressions of its own members.
I know that for most people it is very difficult to understand what it means to be gay. This is not a but a state of being. It is no picnic. We are discriminated against; we are mocked, sometimes behind our backs and sometimes to our faces too. So can you imagine what it is like when the media reports the Pontiff as having compared me to a pollutant and that the heterosexual world, like the rain forest, must be protected from us?
Can you imagine what it is like to be called “intrinsically evil”? What has gone wrong here?
Unpalatable though it may sound we have to re-examine the evolution of the gay person in the last half century before even attempting to understand the Church’s unrelenting ambivalence and lack of humanity in this regard.
In illo tempore gay men became priests; many of them very good and sensitive human beings; men of culture and knowledge who were the mainstays of their communities. The natural propensities of the gay psyche created the outward signs of inward grace, the mystiques and rituals of the Catholic Church not to mention the tasteful and knowledgeable accumulation of religious art treasures.
They did their work very well and their memory was revered.
What happened in the past 50 years was that there was no longer any need for the Church to be an oubliette. There was no longer any need for a gay person like myself to keep his sexuality a secret and immerse himself in a life wherein it was de rigueur to have no sexuality at all. This was not a one size fits all refuge. Temptations will always be temptations and there is nowhere to hide when the instinct that is integral to our very being raises its head.
This is why we have had all this scandal exposed. Who knows what went on in past centuries between people long dead and buried!
Today, despite the jibes and asides, a gay person can live openly. This is obviously not conducive to Church teaching, which implies but never states that one either must get married to perpetuate the human race or become a priest.
There is no place within the Church for two people of the same sex to live together in any other way than the most pure and most chaste. This is why there has been a mass exodus.
Gay people feel so rejected by the Church that they don’t want to know about it anymore. This is why I feel that in Malta today it is essential for the Maltese Church to rethink this.
With all this talk about Bills for cohabitation being bandied about, the Government’s totally blinkered attitude to the lack of choice that it is imposing on us is being put down to the influence of the Church.
We may be right and we may be wrong; however, I am sure that,one day, possibly not in five centuries’ time, like poor Galileo the Church will apologise to us too.
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Andy Farrugia
Oct 10th 2012, 15:49
"So can you imagine what it is like when the media reports the Pontiff as having compared me to a pollutant and that the heterosexual world, like the rain forest, must be protected from us?"
Manifestly false: I dare you to quote the exact words used by the Pontiff rather than the way he was reported by the media. Spin, weave, twist and distort reality to your heart's content.
Ramon Casha
Oct 9th 2012, 14:52
In the news today, Medical technology will in the immediate future allow two men to have a child together, the genetic offspring of both. By comparison, the local church is still fighting in the War on Condoms. How can an entity so far out of date be relevant at all in the lives of people today?
http://guardianlv.com/2012/10/stem-cell-discovery-will-allow-gay-men-to-create-their-own-eggs-for-surrogate-birth/
Andy Farrugia
Oct 10th 2012, 15:47
"In the news today, Medical technology will in the immediate future allow two men to have a child together, the genetic offspring of both."
Of course, why not? Mengeleian dystopia. Hahaha!
David Seychell
Oct 11th 2012, 15:00
So the Pope was right after all, the Human Nature really needs protection from those who plan to use manipulative genetic engineering techniques to deform it.
David Seychell
Oct 11th 2012, 17:41
Correction.
I said "protection from" but I meant to say "protection against".
Louis Gialanze
Oct 9th 2012, 14:43
Try "Omne ens est bonum" next time round Kenneth.
David Calleja
Oct 9th 2012, 12:37
@ Joe Zammit - what is it with you people and sex???.... why this phobia?... there are upwards of 10,000 kids a day DYING of hunger no more than 3 hours flying time from here .... there are religious wars and problems all over the place - people are dying in their thousands why?... because apparently it's vital that we all go to OUR heaven when we ALL die .... there are so many really bad things that the Church should be devoting itself to fighting.... why is sex so critical ?.... my opinion? ... it's all about control... control + fear = dominance ... now of all of humanity's BASIC INSTINCTS - the ONLY one you can try to control really is that of procreation - yep, SEX .... and that is why it's such a big issue ... pity the church isn't totally made up of those devoted men and women - priests and nuns who give their life doing charity and missionary work .... now THAT is something i admire and feel humbled by .... mela being told sex is a dastardly sin .... pffff
Mark Bugeja MD MMCFD
Oct 9th 2012, 12:25
The Church does not harbour any animosity against anyone, heterosexual or otherwise. It is the indulgence of certain behaviour considered to be immoral, whether between gays or heterosexuals for that matter that the Church warns us about. It is the sin not the sinner.
Last Sunday's readings, taken from the Holy Bible, particularly the Gospel, quoting Christ's own words, not the Pope's, that sum it all up, and quite unmistakably too. They leave no room for misinterpretation.
What is also wrong, very wrong, is the public's intolerance and insensitivity towards others.
Mr Kenneth Zammit Tabona
Oct 9th 2012, 13:08
So do you agree with Joe Zammit that someone like myself is willynilly called to chastity because of the very nature I was born with and, if we believe, was created by God in his image and likeness? I never asked to be gay. It is a very big cross I have been condenmned to carry and instead of being a Simon of Cyrene, the Church has chastised, castigated and condemned us to the extent that it has alienated many many potential assets. I was at mass last Sunday. You will probably be surprised that I am a regular churchgoer. Yes I listened to what was said however after 2000 years the four official 'reporters' ,one of which was not even there, who were selected to relate Jesus's life and times, tailored their prose to fit the spirit of the age in which they lived. What Cardinal Martini questions is how the Church should relate to its members today? He was a Jesuit and a visionary (unlike Mr Zammit who cannot reason but is merely reflecting the Church's rigidity and lack of compassion) I do not expect the church to advocate gay marriage. I am not stupid. What I do expect is for the Church to stop this defamation campaign which makes me feel as if I was born a leper................
Victor Pulis
Oct 9th 2012, 16:09
If the church hates sin not the sinner then sin should be sent to hell not the sinner!
Mark Bugeja MD MMCFD
Oct 13th 2012, 21:31
Mr Farrugia, it seems like you have very serious difficulty understanding plain and simple English. I am so sorry for you. Truly I am.
I hope you are never called up to a court of law to testify!!!
Mark Bugeja MD MMCFD
Oct 13th 2012, 21:35
Mr Pulis, neither God nor the Church sends anyone to hell. Hell is for those who choose to want to go there, themselves!
Mark Bugeja MD MMCFD
Oct 13th 2012, 21:44
Mr Zammit Tabona, I know you to be a good man. Anyone can choose to live their life as they please, provided they do no harm to others. Do not however expect the church to condone the life-style you are writing about. It cannot ever and therefore never will!
Finally it is up to each individual, his/her conscience and his/her Creator.
Joe Zammit
Oct 9th 2012, 10:41
Par. 2359 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church reads:
“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.”
We must all be aware that any sexual act, interior or exterior, outside marriage is a grievous sin that separates the sinner from God and puts them on the path to hell. This is God’s loving law for all of us.
Marriage is to be understood only between one man and one woman.
So fornication, adultery, homosexuality, masturbation, incest, etc, are all grievous sins. Sex was created by God only for love between the married couple and procreation. The use of sexuality outside marriage amounts to lust not love.
What is difficult for us to do alone, by God’s grace becomes easy and possible. The greater our love for God, the greater will his grace be for us and the easier will it be for us to love him according to his loving plan on us.
Mr T Zahra
Oct 9th 2012, 12:20
Seriously Joe Zammit??? do you still believe what you have just written....seems like you are not 200 years behind but well past your expiry date. Allow me to comment on a few of your points.
"Homosexual persons are called to chastity". - would you care to direct that statement to the thousands of church members that have on their consciences the constant rape and abuse of young child and young men? Christ said he who is not guilty of sin may throw the first stone!!
Can you please define Christian perfection?? I am indeed curious about this definition can you please enlighten me?
"We must all be aware that any sexual act, interior or exterior, outside marriage is a grievous sin that separates the sinner from God and puts them on the path to hell. This is God’s loving law for all of us" Please tell me Mr. Zammit....do you seriously think that in todays day and age everybody is a virgin at marriage? Here my first statement can be repeated. Alsop can you please define what hell is...is it a place? You speak as if you know it well and perhaps have visited the place...please do enlighten us...or is Hell a scaremongering word to send the fear into people? Your comments are old outdated and well beyond 200 years old...I really do wish you the best of luck :-)
Antonio Anastasi
Oct 9th 2012, 12:39
Mr. Zammit, you quote "“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.” What a lot of golliwog.
How can one achieve inner peace through self mastery if one is not allowed the right to sharing love like the rest of humanity?
We are all created in God's image we are all his children. We are what we are, God's creations. God allowed many a homosexual to be born into this world, people that have contributed to make our life better, I do not have a list but given the odds these Christians living in "grievous sin" would include people that have contributed to medicine, arts, science, literature. Men and Women who have enhanced our lives.
Why, if i am not mistaken, is it only the catholic church the only major christian denomination that treats homosexuals as less deserving not allowed to love, to marry to share a life.
To say that their sexuality makes a homosexual imperfect then it infers that their Creator is imperfect.
Not that it matters but for the record, I am a heterosexual and a flawed catholic, who cannot understand how we can talk of God's love and forgiveness and yet have a an attitude that to me is morally discriminatory.
Patrick Zammit
Oct 9th 2012, 13:35
If for God, any sexual behavior is a sin unless performed between a man and a woman without contraception whilst being married by the Catholic Church, why did God allow 200,000 years to pass by and only started insisting on a Catholic Marriage just 2,000 years ago?
In Europe, and up to about 1,700 years ago, marriage was considered as just a private matter, with no religious ceremony being performed.
Why was sex not a sin 2,000 years ago but a sin now unless carried out between a man and a woman without contraception and only after being married by the Catholic Church?
Mario Pace
Oct 9th 2012, 14:32
This kind of reasoning is exactly what Cardinal Martini meant when he said that the Church is 200 years behind in its teaching.
Tanja Cilia
Oct 9th 2012, 14:39
I cannot understand why, and how, some of us feel so righteous about pointing out the ostensible unrighteousness of others. There are iniquities that have broader implications than what has been described here... and yes, most of them, in one way or another, have to do with the abuse of power, which is a type of idolatry since one makes himself a god of others.
Ramon Casha
Oct 9th 2012, 15:16
How exactly does an eternity in hell correspond to "God's LOVING law"?
Franco Farrugia
Oct 9th 2012, 15:56
Ah! Like Lazarus in the Good Book, here sprouts again the good 'Joe Zammit' of the pre-divorce period, who threw so much hellfire and brimstone at anyone daring so much to disagree with him. Greetings. Pity you don't have an inkling about the beauty of 'lust'. :-)
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