Credibility on Dreadnaught on SSA Catholics

Credo of Credibility found a gem!

When asked by host John Safran about how he, as a same-sex attracted Catholic, can come to recieve communion while the Rainbow Sash Movement cannot, John Heard gave a refreshingly honest response:

Am I allowed to swear?

Safran: Yeah.

Okay, the difference is wearing a Rainbow Sash means that you approach the altar where Catholics believe Christ is truly present on the altar, the Eucharist is Christ...

Safran: Yes.

...You approach your God, instead of in a position of radical humility and submission and putting everything about selfish humanity aside and approaching God in that way, putting on a sash says "Fuck the Church, y'know - look at me." That's why anybody who approached the altar with some sort of protest banner across their chest and drew attention to themselves in the middle of a sacramental ritual would be turned away as well. It's not discrimination against gay people, it's just discrimination against protest in a Cathedral.

Safran: So even though you kind of are pretty out there with your gay inclinations, and you're saying that's different because that's not in the context of approaching the altar?

It's different because I say the Church is right and I say that I submit myself to these teachings, and I'm trying to change myself. Y'know, I would go up to confession and confess things that I've done. The Rainbow Sashers don't. They say "we should be able to do whatever we like, and the Vatican should put a stamp on it."

Priceless! John Heard fearlessly witnesses to the truth regarding homosexual activity and same sex attraction. He clearly does not suffer Reasonable OTtM(2.0) zealots or their Foolable enablers gladly. Thank God!

On the other hand, he refuses to allow Foolables of the right to equate temptation with sin, or tendency with character:

A DREADNOUGHTER writes:

'A couple of comments you made intrigued me. You seemed to praise God for same-sex attraction. Or at least you said something to the effect of "I am what God made me and I rejoice in that." This is surely a very difficult position theologically.'

'If homosexual tendencies are 'intrincically evil' as they are termed in the catechism, then surely, since God is all-good and only capable of good, same-sex attraction does not come from God? Surely, as homosexual tendencies manifest themselves as impure thoughts (which are sinful and therefore have to be confessed), they must come from the source of sin - i.e. Satan.'

DREADNOUGHT replies:

To clarify, 'homosexual acts' are called 'intrinsically evil' in the Catechism. The homosexual inclination is termed 'objectively disordered'. As I said on the programme, human beings are neither acts nor the sum of their desires/inclinations. The Church cannot look at a man and call him gay. Rather she sees first a child of God, endowed with dignity and deserving of love, then she sees his peculiar struggles and pains and attempts to guide him - weak man though he is - toward flourishing.

Sin does not come from Satan +, rather it is enters our lives via human agency. One sins when one wilfully turns from God. Just being something, or experiencing something without intent is never sinful: thus same sex attracted men are not guilty for being same sex attracted. Catholics believe that God does not make rubbish, thus if I feel this great love for my friend, at some deep and innocent level, it must reflect the wider Love that is God.

The inclination to gay sex is disordered because it is a movement toward acts that close the sexual faculties to life and approaches behaviours that have been uniformly condemned. It's important to note, however, that heterosexuals are also barred from anal sex and arguably from oral sex, certainly from any pre-marital sex.

The Church knows, however, that human beings, same sex attracted or otherwise, sometimes engage in these behaviours. The Church is not stupid. She does not ask us to pretend to be perfect, rather to strive to approach perfection. It's not easy for anyone, DREADNOUGHT is a useless example, but I am convinced that it's the only path to happiness.

Only when we can put aside our 'fat, relentless egos' will we come at last to the peace this world cannot provide. Catholicism, after Christ, is about 'having life and having it to the full'. We cannot have anything worthwhile if we're selfish, sneaky and consumed by our desires.

Faith occurs when we cooperate with God's Grace. Sin occurs when we surrender to Evil's temptations. Our agency completes the circle because our participation completes the relationship. We either live in relationship with Love and experience the fullness of joy that comes from communion with him. Or we live in relationship with Nothing and suffer the desolation of hearts broken by fleeting pleasure and enduring pain.

While our natures individually make us prone toward various seductions of the Enemy, our consent is what transforms such tendencies into sin. The same is true for the disordered inclination to homosexual activity. Or toward adultery, fornication and the like, for that matter.

Dreadnaught brilliantly expresses the nuance of this difficult teaching of the Church. He courageously lives it as well.

More like him, please!