Editor's
note: The following letters were received through the magazine's
React Online form and from those written or emailed to the magazine.
Thank you for publishing this wonderful issue
-- especially the piece "God Gave me a Gay Son." It is a remarkable
journey that this father traveled, and I am so impressed that
you published it and shared it with everyone in the ND family.
Please pass along my thanks to the author, Thomas Nelson.
Shelly Scheuring '85
Anthem, Arizona
"We believe it is the kind of treatment readers
would expect from a faith-filled and intellectually vigorous Catholic
university". And what a nice use of ages-old Catholic guilt to
justify your treatment of this subject! If I find your "treatment"
objectionable, I'm not "intellectually vigorous"? What I expect
of an intellectually vigorous, authentically Catholic university
is an exploration of truth illuminated by the Gospel. Homosexual
behavior is a sin. Those practicing it are due our sincere compassion
in helping them to overcome this temptation. They do not benefit
from our encouragement of their pursuit of/submission to this
temptation, anymore than a heterosexual adulterer.
I'm disappointed; 21 pages on this subject, 15.5 devoted to the
pro-alternative lifestyle perspective. Come now! If we truly want
to be Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, etc., we can't allow even
5.5 pages of the Church's teaching!
Here's an idea! Why don't we try to be Notre Dame, a true Catholic
university?
Kevin Stolz '88
Yes, yes; no, no!
Deviation is evil.
In Christ,
Gil Roseira Cardoso Dias
Lisboa, Portugal
In his struggle to come to terms with his son's
sexual identity crisis, Mr. Nelson has uncritically accepted the
propaganda of gay activists: homosexuals are 5-10 percent of the
population (researchers now put it at 2-4 percent); homosexuality
is the result of genetics rather than environment (replicable
proof of this has yet to be adduced); and the condition is irreversible.
It is a pity that Mr. Nelson is unaware of the work of men like
Dr. Joseph Nicolosi and the National Association or Research and
Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). He would learn that those suffering
from same-sex attraction -- homosexuals -- who seek treatment
for their sexual identity crisis have a success rate up to 50
percent. This work is fully consistent with Church teaching that
homosexuality is an objective disorder, but one that through effort
and grace can be overcome. The Catholic Medical Association
(www.cathmed.org) also publishes material showing how same-sex
attractions may be identified and treated.
It is true that many heterosexuals have been insensitive toward
homosexuals and all too often have let their hatred at the sin
become a hatred of the sinner. But surely Mr. Nelson, in his obvious
unease over the plain meaning of Scripture and the Catechism on
the evil of homosexual practices, is in danger of allowing
his love of the sinner become a love (or a least tolerance) of
the sin.
Nicholas J. Healy, Jr. '60
Though I didn't attend Notre Dame, I nearly did
-- my three brothers having attended, various cousins, an uncle
who teaches there, my father buried there in the cemetery -- but
15 years ago when faced ultimately with that decision the social
climate was what made the decision for me. I wanted an alma mater
that I was proud to be a part of, one whose policies and intellectual
commitments reflected the great diversity of the world in which
we live. As a young woman who made a decision to attend a secular
college and, as a result, found myself in an increasingly secular
life, separate from the Catholic church -- I would have welcomed
and applauded something like the 2004 ND Magazine covering
issues and letting in the light of compassion for those gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender members of faith.
In my Catholic high school I never understood how one could revere
Jesus and his works and act out of the kind of ignorance and hate
I saw in routine homophobia that ran rampant in that school, many
members of whom later attend ND or SaintMary's. When I graduated
I didn't want to have to make a choice between my community of
faith and my fervent belief, faith and love and support of the
GLBT community, but ultimately, I did, and have. Perhaps in 2004
a young woman somewhere at a Catholic high school in the Midwest
will find solace and hope in the dialogue happening here. Thank
you to everyone brave enough to open their minds and hearts.
Pamela Kennedy
Minneapolis, Minnesota
You could have done a much better job defending
the church's stance. People have a knee-jerk reaction to the more
rigid "rules" of the church. If they took a moment to consider
the motives of the church's teaching, they might understand it's
about minimizing sin and staying within God's grace. Alas that
if something is too hard to follow than it is the church's fault
for being demanding. Faith without demands is no faith at all.
I would like for you to devote a series of articles on abortion
-- and I would expect you to editorialize against that abomination
instead of defend it. Or is that another church teaching to be
trampled by the editors because of the inconvenience of the stance?
Lynn Chaffin '92
Editor's/Authors, especially Thomas Nelson, Rose Lindgren,
Ron Belgau, Christophere Davis:
I am in awe of the treasure that is the Summer 2004 edition.
Many tears (of joy) shed on reading various of the articles.
Note: I stand by the Biblical line on aberrant
homosexuality . . . i.e. the issue of [contextual] celibacy.
I have seldom if ever read a magazine from cover to cover that
so thoroughly engaged me.
John Dunnigan '57
(Eastern Rite Bishop . . . Permanent Member: Papal/Patriarchal
Conference)
I just received the summer issue of the ND Magazine
and am very impressed with the way such a sensitive issue was
handled. Great journalists show both sides of any story and you
all should be proud of yourselves for making the effort! THANK
YOU!!!
Martin van Koolbergen '94Arch
I read the summer 2004 Notre Dame Magazine
student homosexual articles. May I suggest that future homosexual
students be eliminated by appropriate communication with ND student
applicants. The alternative is to risk losing identification of
ND as a Catholic university.
Lawrence T. Appelbaum '50
Saint Louis, Missouri
The summer 2004 Notre Dame Magazine
represents outstanding journalism. It deserves a national
award. I respect your good judgment and balanced attempt in dealing
with a very complicated issue and reality. As you state well,
"Sometimes it's okay to explore questions without arriving at
absolute certainty." Notre Dame is a great university serving
the Roman Catholic Church and the United States intellectually,
realistically and enthusiastically. God has to be pleased!
Fred B. McCashland '70
Indianapolis, Indiana
I am writing to ask you to remove my name from
your mailing list. The magazine comes in my husband's name, but
I read it faithfully, kept some wonderful articles, conversed
with others about our favorite sections, what we read first. I
sent the money. My husband never did, nor did he read it. I was
a Saint Mary's girl, he a Holy Cross (Massachusetts) man. I hung
in after our daughter graduated in '88, hoping my twin grandsons
would attend ND. Last year I got them to drive to see the school.
The one boy had wanted ND since he was 5 years old. Of course,
they loved it. Applied for early admissions and were wait-listed.
These are two fine young men; no drugs, played three varsity sports,
Eucharistic ministers, 1300 SATs, and they are turned away from
what used to be the blue collar men's university. We were all
very sad. They were accepted at other colleges and will attend
the College of Holy Cross in Massachusetts. I had prayed so hard
God would guide their decision. Yesterday your magazine came and
as I looked at the cover, I knew it would be all about gays. I
glanced through it and threw it in the trash. Our Lord was showing
us we are lucky the boys aren't going there. We have a college
in Madison, New Jersey, that advertises they encourage gays to
apply. Enrollment dropped 40 percent. You have seen what it did
to our Church, our priesthood. You think you can make this issue
nice, everyday stuff. It is what it is and if ND becomes a gay
school as it will after articles like yours, it will surely decline.
ND is quick to jump on band wagons to go with novelties. I remember
the big Lutheran craze where ND had all the big Lutheran convocations.
They were selling out everything Catholic to appease the Lutherans.
Where did that go? You will be sorry when they become a big power
in the school. So, our boys lost out to gays. I'm glad they are
not going. Remove our name from your mail, save yourself 50 cents.
Diane Taylor
Spring Lake, New Jersey
I know this nation has always had a history
of crusading editors, but not many have taken on their own proprietor,
the Catholic Church, like you have. Taking on the editorial theme
of homosexuality in a Catholic magazine is at the same time gutsy
and enlightening. Your issue was a terrific batch of stories of
basic humanity that needed to be told, from the center of Catholic
culture.
And the reason is simple: Homosexuality is genetic.
Our Creator God created them that way.
I know the genome detectives haven't proved it yet, but genetic
proof isn't that far away. Meantime there are more than subtle
data hints at it. Dr. Dean Edell, the radio doctor, is compulsive
about data in medical testing. He reports a large study of identical
twins who were raised separately. When one of such twins turns
out to be gay, there is a 50% chance that the opposite twin is
also gay. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that those
statistics beat the Bible.
I also know that you are going to get pummeled by a good portion
of the body of ND alumni. A hint about that came from the revealing
story a couple of years ago about priestly abuse and the article
by John Salveson. It is discouraging to me to see so many faithful
ND alums running to defend something just because the Church says
so.
You know where I stand. You've run several of my letters about
with my stated position on the out-of-control world population
and the Church's position on abortion and contraception. I have
incurred the wrath of quite a number of ND alums over the years.
The 87 million increase EVERY YEAR in global population is in
part because of the Vatican's unseemly hold on the present US
theocracy, which denies the Agency for International Development,
USAID, funding for population matters.
Well, at 73, I am hoping God will see fit for me to live long
enough for the genome researchers to find the genetic links to
homosexuality. At that time, we will have another Galileo type
of apology needed from our Vatican hierarchy. I am certainly looking
forward to those days.
Keep up your great work, and damn the torpedoes.
John Minck '52
Palo Alto, California
I no longer wish to receive Notre Dame Magazine,
and request that you remove my name from your mailing list.
For the past several years, I have become disappointed with the
politically correct content of your publication. I enjoy reading
about the history of the university, the history of the buildings,
the accomplishments of university alumni and faculty, and the
university's contribution to the greater good. However, I do not
care to hear about the trials and tribulations of young people
who think they are gay and misunderstood. Yes, some people are
biologically predisposed towards homosexuality, but, as with any
biological condition such as heart disease, an environment conducive
to the development of such a condition plays an even larger role.
Not everyone who is genetically predisposed to heart disease will
suffer from it, and countless people who are not predisposed will,
due to the circumstances of their environment, develop it. The
same is true of homosexuality.
Several years ago, while working at a small Catholic university,
one of my student assistants shocked me when she told me there
was a popular saying on campus among many of the female students.
The saying was "Gay 'til graduation!" In a nutshell it was somehow
cool to have a fling with another woman as long as it was done
within the confines of those crazy college years. These young
women weren't really gay. They all envisioned their future lives
with loving husbands and families, but somehow they just had to
experience the "gay thing" before they grew up. I wonder if those
no-longer-so-young women will tell their children or grandchildren
what they were up to at college all those years ago?
The point is, young people are, have always been, and will always
be vulnerable to influences from society, their peers, and their
parents. A twisted cultural peer pressure has made many of them
think they're gay, even though they really aren't. Just turn on
the TV and you'll see a cacophony of messages that say being gay
is not only OK, it's cool. If you're a slightly effeminate male,
why you must be gay! And of course, if you disagree with the homosexual
lifestyle, you're summarily labeled a homophobe, not a member
of the vast majority whose valid opinions are ridiculed because
they're out of step with the moral times. It seems to me that
your magazine has simply become part of the cacophony. If you
really want to portray a balanced view of the topic, why not take
the bold step of distinguishing between real, genetic homosexuality
and the newer, cooler manufactured version that is the sad result
of society's never-ending downward bent. Or how about publishing
an issue about, gasp, the natural, God-given wonders of heterosexual
love?
Guerino A. Bucella '83
We want to thank you for the articles regarding
homosexuality that appeared in the Summer 2004 Notre Dame
Magazine. As parents of a Notre Dame alumnus who did not
come out until years after graduation, we feel that the subject
must be addressed.
How to live his life as a gay Catholic was a major concern to
our son when he realized he was gay. We were often told as children,
"God knew you before you were born." We believe that, and we know
our son did not choose his sexual orientation, and that he was
a faithful Catholic long before he realized he was gay.
We applaud you for exploring this issue.
Ann and Rick Fuller
Huntington Beach, California
So, homosexuality is "what's happening on campus,"
according to your editorial in the current issue of Notre
Dame Magazine, and your six articles on that subject. It
is now time to move on from your subjective look at it, before
Notre Dame just surrenders to the militant sodomites. Maybe it's
time for a compassionate Christian view? Suggestion: for balance,
why not publish two additional articles outlining what is (or
certainly ought to be) happening on the campus named for and dedicated
to Our Lady of the Lake.
The first would be titled something like: "Homosexuality: Just
a Lifestyle, or Intrinsically Disordered?"
This would summarize historic and current Catholic Church teaching,
as opposed to the self-destructive anything-goes mentality in
the activist homosexual crowd--and perhaps even on the Notre Dame
campus.
The second article could be titled: "Not Born That Way: Avoiding
and Escaping Homosexuality,"
This would affirm that the active homosexual chooses to be that
way, just as active alcoholics choose to drink. Mainly, however,
it would present the sources for hope and help on and off campus,
including:
- Courage, making the case for the chaste homosexual life (couragerc.net)
- Catholic Medical Association, offering scientific
info (cathmed.org)
- NARTH (National Association for Research
and Therapy of Homosexuality), with abundant sexual-reorientation
resources and successes (narth.com).
Your six articles suggest that It's Later Than We Think at Notre
Dame. Here's hoping these articles will appear for sure in your
publication.
Carl F. Bachle '52
Jackson, Michigan
Keep up the excellent work! You did an especially
fine job of covering homosexuality in your summer issue. Excellent
coverage of a controversial, but extremely important, topic. I'm
glad to see at lease someone at ND is willing to attempt a Christian
position on this issue instead of acting as if homosexuals are
somehow evil persons. You'll get some nasty mail over this, I'm
sure, but hang in there--God loves those who help their fellowmen,
especially those who are shunned by the superficial, "holier than
thou" Christians. God spare us from these folks.
John W. Hancock
Naples, Florida
Your summer 2004 issue: Why couldn't you have
just said that no one may break the Sixth Commandment and let
it go at that?
John W. Snyder
Saint Louis, Missouri
I have just finished reading your most recent edition
which discusses, among other items, homosexuality and Notre Dame's
"response."
Your articles made the point, but not clearly enough, that we
must hate the sin and love the sinner. Love the murderer, hate
the murder. Love the pedophile, hate pedophilia. Love the addict,
hate the addiction.
By loving gays, in no way can we ever condone or accept homosexual
activity. Homosexuals living a homosexual lifestyle and raising
children can never be accepted as moral. Practicing homosexuality
is the same as someone with racist tendencies practicing racism.
Someone with lust in his hear raping someone. Someone with murderous
longings carrying out a murder.
Unless I misunderstand Catholic teaching, practicing homosexual
acts is a sin. Love the sinner, hate the sin.
Douglas Marvin '69
Bethel Park, Pennslvania
This letter is in reference to the article entitled
"God Gave Me a Gay Son." According to God's Holy Word, parents
are supposed to instruct their children in the way of truth, as
David instructed Solomon in First Chronicles 28:9, "And thou,
Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him
with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth
all hearts, and understandeth all the imagination of the thoughts:
if thou seek him, he will be found of thee: but if thou forsake
him, he will cast thee off forever."
In order to serve the LORD we must obey his commands. The Bible
tells us that homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of the
LORD. In Leviticus 18:22, God commands plainly, "Thou shalt not
lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." So, such
behavior in God's sight is abominable, or "detestable, loathsome,"
as stated in the first definition of the DK Illustrated Oxford
Dictionary. The Bible further affirms in Genesis 1:27, "So god
created man in his own image, in the image of God he created he
him; male and female created he them."
So, what was God's intention for man? In Genesis 1:28 we learn
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it." Again, the
Bible reiterates in Gen. 5: 1-2, "…In the day that God created
man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created
he them; and blessed them…" Since God created man in His likeness,
for the writer to boldly state that God gave him a gay son is
blasphemous. Furthermore, God created male and female to replenish
the earth. There is no other way to do this, except God's way
(with male and female).
I pray for this man's son, for he has chosen a lifestyle for
which his soul could be lost. His son needs much prayer, teaching
of the truth and love. Love does not mean accepting the son's
choice. Love means standing firmly for God's commandments without
compromise to the salvation of souls. All of the earthly necessities
provided mean nothing when you stand in opposition to the LORD,
as this father has chosen to do with his son. Remember, it was
the LORD Who said, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind:
it is abomination."
Latauna Perkins '93
Pine Bluff, Arkansas
In the late '50 I served on a Navy ship in Norfolk,
and frequently on Sundays a chaplain -- a priest of Slavic extraction
-- would come on board to say Mass. On one occasion he cautioned
us of a problem on shore--homosexuals were cruising and offering
young sailors money for sex. He ended up with an assertion I still
recall verbatim (the only one among the thousands of
sermons/homilies I have heard over a lifetime): "The Navy's got
hims, and it's got hers, and it don't need no its."
There was a time when Catholic institutions could make clear
moral distinctions.
Tom Mahoney
Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Most Catholic intellectuals agree that by making
Western Christendom safe for reason, St. Thomas Aquinas saved
the West from the narrow theocratic tradition that has plagued
Islam and opened the way for the Enlightenment. It may have been
the greatest achievement in the history of medieval and modern
Western philosophy.
We are not so eager to admit that the Protestant Reformation
had a similar positive impact by introducing religious and moral
diversity to politics and necessitating the evolution of democratic
forms of governance. But we should pay considerable attention
to those events, especially in today's increasingly integrated
world. We are bound to the fates of Islam, China, India, Russia,
Africa, South America: cultures, nations, and continents with
diverse theological and moral traditions. In order to assure peace
and tranquility in this interconnected world, we must find a way
to declare as the people of Earth what our founding fathers claimed:
We hold these truths.
Basing moral discourse on any religious view assures the failure
of attempts to build the moral consensus required to ground the
principles, laws, and institutions required of a diverse world
or any country.
I should think that Catholic intellectuals would find this challenge
irresistible. Let the Church declare its moral teachings. We must
find ways to bridge those teachings with an authentic system of
mature secular moral reasoning, locate the points of connection
and separation between our Church's moral teachings and our secular
cannon, and build the capacity of our Church and universities
to discern, respect, and teach those points.
On the one hand, it is shameful that American Catholic bishops
attempt publicly to direct Catholic politicians how to vote on
public matters. But it is also embarrassing to Catholic intellectuals
that we have not developed the capacity to distinguish religious
and secular moral reasoning and have not articulated a secular
moral canon capable of guiding discourse and conduct in the public
square. That done, the moral status of gays, gay sex, and gay
marriage, would become far less complex for the Church, politicians,
and the rest of us.
Pat Conroy '65
Evergreen, Colorado
The summer issue on the homosexual presence
on campus, and their condescending expectancies, must be tempered
by realities of the church's manifest apropos to this lifestyle.
As John Monczunski's treatise expounds, "we love the sinner but
not the sin." The church is unequivocal in recognizing the homosexual
nature, but as with priestly vocations, it demands celibacy. Those
born with physical impairments (lacking arms/legs/hands/eyes,
etc.) are similarly burdened and in God's way must accept these
deficiencies, but glorified in His eyes.
The accelerating advocacy of the gay/lesbian community loses
its legitimacy when flaunting their lifestyle to the detriment
of society's mores. It becomes a mantle to encourage others to
accept and adopt this mode. It is not altruistic, but beckons
others to imitate/accept this modis operandi.
Their actions are devoid of the church's overriding concern,
"The inevitable consequence of legal recognition of homosexual
unions would be to redefine marriage which would become, in its
legal status, an institution devoid of essential reference factors
linked to heterosexuality, i.e., the procreation and raising of
children. Marriage would undergo a radical transformation with
grave detriment to the common good." Remember the "common good"
in our logic/sociology classes?
Our creator never guaranteed an utopian existence. If you chose
your private interpretation, there are other faiths who will accept
"if it feels good, do it." Other apologias are jaundiced raison
d'etres. As my doctor grandson ('95) suggests, "Why would anyone
who has a great affection for the Catholicity indigenous to Notre
Dame choose to enroll when their proclivities are opposed to the
prevailing doctrines, unless it be to corrupt or defy ND's truly
Catholic commitment."
Vatican pronouncements should be required reading for all who
profess a homosexual bent. Simply, to be a good Catholic does
not allow the luxury of personal gratification. As General George
Patton would intone, "Let's get it straight--what part don't you
understand?"
William R. Waddington '45
Bayville, New Jersey
Having just read the Summer 2004 edition of
Notre Dame Magazine, I am both shocked and dismayed at
the appalling amount of homosexual activism on the Notre Dame
campus and the apparent success it is having in normalizing homosexuality.
That this should be taking place at any Catholic university is
incredible, but that it should be happening at the one most notably
dedicated to Our Lady is absolutely unbelievable.
You change the language and you change the debate. For example,
at one time it was an unborn baby and to kill it was murder. Then
it became a "fetus," a much more obscure term, and to "abort"
it was acceptable because, after all, it wasn't really human,
was it? Similarly, individuals exhibiting certain behaviors were
known as homosexuals. Then they became known as "gays," and their
behavior became acceptable, in some circles even exemplary. You
change the language and you change the debate. However, words
do have meanings. Up is still up, down is still down, and call
if what you will, homosexuality is still homosexuality and it
is still objectively disordered. In other words, it is wrong.
Contrary to Sister Mary Louise Gude's assertion, I believe that
most of us Catholics do get it. Homosexual relations are at the
core of homosexuality. The American Heritage Dictionary defines
homosexuality as 1. sexual desire for others of one's own sex.
2. sexual activity with another of the same sex. As Sister Gude
states, homosexuals may not think about (homosexual) sex all the
time, but it is by their own admission what defines them.
This whole debate on the Notre Dame campus, and in society in
general, does not appear to be aimed so much at securing individual
rights or "social justice," but rather at normalizing homosexuality
itself. There is no legitimate evidence to support the theory
that homosexuality is genetic in origin and that some 5 to 10
percent of the population is therefore homosexual. Blaming God
for creating people this way is a really cheap shot.
I found Rose Lindgren's article particularly interesting because
it relates most directly to campus life today. I have a few observations:
If words such as "fag" are not to be tolerated than neither
should "homophobe/ homophobia." As a heterosexual, I find such
terms to be pejorative in nature. Perhaps the homosexuals need
to be more sensitive to the attitudes and feelings of the heterosexual
majority around them. I do not fear homosexuals. I fear greatly
the consequences to our society and to our Church of acceptance
of homosexuality as normal.
Miss Lindgren states that 2000 orange shirts were sold. Another
article says 1600. Even if the 2000 figure is correct, that means
that approximately 75% of the student body did not participate
in this activity.
Miss Lindgren's feelings are her own. If she feels judged and
condemned when homosexuality and anorexia are compared because
both are objectively disordered, perhaps it is because she knows
that she is wrong.
With all of this attention being paid to the homosexual students,
I would like to know what is being done to help the heterosexual
students who may feel very threatened by all of this activism
going on around them. With a new class of freshmen about to arrive
on campus, I hope this would be a top priority.
Robert J. Whearty '58
Marlton, New Jersey
A glance at the cover graphics would indicate
the purpose that was intended by the editor, and a reading of
the article would support the impression. The intention was to
present a justification for homosexuality. With a sense of affliction,
it is seen that this has appeared in a Catholic publication.
For an individual reader, no effective recourse is available.
But, to do nothing whatever would constitute a serious omission.
I request the magazine editor to remove my name from the mailing
list, and I request the school registrar to remove my name from
the college records.
Paul Berry '54
Columbus, Ohio
I recently received the Summer 2004 magazine.
The inside back cover page related to your upgrades in the publication.
I had a twinge of conscience and immediately thought I should
send a check to assist in this progress. You noted that you had
grown by 16 pages.
Continuing to peruse, I reached page 34, and from there to page
55, I found very little I condoned except the statement that "but
neither it (OUTREACH ND) nor any other gay-related student group
has succeeded in reaching formal recognition" by the University.
My concern about not contributing to the expansion of Notre
Dame Magazine is no longer a concern. The content of this
expansion is not acceptable.
I will never be able to understand how my three years in the
Army Air Corps and my four years at Notre Dame did not reveal
any of the lifestyles that are now flaunted. Was my ear "all wrong"
for discouraging this way of life or are you "all right" for encouraging
it? I have to believe the former approach is correct and more
acceptable!
Tom Feeney, Jr. '50
I practiced surgery for many years in the San Francisco
Bay area, where I developed a tolerance and cordiality
for homosexuals and lesbians. I saw their tremendous increase
in numbers in the '60s and '70s when everything became permissive.
Drugs were rampant. The homosexuals began their bath house orgies
and HIV became almost an epidemic. The head of the Public Health
Department was a homo and refused to close them until Senator
Diane Feinstein stepped in.
The Italian and Irish Catholics left in droves and many churches
closed. The city is now run by those advocating their deviant
lifestyle. It is full of pedophiles, male prostitutes and transvestites.
Witness the recent flaunting of the law by their recent "marriages."
The deviants actually proclaim themselves as elite, super beings.
Now the school dedicated to the Virgin Mary is coming under their
control! It is a sad time to see such a decline and fall of a
formerly great Catholic university.
John B. Griffin
Lincoln, California
The official pronouncements of the church on homosexuality
are like its official pronouncements on sex generally: their premises
need rethinking. Traditional Catholic teaching regards nature
as a system of ideal laws manifesting rational purposes and imperatives.
But science has clearly shown that natural "laws" are circumstantial,
conditional, and developmental. This grounding in material phenomena
has led a central tradition in modern moral philosophy to seek
its defining elements in the psyche whose complex interacting
patterns form a structure traceable in physiology. By the psyche
is meant the individual's hereditary instinctual constitution
as it is developed in and by social circumstances. The relation
binding the individual to society generates norms which are flexible
and adaptive, not predetermined by abstract ends. In the Ethics
Aristotle is similarly naturalistic: he defines various forms
of prudence directed toward a plurality of moral aims. But the
church's "teleologies" in natural philosophy and theology prejudge
and violate the experimental origins of moral reason. What do
the Notre Dame authorities make of the social conditions at the
university which played such a formative role in the sexuality
of Christopher Davis and Greg Marita? Is there some notional law
which would either explain or condemn their attachment?
Ideal conceptual "essences" do not rule nature by a process of
coercive concretion; in this trance the actual order of creation
goes unperceived, as it did for centuries before Galileo. The
classic Thomistic rejoinder is that moral law is "revealed" or
inscribed upon the conscience by a categorical imperative. But
his only places the intellectualist prejudgment beyond any reach
of argument.
The church's traditional position could change; it is a product
of time-bound assumptions about human nature which are dogmatic,
legalistic, and uncritical. The threat of moral anarchy does not
arise only from a permissive and inchoate liberalism; it can be
provoked by norms which disregard the complexity and variability
of human nature. The worst licentiousness is that of moral unreason.
Joseph Ryan '59
Yarmouthport, Massachusetts
I wholeheartedly commend Notre Dame Magazine's
courageous decision to present such a thorough treatment of homosexuality,
as far too much intolerance of gays and lesbians continues to
permeate Catholic America. Here in New York City, for example,
the lay organizers of the annual Saint Patrick's Day parade up
Manhattan's Fifth Avenue continue to claim that adherence to Catholic
dogma requires them to ban gay and lesbian Irish-American groups
from participating. Most ironically, comparable gay and lesbian
groups are welcomed in Saint Patrick's Day parades in overwhelmingly
Catholic Ireland itself! We American Catholics have a lot of evolving
to do concerning this issue, and thank God your influential publication
is helping to lead the way.
Bernard O'Brien '79
New York, New York
I read the Summer 2004 issue and all of the online comments.
I guess I wanted to make a contribution because I do not see my
own views represented.
First, I am gay. I graduated from Notre Dame in 1989. I also
have not been back since.
Unlike most of the gay folks who wrote in, I am not only embarrassed
about having graduated from Notre Dame, I also don't have much
desire, really, to be a part of the "Notre Dame family."
Of course, it is difficult and painful when you feel rejected.
But, for the life of me, I have never been able to understand
why any gay alumnus would ever want to be part of such a deeply
unwelcoming environment.
And, as if I needed to prove my point, you need to look no further
than some of the rather acerbic comments written in response to
your Summer issue. I have not been back because I find nothing
about my own four years at Notre Dame -- and very few people that
were part of that experience -- that I care to be a part of my
present life.
Notre Dame is in the company of Brigham Young University and
Bob Jones University in its policies toward its gay students.
If you don''t find that troubling, then nothing I can say is going
to change your mind and I''m certainly not going to waste any
more of my time trying.
For me at least, Notre Dame's discussion around and treatment
of its own gay students and alumni is the perfect example of why
Notre Dame is the functional equivalent of a madrassa in Baghdad
and not a truly intellectual environment -and why the current
leadership does not aspire to be anything else.
Rob Hennig '89
I enthusiastically applaud your courage to publish
the Summer 2004 Notre Dame Magazine issue on homosexuality. In
spite of being a heterosexual, married psychiatrist, I have worked
with many gay and lesbian patients who have agonized over their
sexual orientation in the light of the Christian doctrines with
which they have been raised. I am deeply interested in, and have
studied the Bible. So, I am happy to explain to these patients
that Biblical commentary on homosexuality, which has been used
for two millenia in Christian doctrines, has been completely removed
from the historical context in which the books were written. And
I tell them that defenders of the Catholic/Christian doctrine
on homosexuality have also completely ignored the surrounding
text of those same books. If my patients are interested, I then
go through each verse in the Bible used to condemn homosexuality
and illuminate the distortions and explain the actual historical
contexts surrounding them.
For example, in both of the chapters in Genesis (Chap.
19: 1-8) and Judges (Chap. 19: 18-29) suggesting that
homosexual acts are to be abhorred , "the righteous men" tell
the would be sodomizers to rape their virgin daughters instead
and, in Judges, also suggests that they rape the "hero's" concubine.
The concubine is found dead after the gang rape the next morning.
In the books of Leviticus (17: 6, 18:22) and Deuteronomy
(Chap. 23: 2, 17) which were written to define the laws governing
the Israelites, the texts do specifically forbid homosexuality.
The same texts also "forbid a bastard to enter the congregation
of the Lord; even to his tenth generation," and suggest you can
eat your fill of grapes and ears of corn from your neighbor's
crops (but you can't take any away in bushel baskets). There is
nothing in any of the four Gospels mentioning homosexuality. In
1 Corinthians (6: 9-10) "neither fornicators, nor idolators,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate . . . shall inherit the kingdom
of God." No University of Notre Dame member would seriously believe
that they should adhere to the teachings of most of these surrounding
texts.
I do believe that the administration would adhere to the Corinthians
teaching. However, I am very concerned that the University financially
supports organizations that promote heterosexual dances (that
undoubtedly lead to at least a few cases of the fornication .
. . if things haven't changed dramatically from when I was a student
there) but refuse to financially support Gay and Lesbian support
groups "because of concern that a court might not understand the
distinction the Catholic church draws between sexual orientation
and sexual conduct."
While I admire the courage of your staff to publish this issue,
I am deeply disappointed to read in it that my alma mater, the
University of Notre Dame, a well known institute of higher learning,
is clinging to Catholic doctrines which have long been shown to
have been taken out of context by Biblical scholars to defend
policies that overtly discriminate against homosexuals.
Margaret M. Miller, MD, '81
Surely I am not the only one who finds it ironic
that while the Church is still reeling from the sex abuse scandals
(overwhelmingly involving males with young males), Notre Dame
Magazine chooses to put its thumb on the scales -- by editorial
selection if nothing else - in favor of welcoming more homosexual
conduct. It is such infidelity that caused some bishops to turn
a blind eye and wish the problem away rather than dealing with
it as a problem of lack of orthodoxy, which it is.
We all have our crosses to bear, some more burdensome than others.
Why homosexuals, however, have cornered the market on garnering
sympathy for their cross escapes me -- unless, of course, one
takes the position that homosexuality is not meant to be a cross
at all. But then you've crossed the line out of Catholicism.
To borrow from Fr. Richard Neuhaus' reaction to the sex abuse
scandals - the answer is fidelity, fidelity, fidelity. Notre Dame
and its magazine would do well to keep this in mind.
Frank T. Pimentel, '87, '94
Herndon, Virginia
(Summer 2004)
