A response

...men and women sit on porches and/or directly sponsored by the Catholic church...

...It is a gift from God which brings richness and fulfillment to our lives when used in accord with God's plan...

...intimacy...

...This faithful to our beliefs and values, we must also work aggres- is because for many Catholics sexuality has been seen as sively to eliminate the sense of alienation experienced by something negative or spiritually irrelevant and not as a divine homosexuals and to ensure that all of God's daughters and sons gift, a gift along with other gifts to be integrated into one's feel at home in his house...

...The result has been alienation of many homosexuals church is clear enough...

...As we proceed in our dialogue, we must be open to ples that guide my own approach to this question...

...an important point: Sexuality is only one aspect of human I realize that these can be heard as "hard" words and that, personhood, albeit a most significant one...

...First, in this pluralistic society of ours, it is appropriate for Despite the so-called "sexual revolution," there is no definite the church and all other groups and individuals to express the agreement about the meaning of sexuality in general and about values which they believe ought to be the foundation of public the origin of homosexual orientation in particular...

...The difficulty this presents for the - though not intended - as speaking of condemnation and homosexuals who wish to be faithful to the teaching of the rejection...

...3. Civil rights legislation But sexuality is not a simple gift...

...Perhaps a withdrawal of financing five degree heat, I observed few signs of the poverty I until stability is restored...

...First, let me faithful to yourself and to your vocation...

...nalists, at the invitation of Ferdinand Mahfood, founder of the It looks as though the contents of a thousand vending machines Christian relief organization Food for the Poor...

...Many of the Daihatsu vans I saw were brand new...

...But, as pilgrims, both of us are also guided by a news is that many gay teenagers who do want advice are "cut promise and hope held in God's hands - our future together in adrift" in their formative years because mature and ethically- him...

...In this broader perspective, sexuality is a dimen- capacity to help people achieve a unified and coherent sense of sion of one's identity and an expression of the human call to life and self in faith...

...The genital expression of a My general response to your specific questions begins with homosexual is precluded...

...I had come to Haiti, along with other jourroads selling cigarettes and packages of peanut butter crackers...

...The church does not have a mandate to draft civil laws, but it has the right to speak to the consciences of those who have this responsibility...

...learning more than we now know about human sexuality...

...As a teacher of morality and a citizen, I want to resolve this conflict in any appropriate way...

...Persons are more for many, they may appear unreasonable...

...But while remaining spirituality in the case of homosexuals and heterosexuals...

...In saying this, I am suggesting that it is the responsibility of While the church must make these proclamations, it also all human persons to develop a spirituality which takes full must admit its own failures...

...That is, unless the Commonweal: 684...

...Crowds of well dressed Haitians hovered around the however, I was startled to see another side of Haiti...

...the church's theology of sexuality as it bed: it's time to take a deep breath, to take a good look at relates to the spirituality of homosexuals...

...Instead I watched a pleasant squatters have occupied the structure, their straw-mat particommotion: Teenage boys hawking leather purses, rum, wood tions and little bundles of belongings subdivide each floor...

...Our objective have been parceled out here...

...I am willing to assist efforts to legislate...

...Anyone carrying baggage was beside the road...

...At times, our is not whether one's sexualtiy should be integrated but how it attempts to teach our theology of sexuality have been "heard" should be expressed...

...fringes of society...

...Moreover, I have learned how difficult it is in the place God wants for us...

...This is not mere goal of all persons' to establish loving, caring, intimate relapious rhetoric...

...In hope we trust that what may divide us now will then be responsible gay teachers find it too risky to reach out to them as overcome - though even here and now we both must strive to potential role models...

...I will count these words successful if they provoke people...

...Itworst slum in the Western Hemisphere...

...Hundreds of people are walking was to visit briefly the cities of Port-au-Prince and Gonaives in to and from the market, some laden with baskets of produce or order to observe first-hand specific programs in education, bundles of wooden poles...

...Sometimes, the bias of our culture account of their personhood and their sexuality...

...order and policy...

...We are morally bound to do so as Americans, in that our system of government claims to protect individuals 1. Homosexuality and U.S...

...and (2) the normativeness of heterosexual marital intimacy as the proper context for intimate genital encounters...

...In either could "talk at" the shadows which it found frightening...

...A As we listen to what human science and experience have to heterosexual orientation is not in itself a guarantee of moral tell us on these matters, we do so as believers...

...How I wish that somebody had been overcome what divides us...

...And aware of the how offended I am that gay teachers are perceived to be many people - heterosexual and homosexual - who are especially prone to this vice, when in fact the majority of child touched by aspects of the current debates on the issues you molesters are heterosexual...

...The bad and fall...

...If we case, the result is that those who are homosexual experience a continue to do so, we will forfeit our claim to be following Him certain exclusion - they are sometimes forced to live on the Who made Himself vulnerable to unpredictable sinners...

...I millions of people because (we believe) our culture would want to acknowledge the deep feelings you convey and crumble if a handful of "them" decided to "act out...

...As you mention, goodness nor is a homosexual orientation...

...Moreover, sexuality takes in more than its genital such...

...enced...

...I would also like to comment on the "contagion" and the Because I too struggle to live the Gospel faithfully and seductive "magic" which we impute to homosexuality, such without compromise, I feel real empathy for your effort to be that we fret so about its impact on our children...

...1 respect the integrity reaffirm that I support the automatic firing of any teacher who with which you seem to have claimed your homosexual idenengages in sexually-suggestive behavior...

...Second, let me say tity and embraced your celibate religious life...

...I will not explore every point you raise, but I'd like to take In short, I think that American attitudes toward gay people up three areas which your letter addresses: how homosexuality are a lot like the child who thinks he has a monster under his is viewed in our culture...

...If angered others who feel that it is wrong to grant any rights to we begin and end this way, we will surely end in a good place, homosexuals...

...But the fact is that we have a long way from the church...

...We must continuously and creatively make this tionships that bring life both to the relationship and to others...

...For too long the church has sought to insulate itself understand nor appreciate what it means to be homosexual...

...First, I REALIZE that many of the changes in teaching and policy there is need for an "education to differentiation" which which I am proposing are not yours to effect single- breaks down stereotypical patterns of thinking about other handedly...

...Tap- horses, cows, goats - so scrawny the flesh hung on their taps" - pick-up trucks with elaborately painted cabins over protruding frames...

...generativity...

...carvings, T-shirts with "Haitian Liberation" inscribed across As our van drove down the road toward the heart of the city, the chest...

...The question is reflected among some members of the church...

...As I said at the beginning, this letter does not respond to all In taking this nuanced position, I know that I have angered the issues you have raised...

...STRUGGLE of the majority against the claims of strident minorities...

...I also have faith and a generous amount of trust in the other's good will...

...there for me...

...making and life-making...

...every time a neo-Nazi group petitions to march through a Your brother in Christ, predominantly Jewish suburb, and every time a concerned STEPHEN ELRED parents' group demands the banning of a classic in world literature because they consider it obscene...

...To such discussions each must bring ceptable because it partitions the human person...

...However profound our disagreement on this matter, please The labels "gay," "straight," "heterosexual," Commonweal: 682 "homosexual" can obscure more than they clarify...

...From its earliest years, our republic has had to balance the fundamental values 1, TOO...

...Because it pertains to our Now we can turn to the question of the controversy over personhood, it is as mysterious and complex as is personhood so-called gay rights legislation...

...For too long This lack of understanding may be expressed simply as fear of its leadership has sought a high and safe ground from which it the unknown or it may be expressed as bias or bigotry...

...In the case of gay rights legislation, I seek to balance two values: (l) the fact that no person should be discriminated against because of his or her sexual orientation...

...other and ultimately from our very selves...

...The key to that process, however, has been balance, not the wholesale repression of anyone who is tangentially related to "the problem...

...STANDING outside the Port-au-Prince airport in eighty- Perhaps the revolution...

...I could only guess...

...And our teaching will be persuasive in proportion to its dimension...

...The good news is that adolescents are well-nigh imper- We both belong to a pilgrimm people, a people on the way, a vious to things which do not interest them, and homosexuality people who have not yet arrived, who still struggle, stumble, holds no interest for a teenager who is "straight...

...It is the mending each and all to the mercy of God...

...intimacy...

...To say it simply, our Roman Catholic You have raised many provocative questions about the tradition holds that heterosexual marital intimacy is the only church's teaching on human sexuality and how this relates to proper context for the genital expression of human lovethe life and spirituality of those who are homosexual...

...Let me articulate some princiitself...

...Jesus proclaimed, and we continue the proclamation, you to think again about the issues, issues which are so very that all people are endowed with full human dignity and value important to me and to all of the others who have been disen- because they are created and redeemed in love and have a high franchised spiritually and politically...

...Before I address the latter, think that our system of government has proven itself capable I'd like to share some personal thoughts about your presentaof more nuanced solutions...

...Vendors line the our day's guide...

...be assured of my reverence for you as my bishop, and of my This is an important set of concerns, one which is faced prayers for your difficult work...

...Perhaps their lethargy made it,unnecessary...

...Third, I would like to offer both a raise, I share your concern that they be addressed respectfully, reassurance and a lament about a child's ability to be influ- calmly, and truthfully...

...I proclamation which can cut through homophobia, believe that, in doing this, each person will encounter the heterophobia, xenophobia, racism, sexism - and so many power and the presence of a similarly loving, caring, and other irrational fears and prejudices that cut us off from each life-giving God...

...culture from the tyranny of the majority...

...I do the significant concerns you raise...

...Imagine the hue and cry if we "solved" the JOSEPH L. BERNARDIN problem of neo-Nazism by suspending the Bill of Rights, or if we dealt with the vagaries of child custody by abolishing DEAR STEPHEN: divorce...

...from the pain and ambiguity of the homosexual...

...Yet we refuse to guarantee the minimal rights of I thank you for your thoughtful and respectful letter...

...Meanwhile, had come to Haiti to see...

...Here we are entering the slum," shouted Father Lawrence People in Haiti, not just at the airport but throughout the Bohnen, the seventy-three-year-old Salesian priest who was country, appear to be in perpetual motion...

...Our teaching on sexuality stands...

...Rather, it is an appreciative acsome in the homosexual community who would argue, much ceptance of your invitation to dialogue...

...These animals were neither hitched nor the truck beds - packed in dozens of passengers for a trip to fenced...

...town...

...A number one door where newly arrived passengers would step out to be of people, alone or in twos, sat under skimpy shade trees picked up by friends or family...

...irrationalities...

...To such persons the than their sexuality, although they never exist apart from their church's teaching is not persuasive...

...spiritual life...

...Sincerely yours in Christ, As the pastor of the Catholic church in Chicago, as one who JOSEPH CARDINAL BERNARDIN seeks to bring peace and unity to the church and our metropoli- Archbishop of Chicago THE CHURCH & THE WORKS OF JUSTICE Haiti: the malnourished revolution KAREN SUE SMITH stands, only one incomplete building among hundreds in the capital, as a monument to the national work stoppage...

...In the meantime, I protect the rights of all citizens, but I cannot support public feel it is my responsibility to affirm what I believe to be the protection or sanctioning of sexual activity or a way of life truth while reaching out to all with God's love, compassion, which compromises the normativeness of heterosexual marital and understanding...

...Second, I agree with you that the development of public policy and law involves a balancing act that seeks to incorporate and respect the rights of all citizens...

...For this purpose, we as you do, that to protect orientation but not activity is unac- must find a proper forum...

...We are doubly bound as It certainly is true that many people in our culture neither Christians...

...26 December 1986: 683 I am speaking here of course about "public morality" - tan area, I have been troubled by the discord surrounding a those areas of conduct about which the state can properly proposed gay rights ordinance...

...men squat to make bricks or to health care, and communications, staffed by Catholic religious whittle artifacts for tourists...

...The church's response to this situation is twofold...

...We need to see and our Christian tradition speaks of human sexuality in the conspeak to each other not as members of constituencies but as text of the values of love, fidelity, self-sacrifice, and individuals...

...This Brooklyn may be the a full-size billboard at the airport, has never been completed...

...I believe in to go as a community of faith in developing an appropriate it and I shall continue to proclaim it...

...Brooklyn" was the-name given to the slum through which I noticed that the Hertz Rent-A-Car building, advertised on Father Bohnen was leading us...

...No matter what his or her orientation may be, it is Second, the church has the responsibility to make another the responsibility of every person to respect these values and unceasing proclamation: to love one another and keep com- integrate them in his or her personhood and sexuality...

...Life seems to be outdoors, parted from my home in Brooklyn, New York to learn that market-centered, and bustling...

...We must work to make it sexuality...

...our legal system for legislators who agree with my position to Assuring you of my prayers and with best wishes, V am draft appropriate legislation...

...In this context the point of our disagreement is both nar2. Theology and spirituality of sexuality rowed and made clear...

...Alongside them were scattered animals - mobbed by men and boys soliciting a job as red cap...

...and the drafting of what's really there, and then to begin to let go of all the gay/lesbian civil rights legislation...

...I had deand work at sewing machines...

...destiny in God...