Homosexuality - Like Fr Blake we should all get real

AS has been seen on so very many occasions, great institutions that imagine they exert a powerful influence over our existence can lag behind society and how we lead our lives.

These institutions – parliaments, churches, banks, justice and educational systems, as well as the media – often observe mores no longer relevant to the lives of considerable sections of the societies that sustain them.

This divergence between theory and reality was at the heart of the storm that forced John O’Donoghue to step down as Ceann Comhairle. Mr O’Donoghue contended that he did no more than follow the norms applied to ministerial expenses. That might have saved him once upon a time but a society angered and frightened by an economic crisis was in no mood to turn the other cheek, and he had to resign.

That divergence between the real world and theory was seen again over the weekend when Boyzone’s Stephen Gately was buried in Dublin.

At his funeral Fr Declan Blake, parish priest at St Laurence O’Toole, highlighted his connection with that community and the church. He also acknowledged that Stephen was enjoying life more than ever since “settling down with Andy seven years ago”. This acknowledgement of the reality of same-sex partnerships is based on the love and humanity central to the great message of Christianity and other great religions. It embraced reality rather than rejecting it.

It celebrated love rather than intolerance.

It, however, diverges from the teaching of the Catholic Church so often underlined by Pope Benedict.

In a 1986 letter “to the bishops of the Catholic Church on the pastoral care of homosexual persons”, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith advanced its belief that homosexuality as “intrinsically disordered”.

“Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.

“Therefore, special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not,” asserted the letter.

This remains the official Catholic position even though this society has, in the majority, chosen a very different, more inclusive, human path. We’ve moved on.

Stephen Gately’s funeral and how his life was celebrated, as well as yesterday’s confirmation by Cork’s All- Ireland winning hurler, Donal Óg Cusack, that he is gay, are welcome in a society too long cowed by repressive and destructive expectations.

Far too many lives and families have been ruined. Far too many lives have been ended because people could not reconcile their reality with the teachings of the once-dominant force in this society. How appalling is it that we, for so long, offered so many people nothing other than exclusion or suicide because they were gay?

The teachings of the Catholic Church contributed greatly to the agonies of those whose lives were dominated by guilt and isolation because of their sexual orientation. Enforced celibacy caused similar agonies and led to the most bestial crimes too.

Homophobia still exists in this society and is at the root of so much depression, alcoholism, drug abuse and so many, many suicides. Surely it is time that we all, like Fr Blake, recognised and celebrated reality rather than hateful theory?