DREADWATCH: Pope Benedict XVI, Speeches In Sydney, World Youth Day & Human Sexuality - Homosexuality, Same Sex Attraction - Updated

[UPDATE] On the night before the final World Youth Day Mass, during a Vigil with young people, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about unity, love, and the Spirit - and cautioned that:

"Unfortunately the temptation to “go it alone” persists. Some today portray their local community as somehow separate from the so-called institutional Church, by speaking of the former as flexible and open to the Spirit and the latter as rigid and devoid of the Spirit."

SO WHAT? Some Christians, moved first by a desire to love their same sex attracted brothers and sisters, later come to reject the Catholic teaching on human sexuality. By doing so, however, they implicitly endorse this "go it alone" mentality. As the Holy Father teaches, instead of reaching out in love, then, their love is turned to something proud, and their outreach becomes ruinous. The way forward, on issues of same sex attraction, as on all issues that involve the Church - is in unity, love, and the Spirit:

"Inspired by the insights of Saint Augustine: let unifying love be your measure; abiding love your challenge; self-giving love your mission!"

[UPDATE] Meeting with priests, seminarians, and religious at St Mary's Cathedral, Pope Benedict XVI recalled that:

"All too often...we [Christians] find ourselves immersed in a world that would set God “aside”. In the name of human freedom and autonomy, God’s name is passed over in silence, religion is reduced to private devotion, and faith is shunned in the public square. At times this mentality, so completely at odds with the core of the Gospel, can even cloud our own understanding of the Church and her mission."

SO WHAT? DREADNOUGHT immediately thought of two places where this cruel reality interacts with the lives of faithful, same sex attracted Catholics. First, in the bars / venues and other places where the "gay" culture holds sway. There, too often, Christ and His Church are either mercilously parodied, or else "passed over in silence". Second, in the demands of some more extreme homoactivists that religious believers and their ideas / voices be purged from political, and social debate on various issues - including "gay marriage".

The Holy Father reminds us that:

"...history, including the history of our own time, shows that the question of God will never be silenced, and that indifference to the religious dimension of human existence ultimately diminishes and betrays man himself...Faith teaches us that we are God’s creatures, made in his image and likeness, endowed with an inviolable dignity, and called to eternal life. Wherever man is diminished, the world around us is also diminished; it loses its ultimate meaning and strays from its goal. What emerges is a culture, not of life, but of death. How could this be considered “progress”? It is a backward step, a form of regression which ultimately dries up the very sources of life for individuals and all of society."

This is a "regression", and a "diminishing of man" that DREADNOUGHTERS encounter every day. The lives of same sex attracted Catholics (and DREADNOUGHT in its entirety) are a testament to the fact that the battle rages most intensely within:

"...how difficult is this path of consecration! It demands continual “conversion”, a sacrificial death to self which is the condition for belonging fully to God, a change of mind and heart which brings true freedom and a new breadth of vision."

[UPDATE] As in the United States, Pope Benedict XVI's Sydney apology for incidents of sex abuse at the hands of some Catholics avoided an unhelpful, unjust conflation of paedophilia with same sex attraction.

SO WHAT? The Holy Father, in these public acts, sets a standard that the rest of the world (including the secular media) would be wise to adopt.

[UPDATE] In a moving meeting with "disadvantaged young people", Pope Benedict XVI spoke to flourishing, and reminded the attendees to "choose life":

"[The people of the Old Testament] listened attentively when Moses said to them: “I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live in the love of the Lord your God, obeying his voice, clinging to him – for in this your life consists” (Dt 30:19-20). It was clear what they had to do: they had to turn away from other gods and worship the true God who had revealed himself to Moses – and they had to obey his commandments."

SO WHAT? Same sex attracted men, and women who are often preoccupied with body images, wealth, surfaces, power, "equality", and other "false idols" will recognise in the Pope's words a direct challenge. Certainly, DREADNOUGHT feels the sting of a rebuke. Not in our pride, but in our humility. Not in our wilful disregard of G-d's law, but in our obedience to the same. Not in silly surfaces, but in the depths - that is where human happiness lies. The Pope reminds DREADNOUGHT, and DREADNOUGHTERS, that Christianity is the key to "abundant life".

[UPDATE] During a meeting with representatives of other religions, Pope Benedict XVI spoke directly to the challenge of militant atheism / intolerance secularism, and claimed that:

"One of the many ways religion stands at the service of mankind is by offering a vision of the human person that highlights our innate aspiration to live generously, forging bonds of friendship with our neighbours. At their core, human relations cannot be defined in terms of power, domination and self-interest."

SO WHAT? For DREADNOUGHTERS - indeed anyone familiar with the so-called radical (better: extremist / anti-human) philosophies that underpin homoactivists' push for "gay marriage" and other mistakes - the Pope's words offer a new way forward. We must always recall the debate to the human person. The Pope reminds us that only a discussion about marriage, family, and law that takes in flourishing (individuals, and communities), indeed only a humane ideology radically focussed on the good, truth, and beauty of the human person, can secure justice, and advance the cause of human rights. This enlightened discussion naturally grows out of religious belief.

[UPDATE] The Pope's welcome message at Barangaroo included this broad invitation:

"...I know too that a good number of you are still seeking a spiritual homeland. Some of you, most welcome among us, are not Catholic or Christian. Others of you perhaps hover at the edge of parish and Church life. To you I wish to offer encouragement: step forward into Christ’s loving embrace; recognize the Church as your home. No one need remain on the outside, for from the day of Pentecost the Church has been one and universal...I wish also to include those struggling on the margins of our societies, and those who for whatever reason feel alienated from the Church. To them I say: Jesus is close to you! Feel his healing embrace, his compassion and mercy!"

SO WHAT? Same sex attracted men and women, too often alienated from the Church - whether because of our persistent pride, or because of anger / violence shown by those Christians who should know better - recognise in this invitation a direct call back. The Pope embraces his "lost sheep". DREADNOUGHTERS know how permanent, and vital is the link between Catholic teaching on human sexuality, and the individual / collective flourishing of same sex attracted men, and women. Certainly, DREADNOUGHTERS know what the Pope is getting at when he speaks about encountering:

"...a hostility, something dangerous; a poison which threatens to corrode what is good, reshape who we are, and distort the purpose for which we have been created. Examples abound, as you yourselves know. Among the more prevalent are alcohol and drug abuse, and the exaltation of violence and sexual degradation, often presented through television and the internet as entertainment. I ask myself, could anyone standing face to face with people who actually do suffer violence and sexual exploitation “explain” that these tragedies, portrayed in virtual form, are considered merely “entertainment”?"

SO WHAT? In these passages, Pope Benedict XVI diagnoses the rot at the heart of "gay" culture, and points the way out of the darkness. That way is, of course, a Person, and He is Truth:

"There is also something sinister which stems from the fact that freedom and tolerance are so often separated from truth. This is fuelled by the notion, widely held today, that there are no absolute truths to guide our lives. Relativism, by indiscriminately giving value to practically everything, has made “experience” all-important. Yet, experiences, detached from any consideration of what is good or true, can lead, not to genuine freedom, but to moral or intellectual confusion, to a lowering of standards, to a loss of self-respect, and even to despair."

SO WHAT? Here, the Holy Father gestures towards the reification, if not the deification of "equality" under the sign of "tolerance". We are expected to approve everything, even things like "gay marriage", which we know are wrong, cannot lead to flourishing, and suck the love out of human friendship.

In this context, same sex attracted men and women cannot help but thrill to the Pope's claim that:

"Life is not just a succession of events or experiences, helpful though many of them are. It is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this – in truth, in goodness, and in beauty – that we find happiness and joy. Do not be fooled by those who see you as just another consumer in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth."

:: The Upshot ::

DREADNOUGHT is not liveblogging the Papal visit, but this post will selectively aggregate Pope Benedict XVI's speeches, and comment on how they relate to Catholic teaching on human sexuality and same sex attraction. A SO WHAT? section will follow each update, tying the links back to key concerns expressed by DREADNOUGHTERS.

:: Resources ::

- Sydney 2008 Home Page;

- USCCB Virtual Pilgrimage;

- DREADPILGRIM Live Reports from Sydney;

- DREADNOUGHT on the New York Times "Pope Benedict XVI" topic page;

- DREADNOUGHT speaks to Spanish Pilgrims (in Castellano and English);

- DREADNOUGHT on what to expect from the Holy Father during this visit;

- DREADNOUGHT on the homoactivist behind a priest's complaints about World Youth Day 2008;

- DREADNOUGHT in Sydney's largest newspaper: Benedict XVI is "the Pope the world needs";

- DREADNOUGHT answers questions on "gay" priests and "homogenital acts" for World Youth Day 2008 pilgrims;

- DREADNOUGHT on Triple J national radio on "gay" priests, Catholic teaching, and young, same sex attracted men;

- DREADNOUGHT's media availability, World Youth Day 2008; and

- Pope Benedict XVI, Message For World Youth Day 2008.