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A GROUP OF Christian theologians and academics have produced a report that claims to disprove Christian objections to same-sex relationships.
The Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research report has a number of authors, contributors, and signatories from various fields and backgrounds – former President of Ireland Professor Mary McAleese is among those who signed the document.
“We are calling for an urgent change in Roman Catholic teaching based on these academic findings which should serve as the final nail in the coffin of biblical and other arguments justifying homophobia,” the authors of the report said in a statement today.
The report is being launched in response to a statement from the Vatican in March, which said the Catholic Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions despite their “positive elements”, saying it was impossible for God to “bless sin”.
The powerful Vatican office responsible for defending church doctrine, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) said: ”it is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (ie, outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex”.
The reports authors argue in response to this that Pope Francis has urged church authorities to listen to Catholics, and to “take the side of the marginalized and discriminated against”.
“The absolute condemnation of same-sex relationships as ‘intrinsically disordered’ is not shared by most Roman Catholics worldwide. But it is still papal teaching: all CDF documents only have authority because they are endorsed by the Pope,” it argued.
Therefore, in virtue of Pope Francis’ position, and in light of his record of welcoming words and pastoral attitude towards gay people, he has a unique duty and responsibility to kick-start such an independent study to revisit the teaching he has inherited from his predecessors.
Professor Mary McAleese wrote: “This international collaborative research project is the first serious attempt to use the tools of interdisciplinary scholarship to challenge, probe and interrogate church teaching in the area of homosexuality.
“The People of God have needed this to help convince a blinkered magisterium to open its eyes and ears, to see and hear the damage inflicted on good people young and old by teachings that run counter to science and counter to the love of the Creator.
“The scholarly work of the Wijngaards Institute brings hope where it is needed.”
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All organised religions, especially the catholic church, are “intrinsically disordered “.
@Joe Downes: it’s the most normal natural thing to have a relationship with another consenting adult.
Be the person gay, straight or otherwise.
To deny yourself this based on a religion isn’t natural, so priests and bishops have some neck calling gay people unnatural
@Joe Downes: a bit off the mark there Joe…twould be good to study the internal not external expressions.
If your religion teaches that it is OK to discriminate against any group the. you’re in the wrong religion.
@Justin Gillespie: and its not much of a religion. Love thy neighbour and all of that
The catholic church is an outdated cult, it’s views on anything are not relevant. How about instead of trying to make them change we just ignore them until they go away.
@Ian Downes: cultic thinking
@Ian Downes: the truth is, nobody cares what they think any more. Mcaleese is trying to persuade a bunch of old men in frocks thst they shouldn’t have a problem with single-sex marriage, but who cares whether they approve or not?
Is the document all inclusive, i.e., telling all the majors religions what to teach, or is it just for the Catholics?
@Pauline Hinton: read the article. This is a document produced by an institute of Catholic research. It isn’t telling the church what to teach but challenging the basis for their homophobic. Yes, I know, you’d imagine Christians should already know not to hate but there you are.
An intelligent person like Mary McAleese railing against man (not women) made religious rules. Why does she still want to be part of a church that holds such outdated views. Stockholm syndrome perhaps.
@Fionn Darland: Or she has a faith which she’s entitled to. Faith and the organisation are different things and to suggest Stockholm Syndrome is pathetic.
@Mark Brown: Stockholm syndrome is apt as she is clearly wedded to an institution she knows is discriminatory.
@Fionn Darland: It’s not a dependant relationship though which Stockhausens is. She sees the good in the church but also sees the faults and is in there battling away to get them changed.
@Fionn Darland:
Maybe she feels it is her duty as is all our duties no matter how little to do her bit to put an end to the religiously motivated evil homophobic agenda that has ever only resulted in the oppression persecution and murder of millions of gay people over the past 1600 years and counting. To this day young gay children being “educated ” in Catholic schools around the world in particularly the US are 4 times more likely to self-harm and or Die by suicide as a direct result of being brainwashed into believing that they are an intrinsically evil disorder by the church for no other reason than loving in the manner that they were designed to love.
Next time you see a priest, ask him why he wears a wedding ring…. if he says it’s because he is married to god and the church … god/Jesus , who by the way we were told was a man…..
Let’s make it black and white…. they are married to a man….
If you don’t like the RC Church doctrine – Ignore it!……. Simples. The main thing a big bad bully hates is being ignored.
@Peter B: I don’t think this is an issue that can be ignored for some people. There are people who believe in the faith and doctrine and want to stay as part of the church but feel it needs to change as they see it as their church.
@Peter B: if only it was that easy. It still indoctrinates children and teaches them gay people are “intrinsically disordered”. It’s a bully that breeds bullies. It needs to be addressed, not ignored.
@Peter B: Our schools are still teaching their “sex education”. There should be no state funded religious indoctrination.
@Peter B: the main thing a big bad bully hates is being ignored? Difficult to do when said bully is successfully making your life more difficult to live than it needs to be. And too much of ignoring bullies can seem like them to be acceptance of their behaviour. No – bullies need to be called out and roundly condemned.
Not all Catholics do so..get into the thick of life with those who work with LGBT and as Catholic supporters, pastoral workers and care deeply for them.
@Bernadette Purcell: by definition those people are not Catholic. Either that or they are not actually trying to help LGBT people, but rather “cure” them.
@Bernadette Purcell:
For a Catholic to care deeply for LGBT people the first thing that they must do is completely and vocally reject the Satan inspired Catholic teaching on homosexuality and homosexual people. They need to acknowledge that the Catholic church is responsible for the religiously motivated evil homophobic agenda that has ever only resulted in the oppression persecution and murder of millions of gay people over the past 1600 years and counting. In fairness most baptised Catholics have done that.
It’s actually disturbing that so many think the catholic church should even be a feature in Irish society. By all means, anyone who wants to live under their spell should be free to do so, but the opinion of the church or it’s stance on ANYTHING should be ignored!
@Dave Smyth:
That easier said than done for the gay children that has being indoctrinated into believing that they are an intrinsically evil disorder throughout their entire lives.
@Dave Smyth: Completely agree. How a bunch of superstitious hysterical old virgins can have any influence in 2021 is beyond funny.
An academic report? How do you apply the methods of academia to religion? Religion is based on obedience dressed up as “faith”, and if you don’t like or agree it’s your fault for not having enough faith.
‘Sin’ is a gaslighting tool.
Bible is against mixed-race marriages (which Christians historically protested against such marriages).
For a holy book it has many atrocities. And that goes for other religions too.
Sadly, we only need to look at Poland to understand the suffocating grip they have on society. As a gay man I am so grateful and relieved how far this little country has come in terms of tolerance in a short space of time.
Sad to think, where I was baptised, and will probably be buried does not recognise me as gay as its unnatural. Yet, they would love youth to go to mass, and celebrate faith, but only if your straight, the gays, well be gay, but don’t tell us or act gay or be gay in church, so don’t be yourself , pretend your someone else and then its accepted.
@M. Murphy: they would love your donation first and foremost. A vile organisation whose arguments against normal social and personal choice grow increasingly moronic as the years roll on. They need to be actively driven out of our educational system and forced to remove people from their membership lists on request instead of clinging onto inflated lists trying to demonstrate relevancy and peddle influence. A person having a personal belief is one thing but organised religions such as this one are insidious and promote divisiveness for all their talk about love and forgiveness.
Academic paper about a fairy tale? You know what is said? One person’s lie about an affair that got way out of hand..
It never ceases to amaze me how such a bloated tyrannical bureaucratic worldwide hierarchy making laws and rules and regulations controlling every aspect of our lives can go into the word of a 30 year old hippie who lived 2000 years ago and just wanted us to be nice to each other…
Found it. Full report is accessible on http://www.wijngaardsinstitute.com
Next week McAleese will criticise Muslim faith for its views on same sex relationships and women’s place in a Muslim society…nah didn’t think so and let’s be honest would she be saying anything if her son wasn’t gay….
The comment about brainy Mary having ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ was priceless.
How such an intelligent person can spend her energy on convincing men in dresses to do the right thing beats me
Where can I access the full report ?
Where can the report in full be found?
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