United States: "Always our children"(: a pastoral message to parents of homosexual children) - flawed and defective.

Washington - On October 1st, 1997, a document entitled Always our children, A pastoral message to parents of homosexual children was published by the Committee on Marriage and Family of the U.S. Bishops' Conference. Some Catholic supporters immediately hailed its authority as nothing less than that of an encyclical. Investigation showed it to have come only from a committee of the US Conference and to have been prepared by consultants with a history of homosexual advocacy.

The March/April, 1998, issue of the Social Justice Review (3835 Westminster Place, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA) devoted its entire edition to an examination of this pastoral letter. It begins with a guest editorial by Bishop Fabrian Bruskewitz under the title "Flawed and Defective."

Among the eight other contributors are well-known priest-specialist Father John Harvey, founder of the Catholic support group Courage, and three medical specialists, among whom Dr. Nigro addresses the question of "how to prevent your child from becoming a homosexual." There is a Women for Faith and Family statement, and another one to the Vatican signed by 22 well-known Catholic commentators and individuals.

"Always our children" is part of the background to the Ontario controversy about the Bishops' AIDS program for Catholic schools. It has the same flavour of downplaying opposition to homosexuality in favour of a false compassion as the AIDS program. Consequently, we bring some relevant quotes from the critics.

Pride of place goes to Bishop Bruskewitz, who does not mince any words about the whole impropriety of both the procedure and the content of the document.

Bishop Bruskewitz

Bishop Bruskewitz begins by making clear that Always our children was produced only by a committee of the U.S. Bishops' Conference, that most bishops had never seen it or had anything to say about the contents or about the consultants used by the committee. He declares forthrightly that the document is founded on bad advice, erroneous science, and skewed theology. He objects particularly to the way it juxtaposes quotations from the Catechism to make it seem that homosexuality is a gift from God and should be accepted as a fixed and permanent aspect of a person. He criticises its advice that parents should adopt a "wait and see" attitude when they find their children experimenting with homosexual acts: "Parents have a grave moral duty to prevent their children from committing mortal sin when they can." True love, he continues, is never served by obfuscating the truth as this document appears to do.

One critique of it, the Bishop writes, is that it is really an exercise in homosexual advocacy, and it is difficult not to see it as such. "`Calamity and frightening disaster' are terms which are not too excessive to describe this document," he states. Briefly and forcefully, the bishop shows why this pastoral message is flawed and defective.

Biased consultants

An editor's note in the Social Justice Review points out that three homosexual priests (they are named) were used as consultants on Always Our Children. It is not surprising, therefore, that it turned out to be a piece of homosexual advocacy, "a surreptitious attempt at undermining the Church's Magisterium and a dangerously careless rejection of good psychology and common sense."

The Review reprints a letter of criticism which was composed and signed by 22 prominent lay Catholics and sent to Cardinal Ratzinger, as an appeal for correction. The document, they say, departs from Church teaching in at least three significant respects. It takes the bizarre position that though homosexual behaviour is unquestionably immoral, priests should avoid condemning it - even though St. Paul warned the faithful that sodomy could cost them their souls.

Elaborating on a point made by Bishop Bruskewitz, the letter says the document undercuts Church teaching by repeatedly suggesting that homosexual inclinations should be accepted as a "fundamental dimension" of one's personality - implying in fact that paragraph 2333 of the Catechism treats homosexuality as a basic sexual identity which everyone should acknowledge and accept. The truth is just the opposite. The letter's third main point is that Always Our Children never advises parents to speak to their children with force and clarity; instead it suggests weakly that parents of a homosexual child "may need to challenge certain aspects of a lifestyle which [they] find objectionable." Parents should ensure that their children know that homosexual activity is both lethally dangerous and sinful.

A statement by Women for Faith and Family complains that the document does not present the authentic Catholic teaching on the meaning of sexuality; that again, it considers sexual orientation to be a "given"; that it speaks much of love but does not show that disordered love damages all other loves; that it is so profoundly flawed from theological, anthropological, psychological and other perspectives that it is unamendable and should be publicly repudiated by the bishops.

Another especially interesting contribution is from a psychiatrist, Dr. Samuel Nigro. He stresses the importance of gender affirmation in the early years: boys should be encouraged in boyish activities and girls in activities which reinforce girlishness. It is not only essential but basic decency to see that children get through their childhood with their normal maleness and femaleness intact.

There are other interesting articles by Father John Harvey, founder of Courage; by Joseph Broadus on the natural link between "Pro Gay" and "Pro Choice"; and others.