Must read: Benedict XVI's reflection on 2008...

... and topics including God, creation, salvation, the Cross, the work of Christ, the Person of the Holy Spirit, anthropology, sexuality, and much more.

Some people are going apoplectic over it, and a few are even accusing Pope Benedict XVI of "stoking homophobia" ("homophobe" is apparently 2008's "Infantile, Brain-Dead Insult of the Year"), so two things are immediately evident: the Pope said something that must be read, and that whatever he said is being misunderstood or misrepresented.

Sure enough. The address, which was given yesterday as part of the traditional Christmas greetings to prelates and members of the Roman Curia, can be read in full on Teresa Benedetta's site (scroll down about a third of the page; ht: Amy Welborn). Here is a small excerpt from the lengthy and excellent address:

Joy as a fruit of the Holy Spirit - thus we come to the central theme of Sydney which was, in fact, the Holy Spirit. In this retrospective, I wish once more to point out in summary the orientation that was implicit in the theme.

1. First of all, there is the affirmation that comes to us from the start of the story of Creation, which tells of the Creator Spirit that moved over the waters, created the world and continuously renews it.

Faith in the Creator Spirit is an essential element of the Christian Creed. The fact that matter has a mathematical structure, is full of spirit (energy), is the foundation of the modern science of nature.

Only because matter is structured intelligently, our mind is able to interpret it and actively remodel it. The fact that this intelligent structure comes from the same Creator Spirit that also gave us our spirit, implies a task and a responsibility.

The ultimate basis of our responsibility towards the earth is our faith in creation. The earth is not simply a property that we can exploit according to our interests and desires. It is a gift of the Creator who designed its intrinsic order, and through this, has given us the orientative indications to follow as administrators of his Creation.

The fact that the earth, the cosmos, mirror the Creator Spirit also means that their rational structure - which beyond their mathematical structure, become almost palpable through experimentation - carries in itself an ethical orientation.

The Spirit that shaped them is more than mathematics - it is Goodness itself, which, through the language of creation, shows us the road to correct living.

Since faith in the Creator is an essential part of the Christian Creed, the Church cannot and should not limit itself to transmitting to its faithful only the message of salvation. She has a responsibility for Creation, and it should validate this responsibility in public.

In so doing, it should defend not just the earth, water and air as gifts of Creation that belong to everyone. She should also protect man from destroying himself.

It is necessary to have something like an ecology of man, understood in the right sense. It is not outdated metaphysics when the Church speaks of the nature of the human being as man and woman, and asks that this natural order be respected.

This has to do with faith in the Creator and listening to the language of creation, which, if disregarded, would be man's self-destruction and therefore a destruction of God's work itself.

That which has come to be expressed and understood with the term 'gender' effectively results in man's self-emancipation from Creation (nature) and from the Creator. Man wants to do everything by himself and to decide always and exclusively about anything that concerns him personally. But this is to live against truth, to live against the Spirit Creator.

The tropical rain forests deserve our protection, yes, but man does not deserve it less as a Creature of the Spirit himself, in whom is inscribed a message that does not mean a contradiction of human freedom but its condition.

The great theologians of Scholasticism described matrimony - which is the lifelong bond between a man and a woman - as a sacrament of Creation, that the Creator himself instituted, and that Christ, without changing the message of Creation, welcomed in the story of his alliance with men.

Part of the announcement that the Church should bring to men is a testimonial for the Spirit Creator present in all of nature, but specially in the nature of man, who was created in the image of God.

One must reread the encyclical Humanae vitae with this perspective: the intention of Pope Paul VI was to defend love against consumer sex, the future against the exclusive claim of the moment, and human nature against manipulation.

The Times reports:

The Rev Sharon Ferguson, chief executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, described the Pope's comments as "totally irresponsible and unacceptable in any shape or form". She said: "It is more the case that we need to be saved from his comments. It is comments like that that justify homophobic bullying that goes on in schools and it is comments like that that justify gay-bashing.

Right. Because we know, for example, that it is the supporters of traditional marriage and sexual morality that are physically accosting and verbally abusing opponents of Proposition 8. Just as importantly, how is it "irresponsible" to articulate what was, in the West, commonly held for centuries as basic, bedrock truth? Put another way, how responsible is to demand that we should, in the course of a few short years, simply toss out (and also disparage, in the process) core beliefs about man, marriage, sexuality, and traditional morality?

One of the fascinating things about Pope Benedict's pontificate is how he has consistently and continually appealed to reason and to man's ability to think, know, and understand. He has worked tirelessly to show that Catholic doctrine and theology is not contrary to logic, but is both logical and supra-logical. In in his project, if you want to call it that, is the basic question: "How then shall we live? According to what principles? Upon what moral basis?"  The reaction of many of his critics is not simply avoidance of questions, but anger that the questions are even raised; they consider it insulting that their "orthodoxy"—which is, in fact, based upon the manipulation of human nature, consumer sex, and self-destructive fads—is even considered open for discussion.

Fifteen or twenty years ago, the proponents of transsexuality, bi-sexuality, try-anything-sexuality, "gay marriage," and other deviant beliefs insisted that they simply wanted a seat at the table; they merely wanted their views to be heard and considered. Now they insist their views should not only be heard, they must be proclaimed, accepted, instituted, and celebrated. Further, those disagreeing with them are quickly labeled "homophobes" and "bigots." There is no discussion; furthermore, there never really was a serious interest in discussion. Such ideology, being inherently unreasonable and rooted in power and emotion, has no interest in reason, tradition, or commonsense. It certainly has no interest in Catholic doctrine, which it despises. It is "unacceptable in any shape or form."

In a passage in Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures (Ignatius Press, 2006), written shortly before he was elected pope, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger wrote:

Christianity is this remembrance of the look of love that the Lord directs to man, this look that preserves the fullness of his truth and the ultimate guarantee of his dignity. The mystery of Christmas reminds us that in the Christ who is born, every human life—from the very beginning—is definitively blessed and welcomed by the look of God's mercy. Christians know this and stand with their own life under this look of love; with this look, they receive a message that is essential for man's life and for his future. This means that they can humbly and proudly accept today the task of proclaiming the good news of the faith, without which human existence cannot long survive. In this task of announcing the dignity of man and the duties of respecting life that flow from this dignity, they know they will probably meet derision and hatred. But the world cannot live without them.

Amen. Preach it, Papa Benedict!

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Comments

[Francis Beckwith]

The Rev. Sharon should take her own advice and not criticize the Pope in such a public fashion. For it may inspire all sorts of religious hate crimes against Catholics throughout England. The spirit of Henry and all that.....

How ironic that the birth of the Anglican communion was the consequence of a certain willful Englishman--another "defender of the faith"--wanting to twist the institution of marriage into something of his own liking. Some things never change.

[Salome]

The Revd Sharon Ferguson: is she Lesbyterian by any chance?

[LJ]

"There is no discussion; furthermore, there never really was a serious interest in discussion."

All that there really is left is a question of power, from municipal right on up to federal governments.

Here's an interesting thought, Dr. Beckwith. If King Henry were to go before a Diocesan Tribunal today, say anywhere in America, would there be an Anglican communion?

[Jackson]

Giving the deviants a seat at the table was among the first mistakes. A slippery slope.

[Mark Brumley]

LJ, one might ask whether there would be an Anglican communion today if Henry had sought an annulment on other grounds. See J.J. Scarisbrick on the subject. Though perhaps Henry's adulterous heart would probably have gotten him into trouble, sooner or later.

[A Concerned Filipino Catholic]

Dear everyone,

I hope any orthodox Jesuit out there can read this comment.

I am glad that our Pope has expressed the truth about homosexuality so boldly this Christmas season. It is high time that he stresses this point again after his great work in 1986 the letter to the bishops on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons.

Sad to say some of the Jesuits here in the Philippines act in defiance of the Pope and Christ's teachings about homosexuality. They have been spreading the idea of the "gay gift" and the acceptance of homosexual relationships.

In a book published by Jesuit Communications called TENDER FIRES: the spiritual promise of sexuality by authors (known dissenters of the Church) Fr. John Heagle and Sr. Fran Ferder, they have this disturbing statements to write:

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Did God create human persons to fall in love outside the confines of heterosexuality?

Same-gender love might even represent a natural way of limiting overpopulation.

What is more dangerous for children? Being around gay or lesbian couple who love each other or around a heterosexual couple engaged in domestic violence?
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These are very disturbing statements found in a CATHOLIC book published by a CATHOLIC JESUIT publishing house.

Hope something might be done to outlaw this kind of book.

A Concerned Catholic