Normalizing vs. Recognizing

Which is more controversial: quoting Pope Francis or bringing up homosexuality? Why not both at the same time? In an unexpected turn, his recent interview on 60 Minutes brought about a lot of clarity regarding the Fiducia supplicans (the blessing-people-who-are-in-a same-sex-relationship document). The headlines after this interview weren’t splashed with misquotes from the Vatican but instead emphasized the pope’s clarifying remarks on blessing the people but not the relationship. I’m sure his words were a sigh of relief to many Catholics tired of explaining things themselves, but the push he gave to the Church to keep engaging on this topic was far more important. He stated:

"You use the adjective 'conservatives.' That is to say, a conservative is one who sticks to something and does not want to see anything else. It is a suicidal attitude. Because one thing is to take tradition into account, to take into account situations from the past, but another is to be closed inside a dogmatic box."

With little imagination, we know what staying inside a dogmatic box looks like. We have people who are well-meaning but militant in their opposition to a normalization of LGBT topics, and while this approach does defend the teachings of the Catholic Church, it does little to engage the hearts and minds of anyone outside their belief system. In the same vein are those people who oppose by silence and lack of support. These individuals are often against using words like LGBTQ and usually will not acknowledge things like someone’s identity or partner. A third option is a response to all of this, which is just to ignore the box and disagree with Catholicism entirely on LGBT matters. I don’t think any of these are what the pontiff was referencing.

But let’s ground ourselves in someone a bit more familiar (and often less controversial). Pope Saint John Paul II told the Church in the early eighties, Look to the future with commitment to a New Evangelization, one that is new in its ardor, new in its methods, and new in its expression. It’s as if, even then, he was challenging the Church to hold onto our box, love what is in the dogmatic box, and know when to bring out what is good and true and beautiful as you walk through the world. Carry this box with you because, in doing so, you carry the truths of the Church. You carry the box; it was never meant to carry you.

It is easy to get defensive when there is so much in popular culture that seems to directly oppose the Catholic worldview. The push to normalize LGBT people and their experiences can feel like a direct attack on the Truth, and so it makes sense to respond with equal fervor in defense. But a type of defense of the truth that only heightens the divide between us and them isn’t evangelistic. Some approaches focus more on protecting what we believe at the expense of a relationship with another person. So, instead of thinking about normalizing versus defending the truth, let’s think about defending the truth and recognizing people and their experiences.

Recognizing is, at its simplest, acknowledging someone and their story. Now, acknowledgment doesn’t require approval, agreement, or even support; recognizing is seeing someone as they currently are. There are people in our churches who have friends, siblings, and children who experience same-sex attractions, gender dysphoria, or identify as LGBTQ. There are people in our pews who experience same-sex attractions, gender dysphoria, or identify as LGBTQ. Are we acting like this is an issue only outside of our church walls, or are we discussing and engaging with this topic as if the people it impacts are in the room with us? We get outside that box and remain faithful when we realize this isn’t a fight between us and them. It’s recognizing people and their experiences. It’s seeing those experiences not as alien to the people of God but something lived by many of her members.