The Vatican newspaper publishes a gay-positive essay by the synod’s spiritual assistant

Participants in the General Assembly of the Synod on Synodality are on retreat on Monday and Tuesday to spiritually prepare for their deliberations, which formally begin on October 2. During the month-long meeting, delegates will be guided by two spiritual assistants, one of whom recently made some LGBTQ-positive comments.

Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, and Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini, OSB, will serve as the synod’s spiritual assistants. Radcliffe, the former head of Dominicans Worldwide, has welcomed LGBTQ+ people for decades. He recently wrote about these issues for the Vatican newspaper: L’Osservatore Romanoand earlier this year he addressed the LGBT+ Catholic Westminster group, the diocesan pastoral outreach for London, England.

L’Osservatore Romano published the Dominican theologian’s essay on September 19 under the title “Portatori del Vangelo gli uni per gli altri” (Bearers of the Gospel for each other).

Radcliffe begins his essay by describing the impact of a conference on the Church and AIDS that the Dominicans in England organized in 1986, explaining: “I was moved by the love, courage and resilience with which gay Catholics responded to this crisis and what wonderful gifts they brought to the world. the Church.” This led him to celebrate Mass with lesbian and gay Catholics in London, which was not a “special liturgy” but rather a necessary community “in which they are assured of a warm welcome.”

At times there were protests from Catholics who were angry about this action and claimed that Church teaching was being rejected. Radcliffe denies that this is what the masses were about, and then goes on to explore in the essay how the institutional church thinks about homosexuality and whether this thinking is enough. He writes:

“I am convinced of the fundamental wisdom of the Church’s teaching, but I do not yet fully understand how it should be lived by young gay Catholics who accept their sexuality and rightly desire to express their affection.

“This cannot happen simply through the denial of desire. For St. Thomas Aquinas, our passions are the driving force behind our return to God. Our desires are given by God. Desire needs education, purification and liberation from illusory fantasy. But in every desire there is a longing for good and for God. The commandments are not given to deny our desires, but to point them to their true purpose. They are the gateway to freedom.”

Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP

While Radcliffe admits he doesn’t have all the answers, he affirms the goodness he and others see in same-sex relationships. He quotes English Cardinal Basil Hume, who once wrote: “Love between two persons, whether of the same sex or of a different sex, should be cherished and respected.” Radcliffe continues:

“When two people love, they experience in a limited way in this world what their infinite joy will be when they are one with God in the next. Loving another actually means reaching out to God, who shares His loveliness with the one we love. The challenge for gay people, as for everyone else, is to learn how to express love appropriately, while respecting each other’s dignity as children of God. . .

“My intuition is that most gay Catholics in mature, committed relationships usually go beyond being interested in sex. What they seek above all is ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against such things.’ (Galatians 5.22f).”

Radcliffe concludes his essay by placing these above considerations in the context of the October Synod meeting, emphasizing both the need to listen better and to clear up misunderstandings:

“We will more fully discover that this desire must be healed and sanctified through conversations with adult gay Catholics who have experienced the journey to serenity and happiness. The synodal way is to talk to people, not just about them. ‘Reality is more important than ideas’ (Evangelii Gaudium 231) Church education is already developing as it is renewed by lived experience. Homosexuals are no longer seen only in terms of sexual acts, but as our brothers and sisters who, Pope Francis believes, need to be blessed. . .

“The welcome of homosexuals is seen in some parts of the Church as evidence of Western decadence. But the Church must fight for the lives and dignity of homosexuals, who still face the death penalty in 10 countries and criminal prosecution in 70 countries. They have the right to live. And Catholics from other continents, who struggle to understand our pastoral outreach to homosexuals, have gifts that the Church in the West needs, often a deep sense of Ubuntu, “I am because we are,” and of the divine life of all creation. . They challenge the ‘culture of death’ that haunts the West. The Body of Christ needs all of our gifts. We are bearers of the gospel for each other.”

In May 2024, Radcliffe gave a lengthy, pre-recorded speech at a conference celebrating the 25th anniversary of the LGBT+ Catholic ministry of Westminster in London, a community he has known personally for many years and with which he brings back “happy memories”. In the speech, the theologian gave some insights into last year’s synod meeting:

“When the synod opened in October, many participants shared Pope Francis’ eagerness to affirm that the Church is truly for all of us! It is the place where we should all feel comfortable. It was this message of hope and love that led to the founding of these masses in Soho twenty-five years ago.

“This message was repeated at the Synod, but it was clear that it made many people nervous. Some participants felt uncomfortable even sitting next to Father James Martin SJ, who has been a courageous advocate for the warm inclusion of homosexuals in the Church for many years. One person even refused to sit next to him. Others of us felt the chill too, as did I. During the synod, Pope Francis extended his welcome again by publicly inviting Sister Jeanine Gramick and Francis DeBernardo, founders of the New Ways Ministry, to lunch. The next day I had lunch with them and they felt very affirmed.”

But when LGBTQ+ people were not mentioned in the meeting’s final report, Radcliffe says there was “a certain retreat from the openness that we had hoped for.” Much of the opposition came from African and Eastern European prelates, coming from cultures still characterized by strong anti-LGBTQ+ prejudice and discrimination. This reality poses, as Radcliffe puts it, a “double challenge” for the synod, which must express “a proper openness of the Gospel to all, with an openness to all cultures.” He then asks: “How should we both live? This will be a major challenge for the next session of the Synod.”

Radcliffe writes that the synod is confronted with the apparent contradiction between Western countries’ embrace of LGBTQ+ inclusion and the opposition of some African and Eastern European cultures. He offers a challenge to all delegates:

“(The) meeting of cultures is at the heart of many debates in the Synod, and especially of the embrace of gays. And we must be aware that the meeting of cultures is never just innocent. For example, other cultures come to Africa with weapons and money. There are power dynamics. African bishops shared with us how deeply they feel the humiliation of the aid that comes with the acceptance of Western values. Multinationals corrupt and destroy local cultures. Foreign powers do that too. . .

“So working for a Church that truly has open doors is inextricably linked to addressing the ways in which countries in the Global South face unjust economic exploitation, ecological devastation and cultural destruction. No wonder we in the North are considered decadent. We all move forward together on the path to liberation, or not at all.”

The Dominican leader has an LGBTQ+ record from the 1990s. In 2016, Radcliffe said Catholics should focus less on what others “do in bed” and more on helping people find God on their own path, although he also objected to marriage equality. In 2014, conservative Catholics boycotted a conference at which he spoke because of the priest’s LGBTQ+ pastoral work. Radcliffe responded with these words about same-sex love: “It can certainly be generous, vulnerable, tender, mutual and non-violent. So in many ways I would think it could be an expression of Christ’s self-giving.”

In 2013, he wrote an essay on “A New Way of Being Church” in light of Pope Francis’ leadership, suggesting that the Pope had opened a new path on LGBTQ+ issues. In 2006, Radcliffe called on the church to “stand with” gay people by “stretching our images,” which means watching “Brokeback Mountain,” reading gay novels, living with our gay friends and listening with them as they listen. to the Lord.” In 2005, Radcliffe defended gay priests after a Vatican instruction was released banning gay men from entering the seminary, saying: “I have no doubt that God calls homosexuals to the priesthood, and they are among the most dedicated and impressive priests I have meet. ”

Radcliffe concluded his address to LGBT+ Catholics Westminster with a simple prayer that all Catholics should join as the meeting begins: “that the synod may open the minds of all our hearts and challenge all our prejudices.”

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, September 28, 2024

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