LGBT-Related Excerpts from ‘Amoris Laetitia’

Responses have already been wide and varied for Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetita, his response to the 2014 and 2015 synods on the family. Bondings 2.0 will be providing our readers with a sampling of these reactions in the coming days.

The document itself has a mixture of positive and negative sections in it, especially in regard to LGBT issues and pastoral ministry in the Church.  Below are some passages that are related to LGBT issues directly, or that can easily be applied to them.  As New Ways Ministry stated in its own response, there are disappointing references to LGBT topics, but if some of the more general pastoral principles are applied to LGBT people, this document could provide a good way forward for the Church.  You can access the entire document by clicking here.

The number before  each section refers to the e paragraph number, not the page number:

Cover page of “Amoris Laetitia”

On allowing for local pastoral decision-making:

3:  I would make it clear that not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium. Unity of teaching and practice is certainly necessary in the Church, but this does not preclude various ways of interpreting some aspects of that teaching or drawing certain consequences from it. This will always be the case as the Spirit guides us towards the entire truth (cf. Jn 16:13), until he leads us fully into the mystery of Christ and enables us to see all things as he does. Each country or region, moreover, can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs. For “cultures are in fact quite diverse and every general principle… needs to be inculturated, if it is to be respected and applied.”

On church leaders being self-critical and realistic:

36. We also need to be humble and realistic, acknowledging that at times the way we present our Christian beliefs and treat other people has helped contribute to today’s problematic. We also need to be humble and realistic, acknowledging that at times the way we present our Christian beliefs and treat other people has helped contribute to today’s problematic. We also need to be humble and realistic, acknowledging that at times the way we present our Christian beliefs and treat other people has helped contribute to today’s problematic situation. We need a healthy dose of self-criticism. Then too, we often present marriage in such a way that its unitive meaning, its call to grow in love and its ideal of mutual assistance are overshadowed by an almost exclusive insistence
on the duty of procreation. Nor have we always provided solid guidance to young married couples, understanding their timetables, their way of thinking and their concrete concerns. At times we have also proposed a far too abstract and almost artificial theological ideal of marriage, far􀀃 removed from the concrete situations and practical
possibilities of real families. This excessive idealization, especially when we have failed to inspire trust in God’s grace, has not helped to make marriage more desirable and attractive, but quite the opposite.

On gay and lesbian partnerships:

52: We need to acknowledge the great variety of family situations that can offer a certain stability, but de facto or same-sex unions, for example, may not simply be equated with marriage.

On questions of gender identity:

56:  Yet another challenge is posed by the various forms of an ideology of gender that “denies the difference and reciprocity in nature of a man and a woman and envisages a society without sexual differences, thereby eliminating the anthropological basis of the family. This ideology leads to educational programmes and legislative enactments that promote a personal identity and emotional intimacy radically separated from the biological difference between male and female. Consequently, human identity becomes the choice of the individual, one which can also change over time.” It is a source of concern that some ideologies of this sort, which seek to respond to what are at times understandable aspirations, manage to assert themselves as absolute and unquestionable, even dictating how children should be raised. It needs to be emphasized that “biological sex and the socio-cultural role of sex (gender) can be distinguished but not separated.”

285:  Beyond the understandable difficulties which individuals may experience, the young need to be helped to accept their own body as it was created, for “thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation… An appreciation of our body as male or female is also necessary for our own self-awareness in an encounter with others different from ourselves. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment.  Only by losing the fear of being different, can we be freed of self-centredness and self-absorption. Sex education should help young people to accept their own bodies and to avoid the pretension “to cancel out sexual difference because one no longer knows how to deal with it.”

On heterosexual couples as parents

172: Every child has a right to receive love from a mother and a father; both are necessary for a child’s integral and harmonious development.

On dialogue:

138: Develop the habit of giving real importance to the other person. This means appreciating them and recognizing their right to exist, to think as they do and to be happy. Never downplay
what they say or think, even if you need to express your own point of view. Everyone has something to contribute, because they have their life experiences, they look at things from a different
standpoint and they have their own concerns, abilities and insights. We ought to be able to acknowledge the other person’s truth, the value of his or her deepest concerns, and what it is that
they are trying to communicate, however aggressively. We have to put ourselves in their shoes and try to peer into their hearts, to perceive their deepest concerns and to take them as a point of
departure for further dialogue.

139: Keep an open mind. Don’t get bogged down in your own limited ideas and opinions, but be prepared to change or expand them. The combination of two different ways of thinking can lead to a synthesis that enriches both. The unity that we seek is not uniformity, but a “unity in diversity”, or “reconciled diversity”. Fraternal communion is enriched by respect and appreciation for differences within an overall perspective that advances the common good. We need to free ourselves from feeling that we all have to be alike. A certain astuteness is also needed to prevent the appearance of “static” that can interfere with the process of dialogue. For example, if hard feelings start to emerge, they should be dealt with sensitively, lest they interrupt the dynamic of dialogue. The ability to say what one is thinking without offending the other person is important. Words should be carefully chosen so as not to offend, especially when discussing difficult issues.  Making a point should never involve venting and inflicting hurt. A patronizing tone only serves to hurt, ridicule, accuse and offend others. Many disagreements between couples are not about important things. Mostly they are about trivial matters. What alters the mood, however, is the way things are said or the attitude with which they are said.

On ministry to families with lesbian and gay members:

250: The Church makes her own the attitude of the Lord Jesus, who offers his boundless love to each person without exception. During the Synod, we discussed the situation of families whose members include persons who experience same-sex attraction, a situation not easy either for parents or for children. We would like before all else to reaffirm that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, while ‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression and violence. Such families should be given respectful pastoral guidance, so that those who manifest a homosexual orientation can receive the assistance they need to understand and fully carry out
God’s will in their lives.

On marriage equality and international aid:

251: In discussing the dignity and mission of the family, the Synod Fathers observed that, “as for proposals to place unions between homosexual persons on the same level as marriage, there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family”. It is unacceptable “that local Churches should be subjected to pressure in this matter and that international bodies should make financial aid to poor countries dependent on the introduction of laws to establish ‘marriage’ between persons of the same sex”.

Mitigating circumstances:

301: The Church possesses a solid body of reflection concerning mitigating factors and situations. Hence it is can no longer simply be said that all those in any “irregular” situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace. More is involved here than mere ignorance of the rule. A subject may know full well the rule, yet have great difficulty in understanding “its inherent values” or be in a concrete situation which does not allow him or her to act differently and decide otherwise without further sin.

302: I consider very fitting what many Synod Fathers wanted to affirm:  “Under certain circumstances people find it very difficult to act differently. Therefore, while upholding a general rule, it is necessary to recognize that responsibility with respect to certain actions or decisions is not the same in all cases. Pastoral discernment, while taking into account a person’s properly formed conscience, must take responsibility for these situations. Even the consequences of actions taken are not necessarily the same in all cases”.

On conscience:

303: . . . [E]very effort should be made to encourage the development of an enlightened conscience, formed and guided by the responsible and serious discernment of one’s pastor, and to encourage an ever greater trust in God’s grace. Yet conscience can do more than recognize that a given situation does not correspond objectively to the overall demands of the Gospel. It can also recognize with sincerity and honesty what for now is the most generous response which can be given to God, and come to see with a certain moral security that it is what God himself is asking amid the concrete complexity of one’s limits, while yet not fully the objective ideal. In any event, let us recall that this discernment is dynamic; it must remain ever open to new stages of growth and to new decisions which can enable the ideal to be more fully realized.

On throwing stones and natural law:

305:  . . . a pastor cannot feel that it is enough simply to apply moral laws to those living in “irregular” situations, as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives. This would bespeak the closed heart of one used to hiding behind the Church’s teachings, “sitting on the chair of Moses and judging at times with superiority and superficiality difficult case and wounded􀀃families”. Along these same lines, the International Theological Commission has noted that “natural law could not be presented as an already established set of rules that impose themselves a priori on the moral subject; rather, it is a source of objective inspiration for the deeply personal process of making decisions”. Because of forms of conditioning and mitigating factors, it is possible that in an objective situation of sin –which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such – a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church’s help to this end.􀀃 Discernment must help to find possible ways of responding to God and growing in the midst of limits. By thinking that everything is black and white, we sometimes close off the way of grace and of growth, and discourage paths of sanctification which give glory to God.

Allowing for pastoral complications:

308: At the same time, from our awareness of the weight of mitigating circumstances – psychological, historical and even biological – it follows that “without detracting from the evangelical ideal, there is a need to accompany with mercy and patience the eventual stages of personal growth as these progressively appear”, making room for “the Lord’s mercy, which spurs us on to do our best”. I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion. But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness, a Mother who, while clearly expressing her objective teaching, “always does what good she can, even if in the process, her shoes get soiled by the mud of the street”. The Church’s pastors, in proposing to the faithful the full ideal of the Gospel and the Church’s teaching, must also help them to treat the weak with compassion, avoiding aggravation or unduly harsh or hasty judgements. The Gospel itself tells us not to judge or condemn (cf. Mt 7:1; Lk 6:37). Jesus “expects us to stop looking for those personal or communal niches which shelter us
from the maelstrom of human misfortune, and instead to enter into the reality of other people’s lives and to know the power of tenderness. Whenever we do so, our lives become wonderfully
complicated”.

–Compiled by Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

0 replies
  1. jeanbrookbank
    jeanbrookbank says:

    Francis — i am curious to know hos you discerned that all sections above can be interpreted as applying to the LGBT community. I would like to think that Francis is encouraging parish priests and parishioners to share a parish picnic table with Catholics living in “irregular situations” includes the gay Catholic couple and their kids at the parish picnic but nothing I read suggested that. My reading is that the irregularly situated households to be embraced include civilly remarried, unmarried straight, single parent, divorced and LGBT people and their families (meaning the church can deal with LGBT people as children, not as adults with adult lives). No mention of a place in the church for families headed by LGBT adults.

    My sense is that if Francis really meant that there is a place for LGBT ADULTS (again, as distinct from LGBT adult-children) that would be clear and the response to the document would be significantly different from people hoping for that day and from people terrified of that day.

    Would love to hear that I am wrong and that I missed something in my reading which lends itself to your interpretations.

    Jean

    Reply
    • newwaysministryblog
      newwaysministryblog says:

      You are correct that nothing in the content of some of these quotations refers to LGBT people. I included them, however, because I felt that their content specifically related to LGBT pastoral situations.

      Reply
      • jeanbrookbank
        jeanbrookbank says:

        Thank you for the quick response and clarification. I will pray that clergy and lay people alike will indeed read these passages and recognize what you did (and I agree with you). Thank you for everything you, Sister Jeannine and everyone involved in New Ways do.

        A grateful ally,

        Jean Brookbank

        Reply
  2. Chris Nunez
    Chris Nunez says:

    Really wish you folks would add a PDF capability to these posts, like NCR… these are important commentaries that we should be able to keep in computer files for reference… please, someday!

    Reply

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. […] gender identity came in his encyclical on creation, Laudato Si, and his apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia.   While this latest remark was not his first ill-informed comment, let’s hope it will be his […]

  2. […] or effect new pastoral outreach. Indeed, the working group’s efforts may further dull any positive impact the exhortation can have. We need to remember that in the church change rises from the bottom, […]

  3. […] for Pope Francis to celebrate the Jubilee Year of Mercy, and a great way for him to enact the more communal views on doctrine and dialogue which he outlined in Amoris […]

  4. […] You can read more about the content of Amoris Laetitia from Joshua McElwee of the National Catholic Reporter by clicking here.   You can read document excerpts related to LGBT issues by clicking here. […]

  5. […] as they relate to LGBT issues. You can read LGBT-related excerpts from Amoris Laetitia by clicking here.  You can read New Ways Ministry’s response by clicking […]

  6. […] Go here to read the full document, which also reaffirm’s the church’s opposition to contraception and abortion, and offers the possibility of divorced and remarried Catholics receiving communion. And New Ways excerpts the LGBT-related sections here. […]

  7. […] You can read LGBT-related excerpts from Amoris Laetitia by clicking here. […]

  8. […] as they relate to LGBT issues. You can read LGBT-related excerpts from Amoris Laetitia by clicking here.  You can read New Ways Ministry’s response by clicking […]

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