Theologian: Reductionism in the Church Will Destroy the Faith

Franca Spies

“Anyone who thinks Christianity can be reduced to questions of gender and sexuality must ignore a large part of the faith’s tradition.”

That’s the opinion of German theologian Franca Spies, a professor of dogmatics at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Salzburg. Spies made the comment in an interview with the Austrian news outlet Die Furche, which was summarized by the German Catholic website Katholische.de.

Pope Leo said made a related comment earlier this year when he said “. . . [I[t’s very important to understand that the unity or division of the Church should not revolve around sexual matters. We tend to think that when the Church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual.”

Spies’ comment is an interesting one because it also echoes a much older Catholic statement on identity. Forty years ago this week, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a document entitled Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, which promoted a strongly negative view of gay and lesbian sexuality. Although it was officially dated October, 1, 1986, the Letter only became known to the general poplation when it was made public at the end of October.  People read the first news reports of it on Halloween, October 31st, thus providing it with the moniker “the Halloween Letter.”

In section 16 of the Letter, the CDF wrote:

“The human person, made in the image and likeness of God, can hardly be adequately described by a reductionist reference to his or her sexual orientation. . . .Today, the Church provides a badly needed context for the care of the human person when she refuses to consider the person solely as a ‘heterosexual’ or a ‘homosexual’ and insists that every person has a fundamental identity: the creature of God, and by grace, his child and heir to eternal life.”

Like Spies, this 1986 document also called for an end to reductionist thinking. The only problem is that many church officials did not follow this advice.  Instead, they considered that someone’s Catholic identity could be determined only by their sexual orientation, the possibility of sexual activity, or the opinion one held about these matters.  In fact, some church leaders went to an extreme in reductionist thinking by trying to pretend that a homosexual identity did not even exist. Instead, they only discussed “inclinations,” “same-sex attractions,” and “acts.”

Spies offered a different kind of anti-reductionism: “There is no fixed Catholic identity that is definitively established,” she stated “It seems to me that more is in flux than a focused look at official pronouncements allows us to see.”  In other words, Catholicism is evolving, as it has always done.

There is only one way to theologically ground Catholic faith, Spies said:

“Catholicism believes in the definitive revelation of God, but also in the fact that this revelation is grasped ever more deeply throughout history and expressed anew each time. We can therefore expect that the Church’s convictions will at some point be understood better or even differently.”

In fact, she notes, the struggle that accompanies this evolution is part of the process of growth. It also prevents the faith from becoming calcified:

“In some places today, a Catholicism of absolute resolve is being proclaimed. I hardly believe that this will last a lifetime. A faith tested by crises and repeatedly won over, however, is more likely to be. The Church can see its role precisely in accompanying such a faith.”

It does not take much insight to notice that the Church’s discussion of LGBTQ+ issues is precisely one of those crises.  As the movement of synodality is trying to promote, Church leaders would do well to accompany these new revelations of faith rather than staunchly opposing them in a reductionist way.

—Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry, September 29, 2026

Later this week, on October 1st, Bondings 2.0 will inaugurate a series marking the 40th anniversary of the Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons.  The series, entitled “40 Years in the Desert,” will feature perspectives from a variety of Catholic theologians and LGBTQ+ thought leaders.

The first essay will be by James Alison, a gay Catholic Priest, theologian and author. Be sure to “tune in” to each installment. To be sure not to miss one, consider subscribing to Bondings 2.0. It’s free, and it will provide you with each day’s post through a daily email message. To subscribe, click here.