Politics
Monday December 18, 2006
Heterosexual Rejection of Marriage Values Leads to Homosexual Marriage, Says Catholic Moral Theologian
Society’s obsession with sex reflects the split between sexuality and identity in today’s culture
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By Gudrun Schultz
OTTAWA, Canada, December 18, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Individual couples’ faithfulness to the traditional values of Catholic marriage is vital in countering the push for same-sex “marriage,” a Catholic moral theologian said recently, saying people are more influenced by witnessing faithfulness than by arguments and debates.
Deborah Gyapong, for the Canadian Catholic News Service, reported on a presentation by Dr. Pia de Solenni to an Ottawa gathering on Dec.9, sponsored by the Ottawa Cosmos and Damian Society for Medical Ethics and the Ottawa Catholic Physician’s Guild.
It becomes “very difficult” to argue against same-sex marriage, Dr. de Solenni said, when heterosexual couples fail to respect the traditional values of marriage. Using contraception, regarding sex as simply a pleasure activity, considering children a “maybe,” and divorcing easily - all contribute directly to society’s growing acceptance of homosexuality.
“Outside of the Catholic Church there is no context or vision for sex,” said Dr. de Solenni, who is adjunct professor at Notre Dame Graduate School in Virginia and former director of Life and Women’s Issues at the Family Research Council in Washington, D. C.
Society’s obsession with sex reflects the split between sexuality and identity in today’s culture, Dr. de Solenni said, criticizing gender theory for attempting to divorce human identity from gender.
Forty years of feminism have “trained women to think about sex the way a not very good man thinks about it,” she said. Casual sex and one-night stands are the weapon society uses to avoid intimacy and the vulnerability of a genuine sexual encounter, she said.
The marriage relationship, however, is meant to be as intimate as the relationship between Christ and the Church, Dr. de Solenni said, leading men and women to a genuine encounter of themselves, each other and ultimately, God.
Sexual sin and disorder is so deeply personal, “in your face, in front of us all the time” that it leads to a profound sense of shame, causing men and women to hide their sexual differentiation in today’s culture.
Dr. de Solenni said she believes young people today are becoming more open to a traditional understanding of the sacred nature of marriage, saying young people have lived through the “divorce culture.” She called for more careful preparation of youth for dating and marriage, saying communication skills and an understanding of Natural Family Planning should be part of high school instruction.
Read coverage at Catholic Online:
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=22351
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