"This saying is hard; who can accept it? . . . As a result of this many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him." For five weeks now we have been hearing John 6 for our gospel—Jesus' Bread of Life Discourse. We have now reached the climax. As it becomes clear that Jesus is really teaching the necessity of eating His flesh and drinking His blood to have eternal life there is a fundamental division among His disciples, and some abandon Christ because His message is too hard for them to take.

The challenge of Christ's teaching, and that basic choice, to leave or follow Jesus, are still realities for His disciples today. We have been discussing the Eucharist for a month, but today I want to speak to you about another of Christ's "hard sayings"—the teaching of Jesus Christ and His Church regarding human sexuality, and, in particular, homosexuality, in light of current events in our culture. Homosexuality has been much in the news recently. This summer the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a Texas law against homosexual acts. The Episcopalians elected their first openly, active homosexual bishop a few weeks ago. Canada, following Holland and Belgium, just redefined marriage to include homosexual unions besides those between a man and woman. The Massachusetts Supreme Court is expected to do the same thing in that state any day now. In the months and years to come homosexuality will be much debated in America and I thought it necessary to explain the Catholic Church's teaching on the matter because you won't hear it anywhere else. It's been my policy as Pastor to point out the ways in which Catholicism speaks to the culture. People sometimes say their faith has nothing to say to their "real lives." Well, whether it's Stem Cell Research, The Iraq War, or the debate about Homosexuality, the Church does have something to say.

This is a very sensitive issue because sexuality is such an intimate and important part of us. I realize that there are people in this congregation today who have a homosexual orientation. There are even more people here whose immediate family is touched by homosexuality. In my own case, my first cousin Mike is homosexual. I'm not revealing any family secrets. Mike is very open about it all. And he's a wonderful person. And that is where we have to begin in talking about homosexuality. We must respect the human dignity of all persons regardless of sexual orientation. God loves homosexuals and heterosexuals equally. We don't know why some people have a sexual attraction for the same sex. It's still a mystery. But it is not a choice. A homosexual orientation in itself is neither morally good nor bad. And to make fun of people because of such an orientation, to call them names is a serious offense against charity. And to physically intimidate them or attack homosexuals is a grave sin. As the Catechism says, homosexuals "must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided." (2358)

And yet the Church does teach that homosexual acts are sinful. Why? It's a matter of the meaning of sex. The Catholic Church teaches that sex is a great good and a divine gift, but as such has a specific purpose and design. In Catholic thought we can't speak coherently about sexuality without reference to marriage. They go together because human sexuality is a vital way for human beings to co-create with God. We can actually help to form new persons through our sexuality. To those who participate in this procreation of humanity it can seem little short of miraculous. And the children created by our sexual acts also need to be raised, nurtured and educated. Those are central purposes of both marriage and the family.

I will talk about marriage in more detail next week. Today I just want to stress that it is the constant teaching of both scripture and Christian tradition that the exercise of our sexual gifts is restricted to marriage and has two equally important ends. First, the procreation of children. Second, the wholly legitimate pleasure of sex is meant to build up the unity and bonding between husband and wife so they can fulfill their nurturing and educating roles in the family. All sexual acts that fall outside of such a vision have always been seen as serious sins—"serious" precisely because they violate the lofty value and purpose of the human sexuality. And so adultery (sex of married people outside their marriages), fornication (sex between unmarried men and women), oral sex, masturbation, contraceptive sex within marriage, as well as sodomy (the theological name for homosexual acts), are sinful because they don't respect God's intended context for sex, i.e. marriage, and/or because they are not oriented toward the procreation of children.

Obviously Homosexuality is not uniquely contrary to Catholic sexual morality. There are many heterosexual challenges to Catholic sexual morality as well, but I speak of homosexuality in particular today because it has become so topical.

Despite the constant witness of the Christian tradition concerning the sinfulness of homosexual acts there have been many scholars in the past 30-40 years who have questioned that tradition. They have asserted that the Biblical condemnations are taken out of context or in some way no longer valid. They have even attempted to demonstrate that the Church has accepted homosexuality at some point in the past. I must say that I find their arguments unconvincing. Even leaving aside Old Testament condemnations, New Testament passages such as Romans 1, I Cor. 6, and I Tim. 1 could be quoted, making it is clear that in the first century Christian community homosexual acts were not acceptable. And they never became so.

I have some familiarity with Church history. Homosexuality has always been with us, but it has never been approved of. Therefore, quoting again from the Catechism, "Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that 'homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life . . . Under no circumstances can they be approved."(2357)

To some this is a hard saying indeed. I don't minimize its challenge to us all. I was speaking to a young man this past weekend who has recently returned to the Church and is very fervent. But his brother is homosexual. And his family has challenged his Catholic faith. "Surely," they say, "God doesn't reject a whole group of people."

You can probably imagine where this family is coming from. How does a family deal with homosexuality with in it? The points I stress are; be loving towards all at all times, keep the lines of communication open, and be true to your principles. These are hard things to juggle and there will be a lot of gray areas.

But I think it's important to stress that neither God nor the Catholic Church rejects homosexuals. Rather, just as with heterosexuals who sin sexually, the Church loves the sinner, but hates the sin. All homosexuals, like all single heterosexuals, are called to live chastely without sexual relations for the sake of their own happiness. Although it's difficult for sexually active homosexuals to believe, the goal of the teaching of the Church is actually their happiness. Almost all of us, heterosexual and homosexual alike, have sexual desires of one kind or another that can not be acted upon if we are to remain happy because such desires are spiritually destructive and go against God's plan for us and the human race. But it is also true that if any of us falls into temptation God has given us the sacrament of Reconciliation. God is merciful. He loves us all and will always accept us back when we stray, if we would only turn to Him.

Sexual activity is not a requirement for a happy, and fulfilling life. After all, given the Catholic understanding of human sexuality, sexual expression is a gift from God, given to some but not to others for a specific reason. It is not a right. But that idea goes against the very grain of our entire culture. Our culture sees sex as a purely private matter. It is a form of pleasure individuals give to one another with a malleable meaning. It can be a sign of love, or maybe a form of relaxation or recreation. But it is not seen as a divine gift with objective purposes and boundaries.

This disagreement over the meaning of sex and the nature of the human person has led to the conflict today between, on the one hand, the Catholic Church (and many other Christians) and, on the other the Gay Rights Movement and its allies in the secular society. I distinguish between "homosexual" and "gay" in that homosexual orientation is a fact of life, while being "gay" is a philosophical, theological, and political ideology that celebrates the homosexual orientation and stresses the morality of homosexual acts.

From the gay perspective, for a homosexual NOT to be sexually active is to be untrue to oneself. And a homosexual who follows the Church's teachings and lives chastely is denying who he or she really is, because for gay homosexuals sexual activity lies at the very center of their self-identity. Therefore, the logic of the gay rights movement requires not mere legal toleration of homosexual acts, but their acceptance as normal, beautiful—morally and legally equivalent to heterosexual acts; and homosexual unions as true marriages.

That idea is behind the growing tension in our society surrounding homosexuality. I don't think if the Texas legislature had voted to de-criminalize homosexual acts that there would have been much outcry. The point can be argued, but adultery, fornication, etc, are all legally tolerated. But when the whole society is asked, or forced, to change the very definition of marriage itself there is a line crossed that must result in Christians' resistance. We must respect and love ALL persons with homosexual orientations, but we must also resist a gay ideology contrary to the gospel.

"This saying is hard; who can accept it?" To return to our gospel today, we learn from it that Jesus' teaching will challenge and offend His disciples—us. Jesus reveals in the second reading from Ephesians that He loves His disciples, the Church, as much as a husband loves His bride. That image should comfort those who feel Christ's message is harsh. But Christ does expect fidelity from His bride. He does not run after those who leave Him, offering to change His teaching if they will only stay. He insists, rather, we make a choice as Joshua insisted to the chosen people 1,000 years before. "If it does not please you to serve the Lord," Joshua said, "decide today whom you will serve." We, too, must make that choice.

Perhaps in no other areas of life is this choice between the vision of Christ and that of the world so stark as it is in our understanding of marriage, sexuality, and the procreation of life. And, make no mistake, they are all connected. Our society increasingly demands in matters of sexuality that we conform to the world's standards, that we serve other gods than Christ. In the years ahead none of us will be able to avoid that choice. And the cost of staying with Christ will only increase.

The only way we can be sure of doing that in these challenging and confusing times is to stay united with the successor of St. Peter and the Catholic Church. Then, when Christ asks us, as He eventually asks all His disciples, "Do you also want to leave?" it will be our salvation, and I pray the salvation of the society, that we will answer with the first Fisherman, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life?"

Continue to Part II

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