US Catholic priest challenges Church to love gays more deeply

Photo ~ Father James Martin.Photo: America, The National Catholic Review

A prominent Catholic writer priest has challenged his church "to love gays and lesbians more deeply."

The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit editor at America, a Catholic magazine, underlines the problem with the "love the sinner, hate the sin" formula he says many Christians use to guide their beliefs around homosexuality.

His piece entitled, Simply loving, comes at a time that the Vatican is said to be considering relaxing its stance on same-sex civil partnerships and when Pope Francis has urged more tolerance toward gay people.

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ignea orationem

May 20, 2014

This priest has a history of focussing on the same-sex topic and he loves to hang around the artsy fartsy crowd, it kind of makes you wonder whats up with him???? He accused Blessed Cardinal Newman of being gay also in an article a few years back that was very distasteful to say the least.

Dr Bobus

May 20, 2014

Two comments:

1. Hating the sin and loving the sinner is the maxim. Although we are all sinners, what if the sinner identifies himself with the sin? It is one thing to steal, another to be a thief, stealing habitually. Likewise it is one thing to commit adultery, another to do it habitually, becoming an adulterer.

2. Although there are various interpretations of Zachaeus' meeting with Christ, the Martin interpretation seems not to be consistent with text.

a. When Zachaeus tells Christ about giving to the poor and not defrauding anyone, the tenses do not indicate that it is a promise of future behavior. Rather, it is a comment directed at the opinion of Jews, that he is already acting ethically in his work. This is not a story of ethical conversion.

b. And so the story indicates that ethical behavior, while good, is not sufficient—he is not able to see Christ without climbing a sycamore tree . It is not the same as the presence of Christ, or, more specifically, the Divine Indwelling of the Trinity. To put it another way, the Acquired Virtues are not the same as the Infused Virtues.