Pride on Campus

This is the name of the RDC student group that defends and promotes a variety of sexual preferences except, of course, heterosexuality, which need not be defended. The list of "alternative lifestyles" that they support has become so long that I wonder how long it will be before they decide to shorten it to something more reasonable, such as, I don't know... non-heterosexual.

Now, before anyone starts calling me the traditional names for having tried to describe what Pride on Campus is, let me state that I am totally opposed to discrimination against anyone on the basis of what turns them on in the sexual sphere. I am also appalled and disgusted by any act of violence - verbal, physical or of any other type - against individuals, especially when it is motivated by differences of gender, race, culture or sexual orientation. So, if you don't want to look silly, don't say I am a homophobe, whatever that means (Hey, I notice now that Blogspot's spell checker does not even have that word! Is there a conspiracy?)

Of course, as a catholic, I do not share for a minute the idea that all lifestyles are to be equally respected, not that any sexual attraction should be equally considered and valued. If you want to know (really want to know, rather than rhetorically ask) what the Catholic Church teaches in this area and why, there are plenty of documents available, so I will not go further into that.

But I have often wondered why so many non-heterosexual groups, including this one, include the word "pride" in their name. Granted, the word pride is one of those words that has acquired different nuances of meanings over the years and it is often used now to indicate approval and/or satisfaction for certain accomplishments ("I am proud of my students' performance in the last exam." "I am proud of having taken my stats book to a reasonable state" etc.)

But it seems to me that the meaning referred to by "Pride on Campus", "Gay Pride days" etc is of the original sort: "I like myself, I consider what I do as the standard behaviour or even the ideal to strive for and don't you tell me that I am wrong because that is out of discussion." In other words, this is the kind of pride that affected a couple of people in a middle-eastern garden a few years back.

In Catholic theology pride is a sin, in fact the primary sin, to which all others are related and with good reason. Pride turns us within ourselves, makes us focus on number 1 (me) and makes us blind and deaf to any input that others offer to us. As such it leads to death, meaning spiritual, intellectual and personal, if not physical death. Of course this view is shared by many other religious groups, christian and otherwise, and I am sure that non-heterosexuals, many of whom are very smart and well educated, are aware of this. So why do they use that word? Why not "Sexual freedom on Campus" or "Sexual alternatives parade"?

Why so much emphasis on "pride"?

Book suggestion

My son insisted that we get hold of the Space Trilogy by C.S.Lewis, but this is a very difficult task, since it is not in print often and there are few copies available. During a recent trip to the US I happened to visit a bookstore in Portland that touts itself as being the largest in the world, so I put them to the test and, sure enough, they did have used copies of the Trilogy.

Well, am I ever grateful to my son for his insistence! What a beautiful piece of theologically inspired fiction! The first book seems like a standard Sci-Fi story, although marred by its dating to before the technological space revolution of the late 20th century. The second book becomes unabashedly theological, while still telling an engaging Sci-Fi story (complete with violence, nudity and power struggles), and it can be used to understand the answer to the common question "If there are other planets with a spiritually conscious species, and if Jesus is the only son of God, what would happen to those other guys?" While you get an answer to that question, you also are enlightened about other major aspects of Christian theology. I will tell about the third one when I read it...

I continue to have this feeling that C.S.Lewis was sent to RCIA while in Purgatory to be cleaned of his refusal to join the Catholic Church :)

A different perspective on today's reading

Today's Gospel reading (that being Monday, October 5) is the famous parable of the good Samaritan. Famous, well known and well understood by all. In fact it is a parable that even non religious people find inspiring.

And yet, as it so often happens with Scripture, there is always something else to find in it.

We all know that the priest and the Levite who avoid the poor beaten man and walk to the other side represent those who officially take up positions of religious authority, but are mostly interested in their own affairs rather than that of their neighbor. All perfectly correct.

But we can look at a small detail of this story from a different angle. These are two people who made a wrong choice, while the Samaritan (remember, that means someone considered as unworthy by the Jews) showed himself to be the true neighbor. Does that make the priest and the Levite evil? Are they beyond salvation? Should we condemn them for ever and ever?

I think not. I think that our response to people who act in this way should be to pray for them. Not justify their action, not save them from any just punishment they may deserve from the appointed autorities, but not throw the first stone either. Which character reflects the way we would behave in that situation? Are we sure?

I think that we should pray for those who make wrong choices, that they (and we) may realize the errors, repent of them and do better in the future.

As I state this, I am thinking of Bishop Lahey. If, as it looks like, he has done something morally and legally bad, he should pay the price for his actions. But that is up to the state and his episcopal brothers to decide. Our role right now is to pray for him, so that he may spend the rest of his life correcting his mistakes, staying away from sin and turning towards the God who loves him and that (I amd ocnvinced) he loves.