The Double Gold Standard

Last updated on: October 6, 2020 at 10:55 pm by Gabriel Blanchard

The Double Gold Standard 2020-10-06T22:55:21-04:00 Gabriel Blanchard

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The English translation of Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti was released on the fourth. Among other things, it restates the Church’s rejection of capitalism and why she rejects it. This has provoked the usual suspects1 to accuse His Holiness of being a communist, which irritates me in the extreme—not as a communist (which I’m not), but as a gay man.

Let me explain. A musician and medical, uh, do-stuff-guy that I follow on Twitter posted something this afternoon that hit a nerve for me. It was an email from a local pastor. The church in question apparently had a mission statement (wow, I hate this already): “Love God, Love ALL People”. The gentleman in question sent them an email, asking whether they baptize, marry, or ordain LGBTQ people. The pastor’s response was this.

For anyone who doesn’t realize why this is multiple kinds of awful, good news: I’m mad enough to tell you!

First of all, the guy asked a very straightforward (heh) set of yes-or-no questions. Now, can yes-or-no questions call for tact and nuance? Yes. But the coy “hear more of our heart” shtick is vomit-inducingly twee at best. If you can’t write the barest preliminary answer to a simple question, it’s hard to hope that the in-person conversation will be productive.

Second, a Christian saying “Let’s get coffee” is only going one degree less obnoxious than “I’ll pray for you.” An affirming church would have immediately answered “Yes” to this email. They have nothing to weasel their way around. Frankly, trying to do so insults the reader’s intelligence.

And trying to set up a one-on-one chat with a stranger on those terms? Downright slimy. Or at least it comes across that way. Like I said, a “no” can merit context. But when you’re dealing with someone who doesn’t already trust you, you have to earn the right to explain your views. Especially if they’ve been traumatized by Christians in the past, which lots of LGBTQ people have. Be honest. And don’t get huffy if they don’t want to talk to you about something so intensely personal. They don’t owe you that. This kind of canned reply betrays a complete failure to think about the person who’s asking the question as if they were a person, one with a history and a mind, one who reacts to things for their own reasons.

But, uh … what does any of this have to do with capitalism? Simply this: I can affirm Catholic teaching about sexuality, and strangers will still question, harass, lecture, and insult me, just because I call myself gay instead of same-sex attracted (no matter how clearly I explain the word). Yet I have straight friends who openly reject the Church’s teaching about the moral side of economics, or even her authority to teach on the subject at all. And everyone still treats them like good Catholics.

That double standard? That’s what we’re talking about when we say Catholic culture is homophobic. People who honestly object to doctrinal dissent don’t appoint themselves judges of the Holy See. Side B2 Catholics walk on broken glass to maintain our orthodoxy. Our nonconformity is social, not theological, and it is costly. Very few people want to give up sexual intimacy, all reasonable expectation of marriage and family, and the opportunity to enter ministry, all in one go. But we do it. We do it to be faithful to the theology we believe and the Church we love. And for this, we get hit pieces written against us by Catholic journalists. Patronizing remarks from Catholic priests. Assumptions that we’re pedophiles from Catholic churchgoers. All while people who ignore, contradict, or ridicule the Church’s teaching—even people who vilify the Vicar of Christ—experience no social or ecclesiastical consequences whatsoever.

That is wrong. It’s wrong and it needs to end.

1Horny trads on the internet.

2Side B is a sort of nickname for the view that, while marriage is for one man and one woman, having a gay orientation is not a sin and doesn’t need to be changed or concealed.

Previous Post

October 2, 2020

Selections from "The Hiding Place": Ravensbruck

Next Post

October 14, 2020 Respect, Compassion, Sensitivity, and Asshattery

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abuse antifascism art bad Catholic celibacy chastity Church crucifixion culture war eros forgiveness gay gender homophobia ikons language liturgy peace poems politics Pope Francis prayer pro-life race recommendations reform repentance review sacraments saints satire scandal schism scripture sex suffering theology Uncategorized violence

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many chapters are in the book of Romans?

Select your answer to see how you score.

21 18 16 12