The Catholic Church at Crossroads
1 January 2024 By Abiodun Kareem Giwa
Pope Francis
Pope Francis caused a storm than expected with the announcement of the Catholic Church's latest decision about the relationship with the LGBTQ. The Pope's statement confused many observers and forcibly clarified its position against criticisms less than three days later. Many thought the LGBTQ community was welcome in the Church. The confusion caused some highly placed Church officials outside Rome to clear the ambiguity or give additional clarification. The Church has its culture, and like every other organization, its public image should be holy with its teaching. What has happened to its discretion?
This development is a reminder of the conversion process. A new member begins attending Church services, learning rules and regulations, including acquiring Bible knowledge. They accept baptism - a process of dying and renewal, which Jesus Christ undertook with John the Baptist as conductor. It is the sacrament of initiation and adoption for every Christian.
Would members of the LGBTQ accept the process of arriving at a stage of receiving the Church's blessing? The Pope and the Catholic Church failed to explain in the gobbledygook declaration that LGBTQ members can receive blessings without discrimination. It is difficult to define the difference between the Church marriage blessing and the one expected to be conferred on LGBTQ members by the Catholic Church. They will first have to forsake the past way, be renewed, and be eligible for any blessing under the Church canopy. It is not discrimination but the process.
News reports say the Catholic Church's decision is a doctrinal shift. They put the Pope and the Church in the middle, and the Pope's words for people requiring blessing don't need prior moral perfection as a precondition for obtaining blessing outlier. Does it mean those men at the Lot's door in Genesis who sought sex with him and rejected his daughters would be blessed if they offered themselves without precondition for moral perfection? The Catholic Church's decision in its Dicastery acts like Lot's wife, who looked back and became a pillar of salt. The result of Lot's wife looking back is the same as the destruction that occurred to the entire city of Sodom and Gomorrah because of God's disapproval for men having sex with men, and women doing the same with the same sex.
Homosexuality is not new. The struggle for its recognition and acceptance is as old humanity. The Catholic Church's gradual approach to embracing the odds is a sharp reminder of the Church's past. It tends to hold others accountable and not itself, leading to schism. The Anglican Church came to be from an effort to punish an effrontery in England that backfired. The Lutheran Church began when Martin Luther visited Rome from Germany and saw an unbelievable double standard in the lives of priests who preached one thing and did the opposite. The Church is not far from an imperfect organization struggling to maintain a sense of perfection strange to humanity.
It is not a case of a Liberal or Conservative Pope or Church. The Church is perspectively conservative because it follows the dictates of the Bible. It is troublesome when Church leaders' action tends to crush scriptural teaching opposed by a large Christian population. Many observers say the Church's responses to modernism against the scripture are like that of a person contending with the fear of death and extinction faced by Hurricane's danger. Do you blame the Church for bending backward to embrace anything considered evil to increase its attendance and income? Now, don't say the Church is not a business.
Yes, it is tax-exempt but still needs money to maintain its priests and buildings. If its population decreases, how will it get the money from offerings and tithes for maintenance and service for its branches? Every organization strategically looks to the future far beyond the present. The current situation in the Catholic Church does not require stampeding in competition with modern churches and other orientations, such as the LGBTQ. Instead of becoming worldly, preach the word and leave other works for Christ to complete. Most churches in Africa and Asia, like the societies they belong don't accept LGBTQ. Would they follow the Catholic Church precept?
This development is a reminder of the conversion process. A new member begins attending Church services, learning rules and regulations, including acquiring Bible knowledge. They accept baptism - a process of dying and renewal, which Jesus Christ undertook with John the Baptist as conductor. It is the sacrament of initiation and adoption for every Christian.
Would members of the LGBTQ accept the process of arriving at a stage of receiving the Church's blessing? The Pope and the Catholic Church failed to explain in the gobbledygook declaration that LGBTQ members can receive blessings without discrimination. It is difficult to define the difference between the Church marriage blessing and the one expected to be conferred on LGBTQ members by the Catholic Church. They will first have to forsake the past way, be renewed, and be eligible for any blessing under the Church canopy. It is not discrimination but the process.
News reports say the Catholic Church's decision is a doctrinal shift. They put the Pope and the Church in the middle, and the Pope's words for people requiring blessing don't need prior moral perfection as a precondition for obtaining blessing outlier. Does it mean those men at the Lot's door in Genesis who sought sex with him and rejected his daughters would be blessed if they offered themselves without precondition for moral perfection? The Catholic Church's decision in its Dicastery acts like Lot's wife, who looked back and became a pillar of salt. The result of Lot's wife looking back is the same as the destruction that occurred to the entire city of Sodom and Gomorrah because of God's disapproval for men having sex with men, and women doing the same with the same sex.
Homosexuality is not new. The struggle for its recognition and acceptance is as old humanity. The Catholic Church's gradual approach to embracing the odds is a sharp reminder of the Church's past. It tends to hold others accountable and not itself, leading to schism. The Anglican Church came to be from an effort to punish an effrontery in England that backfired. The Lutheran Church began when Martin Luther visited Rome from Germany and saw an unbelievable double standard in the lives of priests who preached one thing and did the opposite. The Church is not far from an imperfect organization struggling to maintain a sense of perfection strange to humanity.
It is not a case of a Liberal or Conservative Pope or Church. The Church is perspectively conservative because it follows the dictates of the Bible. It is troublesome when Church leaders' action tends to crush scriptural teaching opposed by a large Christian population. Many observers say the Church's responses to modernism against the scripture are like that of a person contending with the fear of death and extinction faced by Hurricane's danger. Do you blame the Church for bending backward to embrace anything considered evil to increase its attendance and income? Now, don't say the Church is not a business.
Yes, it is tax-exempt but still needs money to maintain its priests and buildings. If its population decreases, how will it get the money from offerings and tithes for maintenance and service for its branches? Every organization strategically looks to the future far beyond the present. The current situation in the Catholic Church does not require stampeding in competition with modern churches and other orientations, such as the LGBTQ. Instead of becoming worldly, preach the word and leave other works for Christ to complete. Most churches in Africa and Asia, like the societies they belong don't accept LGBTQ. Would they follow the Catholic Church precept?
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