Catholic Replies
Q. I am enthralled by the story of St. Giuseppe Moscati, the first modern doctor to be declared a saint. Could you tell me more about him? — M.G.L., Arizona.
A. Giuseppe Moscati was born in 1880, the seventh of nine children, to aristocratic Italian parents who settled in Naples, where his father was a renowned magistrate and a pious Catholic. His decision to study medicine instead of law was prompted by years of caring for his brother Alberto, who had sustained incurable head trauma after falling from a horse. Despite the agnostic and immoral atmosphere at the University of Naples, Giuseppe studied hard while continuing to practice his faith, and graduated from medical school with honors in 1903.
He taught general medicine at the University of Naples and practiced medicine at the Hospital for Incurables in Naples, where his unusual skill at diagnosing illnesses was attributed in part to his knowledge of the new science of biochemistry. While dedicating the Church of St. Giuseppe Moscati in the suburbs of Rome in 1993, Pope John Paul II said of Dr. Moscati that, “in addition to the resources of his acclaimed skill, in caring for the sick he used the warmth of his humanity and the witness of his faith.” He always encouraged patients facing surgery to receive the sacraments.
The “holy physician of Naples,” as he was called, distinguished himself during the 1911 cholera epidemic, and he reportedly treated some 3,000 soldiers during World War I. A daily communicant, Dr. Moscati had just made his rounds at the hospital one day in 1927 when he felt weary. He lay down and died at the age of 47. The miracle for his canonization was the cure of a young boy who was dying of leukemia. His mother had dreamed of a doctor in a white coat and, when shown a picture by her pastor, she identified the doctor as Blessed Giuseppe. Many other miracles have been attributed to his intercession since then.
His powerful mediation in Heaven may be explained by what he once wrote to a colleague: “Only one science is unshakable and unshaken, the one revealed by God, the science of the hereafter! In all your works, look to Heaven, to the eternity of life and of the soul, and orient yourself then much differently from the way that merely human considerations might suggest, and your activity will be inspired for the good.” St. Giuseppe Moscati, pray for us.
Q. In a recent column in our parish bulletin (see enclosure), the pastor objected to the use of the phrase “same-sex attraction” when discussing homosexuality and said that “people who are gay and lesbian find this language to be insulting and hurtful.” He said that “the use of this phrase conjures up the scarlet letter, implying that sinful behavior and homosexuality are intrinsically linked. Moreover, when this offensive phrase is used, it takes on the connotation of an illness or a disease or an affliction.” What do you think of his comments? — Name Withheld, Massachusetts.
A. We think that the phrase is a charitable way of describing sexual relations between two members of the same sex. Even the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines homosexuality as “relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction towards persons of the same sex” (n. 2357). How can such terminology be insulting or hurtful when it accurately describes the situation?
The Catechism is even more pointed when it says that Sacred Scripture “presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity” [cf. Gen. 19:1-29; Romans 1:24-27; 1 Cor. 6:10; 1 Tim. 1:10],” and that “tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered’ [CDF, Persona Humana, n. 8]. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved” (n. 2357).
Even more problematic, in our opinion, were these other comments from your pastor:
“When Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple Computer, recently wrote about his own sexual orientation, he spoke of it as ‘…one of the greatest gifts that God has given me….’ (Bloomberg Business Week, January 30, 2014) and not an illness. In recent times, he is not the only person to speak of his sexuality in these terms. In doing so, it was Cook’s intention to help remove the stigma that still surrounds the reality of homosexuality. Cook and others speak quite beautifully about coming to an awareness of how they are made in the image and likeness of God. Less preoccupied by sexual behavior, they are simply claiming their own sense of identity.”
Wow! Where does one begin to address these comments? Homosexuality a gift from God? Really? Our sexuality is a gift from God, and He expects us to use it in the way He intended. So how can the abuse of this gift be pleasing to God? How can God be happy with actions that contradict His specific plan — actions that He condemned several times in Sacred Scripture? Actions that until recently were considered crimes in many countries? Why? Because they are contrary to nature. That’s why there is a stigma attached to what your pastor calls “the reality of homosexuality.”
If your pastor ever tried to talk about “the reality of homosexuality” in the parish bulletin, his column would have to be x-rated. For the reality is a world of promiscuity, disease, and early death. But even if one ignores this reality, and tries to paint a picture of happy, loving same-sex relationships, the bottom line is that any sexual activity outside of marriage is a grave sin.
We are puzzled as to why your pastor would praise Apple CEO Tim Cook for speaking “quite beautifully” about how he is made in the image and likeness of God, and how he is “simply claiming [his] own sense of identity,” because our identity is not based on our sexuality. Being made in the image and likeness of God means resembling God in that we can think, choose, and love. It does not mean that we can choose a lifestyle that contradicts God’s divine plan.
In the first chapter of Genesis, it says that “God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them [Adam and Eve], saying to them: ‘Be fertile and multiply’” (1:27-28). In chapter two, God said that “it is not good for the man to be alone; I will make a suitable partner for him” (2:18). God didn’t make another man to be Adam’s partner, but rather a woman. And “that is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body” (Gen. 2:24). Only a male and female can be fertile and multiply, and only a husband and wife can become one body. That is God’s reality, and it is the only reality that counts if one wishes to get to Heaven.
After saying that all of us are “called to live lives of virtue, including the virtue of chastity,” your pastor said that “singling out one category of people for special admonition says more about a general and unhealthy preoccupation with sex than it does about the life of virtue that we are all encouraged to embrace.”
First, not all of those with a homosexual and lesbian inclination are singled out for admonition, but only those who engage in this behavior. Second, there are plenty of categories of people singled out for special admonition in the Bible and the Catechism. For example, St. Paul singles out fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, boy prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers, and robbers as people who will not inherit the Kingdom of God unless they repent (cf. 1 Cor. 6:9-10).
Finally, your pastor said that Jesus “came to call sinners, not the self-righteous. As we reflect upon the kind of discrimination that gay and lesbian people experience, it usually comes from the self-righteous in our society.” Using the term “self-righteous” is a clever ploy to deflect criticism of those whom the Catechism says have “deep-seated homosexual tendencies.”
Of course, no righteous Catholic should discriminate against those with this tendency, which the Catechism says is “objectively disordered [and] constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided” (n. 2358).
The key word here is “unjust,” for the Church has taught that one may discriminate against homosexuals “in the placement of children for adoption or foster care, in employment of teachers or athletic coaches, and in military recruitment” (Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, n. 11).
As the chief teacher in your parish, your pastor should have referenced Church teaching on this subject rather than the views of those involved in same-sex relationships.
