Is homosexual sex unitive? I don’t think it is. What is it that is uniting? Purely on the physical level, as wideawake indicated, it’s hard to see how sperm cells are in any way uniting with the cells of someone’s descending colon. With natural intercourse, there is a true union and true fusion that results in a new human being.
The only possible uniting that could be going on between two men is spiritual. But you can share a spiritual bond with all kinds of people without bedding them, so I’m not sure why sodomy enters into the picture.
Essentially, what homosexuality does is that it seeks a good—the spiritual union of two souls—and then improperly moves it into a sexual venue. A while back I read some testimony from folks who had “lived the life” and then for various reasons left it. Many of them were very clear about their psychological motivations—they said they craved male companionship, but no matter how many men they slept with, they could never find it. To me, biology aside, that’s Exhibit A of the non-unitive nature of homosexuality.
“Is homosexual sex unitive? I don’t think it is. What is it that is uniting? Purely on the physical level, as wideawake indicated, it’s hard to see how sperm cells are in any way uniting with the cells of someone’s descending colon. With natural intercourse, there is a true union and true fusion that results in a new human being.”
I guess I should confess that to my ol’ protestant self, this bishop’s decision sounds pretty silly. However, your post brings up exactly the confusion that I had. Wideawake appears to be distinguishing between the physical union of two people (i.e. Part A going into Slot B — “unitive”) and the union of sperm and egg (i.e. “procreative”). Thus, you’re making the case that I’m quite familiar with — that homosexual marriage is not procreative. However, wideawake notes that Catholics believe that unitive sex is sufficient grounds for marriage.
“The only possible uniting that could be going on between two men is spiritual.”
I’ve heard that there are ways of physically uniting these folks. Wideawake has suggested that this doesn’t count, though, because Slot C and Slot B are not morally equivalent. Having been raised with admonitions to stay away from Catholics, I never really understood their theology. It’s interesting to hear a little about it.