“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.
Lots of things sound silly until they are explained well, so no harm there. :)
It’s a tangled question, and I’m trying also to wrap my brain around this in terms of the model marriage of Mary and Joseph and the longstanding tradition of married saints embracing voluntary celibacy. I’ll have to think about it some more.
As to your comment about hypothetical ways to “unite” two male gametes...maybe, but even so, that unity would take place in the laboratory and not in the bedroom. The sex would still be as sterile as ever.