Father Ronaldo Zacharias (left) is pictured with Pope Francis while attending the International Congress of Moral Theology from May 13-14, 2022, at the Vatican
Posted on 03/24/2024 1:22:18 PM PDT by ebb tide
Father Ronaldo Zacharias (left) is pictured with Pope Francis while attending the International Congress of Moral Theology from May 13-14, 2022, at the Vatican
The Catholic Church's "established, dogmatic models of the theological approach to sexuality have become anachronistic," a moral theologian told a conference on sexuality and culture at the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences in Rome.
Developing a new theological ethics of sexuality is "a task for the entire church community," Salesian Father Ronaldo Zacharias, a professor of moral theology at the Salesian University of São Paulo, told the conference March 21.
"We cannot ignore that in recent decades there has been a remarkable evolution regarding terminologies, concepts and descriptions related to sexuality," he said, noting the strong influence such developments have had on people's conceptions of their own sexuality.
The church, therefore, "should not talk about sexuality without considering the understanding we have of it today," he said, while also keeping in mind potential problems with modern understandings of sexuality.
Citing the Brazilian theologian Augustinian Sister Ivone Gebara, he said that the church's "theology of binary sexuality is no longer able to understand the complexity that we discover in ourselves."
According to Father Zacharias, Catholic theology has not helped people integrate their sexuality into their personhood -- an issue that, among the church's ordained ministers, has reared its head in the clerical sex abuse crisis.
"Sexuality is a constitutive dimension of each person, a central aspect in the life of human beings that characterizes who a person is to the point that it cannot be left out in the process of personal fulfillment," he said.
Any person's sexuality, regardless of their vocation, "has a legitimate role in all phases of their development," and therefore it "cannot be confined to the context of marriage" or reduced to a means for procreation, he said.
The church, the priest said, must overcome "an essentially negative view of sexual desire, as if it were something to be repressed at every moment" and which suppresses a person's desire for love.
"Self-control is self-control, it is not a virtue," he said.
Sexuality, he said, "acquires its true human quality if it is oriented (toward), elevated and integrated into love."
"Authentic love moves one toward self-transcendence, and makes sexuality a 'place of reciprocity,' a place of affirming the good of the other," he said. "The integration of sexuality does not depend solely on the will of the person."
The church, therefore, "should not talk about sexuality without considering the understanding we have of it today," he said, while also keeping in mind potential problems with modern understandings of sexuality.
Citing the Brazilian theologian Augustinian Sister Ivone Gebara, he said that the church's "theology of binary sexuality is no longer able to understand the complexity that we discover in ourselves."
Barf Alert Ping
Here’s another one you can add to your Cliffs Notes collection of Jorge’s Homos, oystir.
It should make your day!
>>>>> Citing the Brazilian theologian Augustinian Sister Ivone Gebara, he said that the church’s “theology of binary sexuality is no longer able to understand the complexity that we discover in ourselves.”
Male and female he created them. Once again I am reminded of Gal 1:8~9.
Tell it to Jesus my friend.
If you should ever see him.
Sexuality has not changed since the days of Adam and Eve. God blesses sexual activity between married man and woman with no birth control involved. All others—sinful. Including homosexuality. In fact, he cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God because of rampant homosexuality. Not too hard to understand.
>>>>> The church, the priest said, must overcome “an essentially negative view of sexual desire, as if it were something to be repressed at every moment” and which suppresses a person’s desire for love.
The church does not have “an essentially negative view of sexual desire”, and there is a big difference between repression of a good desire and properly orienting it.
Either he is projecting his own sexual repression onto the church or he has a malformed understanding of the Catholic theology. My money is on both.
Gee. "Modern understandings of sexuality". What do you suppose he means by that?
"If it feels good, do it" is not new.
So if the sodomite priests had only integrated their disordered cravings into their personhood, they wouldn't have preyed upon innocent boys?
Sorry, padre, but certain teachings are not the Church’s to decide
I have struggled and failed to integrate Christian charity into my feelings of disgust for these filthy faggot priests.
I agree. They should think about it and then double down.
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