THE
P RTAL
February 2019
Joanna Bogle puts her cards
firmly on the table
A
s I write this, four hundred Oxford undergraduates have put
Mob bullying
& homosexuality
Page 4
their names to a letter demanding the sacking of a Catholic
professor because he supports the teaching of the Church on
homosexual activity. It’s all of a piece with various similar outbreaks
of mob bullying – and we must suppose there will be more to come.
na
wri tes
the union of man and
Which is why I want to declare myself now. To save
woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator’s
time and energy, let’s make it clear. Joanna Bogle
generosity and fecundity: “Therefore a man leaves his father
understands that the timeless teaching of the Church
and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one
on the matter of homosexual activity is rooted in
flesh.” All human generations proceed from this union.
an authentic understanding of what it means to be
human. God, in revealing himself first to the Jewish And further:
people through prophets, guidance and teachings, and
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or
then to all of us in the person of Jesus Christ, has not
between women who experience an exclusive or predominant
left us in any confusion or ignorance.
sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken
a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different
It is a delight and pleasure to be invited to address a
cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained.
gathering at a university group, school, or community
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual
organisation. If any such group, or lobbyists within it,
acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared
wish to launch a campaign to ban me from speaking
that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are
there on the grounds of my conviction that the Church’s
contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift
teachings on human sexuality are wise and true, I now
of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual
formally state that I do indeed believe these teachings
complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
to be wise and true.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated
homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which
Attempts to ban me on these grounds will be immoral,
is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial.
crude, and offensive to civilised living, and for that
They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.
reason must be resisted. But, just for the record, I’d like
Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be
to make my position clear.
avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives
and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s
I fully support the teaching in the Catechism of the
Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
Catholic Church which states:
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues
2333 Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge
of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the
and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual
support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental
difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods
grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach
of marriage and the flourishing of family life. the harmony of the
Christian perfection.
couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the
complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes
There is a lot more: the Catechism teaches beautifully
are lived out.
about God’s plan for man and woman in marriage, and
2334 “In creating men ‘male and female,’ God gives man and
reading it is an inspiration. Those who disagree with it
woman an equal personal dignity.” “Man is a person, man and
all would profit by taking time to read and ponder it
woman equally so, since both were created in the image and
in greater depth. But that’s not the major point of what
likeness of the personal God.”
I am writing today. I just want to make it clear: I fully
support the Church’s teaching and believe that Britain
2335 Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and
is and should be a place where I am free to say so.
tenderness of God, with equal dignity though in a different way.