Over the past two years I have participated in a stimulating online community of people interested in the current state of the Catholic Church. The participants, primarily religious or ex-religious who have given much of their lives to the Church, share a common concern that the hierarchical church is not meeting the needs and desires of its members.  Most would attribute that failure to a reaction against the reforms of Vatican II and to an unwillingness to institute its decrees.

In the course of our discussions many pertinent questions have been and are being voiced. In response I have contributed my own answers. Mostly they are brief and to the point. They come, however, out of my own extensive experience in and with the Church as a member of the Jesuit Order for eighteen years. While living intimately the life of the Church, I attained advance academic degrees in Philosophy and in Theology. Finally, after completing doctoral studies in Psychology, I practiced as a religious psychologist for the twenty-eight years of my professional career.  My reflections, therefore, come out of a lifetime of work and experience.

It seems appropriate to this blogsite to share  some of these questions and answers. They will be listed on the right side of this blog page under the heading of  “Q & A.” It is my hope that these listings will enlist you also in our conversation through your comments.

http://www.robertjwillis.com/bio.html

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http://www.robertjwillis.com

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Transcendence In Relationship
Breaking the Chains
The Democracy of God

     In the recent Democratic primaries we saw, writ large, the insidious forces of sexism and racism in our society. It took Christian leaders nineteen centuries formally to outlaw the latter; in stark contrast the former remains officially sanctioned by the Catholic Church.

     Despite real progress toward gender equality in Western democracies, recent popes adamantly refuse to abandon a male lock on ecclesiastical power. They buttress their claim of gender superiority through a self-serving interpretation of Scripture, seeking legitimization there, and passing the political buck to Christ as the inspired source of their prejudice. Women cannot be priests because Jesus chose only men as his apostles; women cannot image Christ because he was and remains a man.

     I have today posted an article examining the scriptural basis of the Vatican’s position. I find in the Gospels Jesus’ acceptance of women as equals to men in the kingdom of His Father. Only political spin underwrites inequality. In the Early Church as presented in the Acts of the Apostles and in the letters to various Christian communities, women participated as full and equal partners with men in the spreading, nurturing, and growing of their shared faith in the Risen Lord. The few, oft-quoted passages trumpeting male dominance and female inferiority stand revealed as socio-cultural expressions of patriarchal societies, not as some definitive divine judgment on the relative status of women.

     I invite readers to explore with me the tenacious roots of sexism in our religious communities. After you have read the “Equality of Women: The New Testament,” I welcome the opportunity for dialogue.

     As an aid to capture your interest, I have also posted a “Precis: Equality of Women: The New Testament.”

Previously, I posted an article entitled “The Misuse of Scripture to Abuse Homosexuals.” Today I am posting a necessary corollary to it: “Justifications for Intolerance in the Christian Community.” In reading it, I am presupposing that you have read the former article or that you are conversant with modern scriptural scholarship concerning the Old and New Testament passages routinely quoted against homosexuality. This new article considers the reasons given by Church Fathers, popes and councils, and moralists for declaring homosexuality immoral. I have identified five common reasons and have given plenty of examples illustrating each one. I conclude that these condemnations have no more claim to infallible Tradition than does the intolerance shown for nearly two millenia toward Jews (indeed, I give a brief overview of that intolerance to set the context for intolerance toward homosexuality).

I am posting below the response from a religious counselor who specializes in working with the LGBT population. He is responding to my article “The Misuse of Scripture to Abuse Homosexuals.”

Hi Bob, I read the LGBT paper.  Thanks for all the scholarly work you put into it.  I think you are dead on target with your analysis and the conclusions you draw.   The difficulty with good exegesis isn’t the scholarship or the scholar.  It is, first, the refusal of the magisterium to be honest enough to accept the truth that the analysis reveals. And second to present the evidence in a clear and simple way, so that those of us who are philologically and philosophically challenged can grasp it.The sociological dynamics and theological underpinnings that have created and sustained anti-homosexual bias have done all too good a job. Add to this the insidious undercurrent of anti-erotic influences and we have the mess that is rending the fabric of the church. I think that the real perversion that is at work in society and the church is the unhealthy denial and repression of healthy erotic energy.  It is not original on my part to suggest that much of the abuse of power and desire to control and manipulate as well as the narcissistic clericalism that is reasserting itself in seminaries is displaced and unhealthy erotic energy.  I know that this is not uniquely a problem of the the RC Church.  It is just more immediately present when you have chosen to live in that culture. The problem for those who are trying to become more honest about their sexuality and recognize their erotic and affective facets is that they become a threat to the power-based structures of the church and society. Michael Crosby, OFM cap. did an excellent work on this in his book THE DYSFUCTIONAL CHURCH.  Unfortunately that book is no longer in print.Working with the LGBT community has been challenging, painful, enlightening, insight producing, and ultimately gratifying.  It has also brought into high relief the sin of spiritual abuse that the churches have committed against this minority.  My constant hope is that I can help my sisters and brothers to break out of these abusive relationships and claim the dignity and spiritual heritage that is theirs. There is much that is of great value and richness in the church.  There is, as well, as much that is false sick and sinful.  The challenge to those I am committed to serve is to separate the life- giving from the life-taking elements in conflict and have the courage to stand up for the life-giving Spirit. Wishing you the blessing of Christmas and for the New Year. Tom      ____________________________________________________________________________________

I’m publishing a new article today. Previously, I have dealt with topics that divide the Catholic community. This is one that splits apart Christian denominations: homosexuality. Just think of what is occurring in the Anglican Community. Or think of the struggles with “open and affirming.”  I am addressing homosexuality and Scripture because the latter is used as the hammer that drives the former into the ground–and, further, into Hell. You may get a sense of the article and my standpoint through the “Precis:  The Misuse of Scripture to Abuse Homosexuals.” The article is long, and, of necessity, has a lot of lingusitic analysis. But that must be if we are to understand what the writers meant by their words, rather than what modern interpreters want their words to mean. Bob Willis, 11/04/07.