A timely reminder that Pride is the root of all vices

(WARNING: this post is unsuitable for children)

We know well that pride is one of the seven deadly sins. In his spiritual writings, St. Thomas More speaks of pride as the head and root of all vices, and St. Thomas Aquinas “considers it the queen of all vices, and puts vainglory in its place as one of the deadly sins” (http://newadvent.org/cathen/12405a.htm). This pre-eminence of pride derives from the detachment of oneself from God, his Authority and his Laws that is inherent in pride, and by which one opens oneself up to all other sins and vices (vice, of course, being basically habitual sin).

How apt it is, then, that so many ‘Gay and Lesbian’ organisations speak of ‘Gay Pride’ and incorporate this monstrosity into their titles. I commend them for their honesty. One such example is ‘Queensland Pride’, which is reporting on the ongoing St. Mary’s, Brisbane, fiasco:

http://qlp.e-p.net.au/news/vatican-threat-to-gay-friendly-church-2179.html
(found via Mr. Schütz’s Sentire cum Ecclesia)

Pride crops up in the article itself when we learn that

The church [sic] has previously angered conservatives in the church [sic] by welcoming gay couples and allowing the Gay and Lesbian Choir [‘Choir’ gets a capital-C but not Church—C.P.] to perform there in June 2003 as part of Brisbane Pride Festival celebrations. [His Grace Msgr.] Bathersby opposed the performance and said it was “inappropriate”.

“Inappropriate”, hmmm, I can think of other words. Scandalous, perhaps? A profaning of the Lord's Temple? I wonder whether “gay Catholic activist and St Mary’s parishioner” Mr. Tony Robertson kept a straight face when he said that

“St Mary’s is a church which takes seriously its identity as a Catholic community and practices the teachings of the Catholic Church which call for homosexual persons be [sic] accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity,” Robertson said.

“Such acceptance calls for practical action which welcomes gay and lesbian people to the life and worship of the community.

“Those who have concerns about our support for sexual minorities need to remember that the Catholic Church also teaches that every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided …

Mr. Robertson might have been more helpful, though, if he had started from first principles, according to which human sexuality is ordered towards procreation, and that therefore same-sex attraction is rightly called ‘intrinsically disordered’. Sodomy is a mortal sin, and a sin that cries out to Heaven for justice (whether they teach that as part of their ‘social justice apostolate’ in not known to me). His assertion that “homosexual persons [need to] be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity” is correct, but it must be remembered that it is the person, the subject, that is to receive respect, never the objects, the acts, of his or her disordered inclinations. ‘Compassion’, meaning ‘suffering with’, is important, since, as the C.D.F. expressed it well:

What, then, are homosexual persons to do who seek to follow the Lord? Fundamentally, they are called to enact the will of God in their life by joining whatever sufferings and difficulties they experience in virtue of their condition to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross. That Cross, for the believer, is a fruitful sacrifice since from that death come life and redemption. While any call to carry the cross or to understand a Christian's suffering in this way will predictably be met with bitter ridicule by some, it should be remembered that this is the way to eternal life for all who follow Christ.
(my emphasis)
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html

Meanwhile, “sensitivity” must never mean ignoring or distorting the supernatural consequences (as well as the natural consequences—anal fissures, genital warts, A.I.D.S., all manner of infections; it ain’t pretty) of their sins.

Mr. Robertson’s assertion that “[s]uch acceptance calls for practical action which welcomes gay and lesbian people to the life and worship of the community” is highly ambiguous; if ‘gay and lesbian’ means ‘fully immersed in and supportive of the so-called gay culture’ then these individuals cannot participate in Catholic worship, though the Catholic character of the “worship of the community” is a moot point in this case, anyway.

As for “unjust discrimination”, ‘unjust’ is the key word. The Vatican instructed, late in 2005, that men with deep-seated homosexual tendencies or who support the so-called gay culture shall not be permitted to enter seminaries, and Catholic schools reserve the right to bar unrepentant public ‘gays and lesbians’ and their fellow-travellers from teaching (though I cannot find a citation at the moment). Clearly neither instance is unjust, since disobeying the former would involve an occasion of sin, while disobeying the latter would involve scandal to impressionable children.

Reginaldvs Cantvar