Thursday, September 30, 2010

Homosexuality: The Sexual Person - Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology – by Todd A. Salzman, Michael G. Lawler - Georgetown University Press 2008

2009 Catholic Press Award: First Place in Theology

"Todd Salzman and Michael Lawler's new book...is among the most important works in Catholic sexual ethics to emerge in the last two decades...Their book will be noticed because of its controversial positions on contraception, same-sex relationships, cohabitation and artificial means of reproduction. However, its contribution is its clear articulation of a person-centered natural-law ethic that offers Catholics an authentic way to think about sex in relation to their faith."—National Catholic Reporter

"Salzman and Lawler are accomplished theologians with the stature to confront questions that have become highly inflammatory in the too-often polarized Catholic environment. The result is a piece of extensive, well-researched, and carefully argued scholarship. The authors are respectful, intelligent, honest, thorough, and courageous. They will alarm a few people, enlighten many, and hold all to a new standard of rigor in approaching this very personal and politicized subject."—Lisa Sowle Cahill, J. Donald Monan Professor of Theology, Boston College

Two principles capture the essence of the official Catholic position on the morality of sexuality: first, that any human genital act must occur within the framework of heterosexual marriage; second, each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life. In this comprehensive overview of Catholicism and sexuality, theologians Todd A. Salzman and Michael G. Lawler examine and challenge these principles. Remaining firmly within the Catholic tradition, they contend that the church is being inconsistent in its teaching by adopting a dynamic, historically conscious anthropology and worldview on social ethics and the interpretation of scripture while adopting a static, classicist anthropology and worldview on sexual ethics…
Read complete list of reviews:
http://www.press.georgetown.edu/detail.html?id=9781589012080

Overturning Catholic Moral Teaching on Homosexuality:
Are Salzman And Lawler Right?
By Phyllis Zagano,
9/29/10 – The Huffington Post

Excerpts:

…So the question is: what's "natural" or "unnatural?" That, in turns, leads to a more overarching question: Is homosexuality a status or a choice?

Some thinkers, including several members of the Supreme Court, seem to reason that homosexuality is an inborn status.

Catholicism--and, indeed most religions--teach that while homosexuality exists, homosexual activity is a "disordered" choice against the laws of nature.

If homosexuality is indeed a status rooted in biology or genetics, then homosexuals, like left-handed people, act according to their nature. But if homosexuality is a choice rooted in behavior, then homosexuals act against nature…

In terms of civil rights, individuals deserve and are afforded protections for both status (say, skin color) and choice (for example, religious affiliation).
In terms of morality, status is neutral, while choice has implications and consequences.

Catholicism argues that homosexuals deserve legal protections, but not because homosexuality is a status. Catholicism says homosexual activity is a choice. So while bishops support non-discrimination policies, they won't agree that homosexuals are protected because of their genetic makeup.

Catholic thinkers have grappled with this question for ages. Creighton University professors Todd A. Salzman and Michael G. Lawler are the latest voices on the Catholic circuit, Their 2008 book, "The Sexual Person,"…

Salzman and Lawler's dense academic argument turns traditional Catholic teaching on natural law on its head…

Salzman and Lawler argue that what is "natural" for a heterosexual is not "natural" for a homosexual, and therefore homosexuals and heterosexuals must act in accord with their personal "natures".
Read complete article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/29/overturning-catholic-mora_n_744641.html
http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/09/overturning-catholic-moral-teaching-on.html

The sexual person: toward a renewed Catholic anthropology 
By Todd A. Salzman, Michael G. Lawler 2008
http://books.google.com/books?id=p8nrAR3Oi1QC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Todd+A.+Salzman+and+Michael+G.+Lawler,+%22The+Sexual+Person,%22&source=bl&ots=GO9aPON40w&sig=DHIE7CBUEz7DKeqCNdlN_tktVhc&hl=en&ei=QA-lTOSJFMOjnAe9mdGQAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Gay Marriage & Galileo:
Pope described as …"so averse to anything intellectual that everyone has to play dense and ignorant to gain his favor"
The Trial of Galileo - by Douglas O. Linder (2002)
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY (UMKC) SCHOOL OF LAW
http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/09/gay-marriage-galileo-pope-described-as.html

PROTECTION OF CHILDREN

California - Prop 8 judgment, August 4, 2010 - Gay marriage
“Religious beliefs that gay and lesbian relationships are sinful or inferior to heterosexual relationships harm gays and lesbians.”
Judge Vaughn Walker
http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/08/gay-marriage-religious-beliefs-that-gay.html


On Prop 8, it's the evidence, stupid
By Lisa Bloom - CNN.com
and related links:
http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/08/on-prop-8-its-evidence-stupid-by-lisa_18.html


American Academy of Pediatrics
The Effects of Marriage, Civil Union, and Domestic Partnership Laws on
the Health and Well-being of Children – 2006
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/118/1/349

Gay marriage -> Restoring "Hope of Love" To Children In Early Childhood -> Marriage Equality – March 23, 2010 – Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Marriage Equality, like Galileo, is the truth about the facts of growing up gay. Marriage Equality will not become a reality until people learn that its most vital purpose is that it restores the “hope of love” to children in early childhood – essential to their development and well-being for life. Without Marriage Equality we teach children how to hate love and how to be mean and indifferent to people as adults. With all due respect, without Marriage Equality we would teach them in much the same way as has been shown by Benedict XVI and the hierarchy, especially in their lack of care and protection of children for decades. 
http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/03/restoring-hope-of-love-to-children-in_23.html

SEXUAL CONVERSION THERAPIES
Jack Drescher, M.D.
http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/08/sexual-conversion-therapies-jack.html

The Power of Marital Love – Marriage Equality – Maine 2009 – Minnesota 2010
It must be remembered that the importance and meaning of marriage is more than procreation. Two people pledging their love to each other is not just for themselves, because that is not a marriage. By being in love, two become one and they are better equip to be the best for everyone in world their families, friends, co-workers and beyond. In this way all marriages are contributing to the procreation of children by their enriching the social environment that children will be born into. I think that love; true love like energy is never lost, a bit like Einstein, maybe.
Gay Marriage - Truth Will Set Us Free
Not Ignorance and Fear
by Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/09/power-of-marital-love-marriage-equality.html


“Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed, well considered and yet fervent public conviction that the most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child’s spirit.”
Erik Erikson

No comments: