Where are my Latin sisters
Still praying to Virgin Mary
Rosarios, Novenas, Pomesas, despojos
Ave María purísima!
Forgive me for loving you
The way I do
(Vega 1994: 240)[i]
The Curia’s resistant response to the
Bill proposing the criminalization of Conversion Therapy provoked strong
reactions. As a country, Malta did move far ahead when it comes to
legislating to ensure and safeguard the rights of LGBTI communities. But
what the Curia’s response tells us, is that the hierarchy of the Roman
Catholic Church in Malta is struggling to negotiate between the changes
that have taken place within our society, its own understanding and
framing of homosexuality, and official teachings which do tie the hands
of religious people, particularly Bishops and the Pope, even though in
practice it is often talk about sex and sexuality that seems to create
panic the most. One has to point out, though, that Pope Francis did
bring some balance and has ruffled some feathers on a number of other
issues too.
The Curia’s position paper is to say
the least highly problematic (and these have been pointed out by some in
the media). At the same time, it does raise interesting, though not
unproblematic philosophical questions which should not be entirely
dismissed, particularly in regard to individual freedom. The bill does
not address the issue of ‘praying over’, often a substitute for
conversion therapy. These practices take place in both evangelical and
Roman Catholic prayer groups, and as it seems these will continue to
take place unquestioned- the bill only limits the practice of
professionals. The Curia’s position articulates a number of questions:
isn’t an (adult) individual free to choose to repress his or her sexual
desires if that person wants to? Aren’t adults who are unhappy with
their sexual orientation free to seek conversion therapy if they wish to
do so? This is a troubling question, yet one that does raise some
issues at the same time. How free is the individual to harm himself or
herself? We do know that conversion therapies are deceitful because they
promise what we all know can’t be guaranteed with definite assurance.
Furthermore, many individuals have and continue to be harmed mainly
through North American style boot camps. Peterson Toscano spent
seventeen years of his life attempting to change and repress his
same-sex orientation and gender differences. He then went on to come out
of the closet. He was invited by the Maltese LGBTI Catholic
organization Drachma twice to specifically address the matter. At the
root of the discussion is not conversion therapy per se, but the
understanding of homosexuality as defective heterosexuality and
therefore, from that kind of understanding, conversion therapy must
therefore follow- to correct.
The Church’s document raises another
important point. It reflects the concerns of some professionals, who,
while they do not want to practice conversion therapy, still feel
uncertain on the consequences of taking the path of criminalization. I
personally feel that there needs to be further dialogue here to address
these fears and concerns. Some professionals are asking: at what point
can a session become defined as conversion therapy, especially when
discussing sexuality with clients who are uncertain and/or confused
about their own sexual orientation and sexual desires? Can professionals
be falsely accused by clients? Such questions need to be part of the
dialogue.
And yet, there is one point raised by
the Curia’s position paper that is extremely interesting and that we
seem to have missed in the barrage of press releases and commentaries.
The document which the Roman Catholic Church released, tells us that
human sexuality can in actual fact be fluid and not confined to gender
binaries. This is obviously no news to those who live their sexuality
fluidly on a day to day basis, and are comfortable with it. Still, it
does reflect at least some alertness and sensitivity to the notion that
some may need and want help to better understand their sexual desires
and directions they want to take, especially when they do not find
themselves in any of the accepted categories that describe and
articulate accepted human sexuality.
Interestingly, at the point when
Government is legislating to normalize and mainstream sexual diversity,
the Roman Catholic Church in Malta is paradoxically and most likely
unknowingly saying: ‘Wait! Sexuality is a queer thing!’ While placing a
moral judgment on some of those desires, and forcing people in a
direction not congruent with their own ‘nature’ and desires is harmful,
sexuality, like religion, one may surmise can well be a queer thing
indeed. And now we have an official position paper, from the Maltese
Curia saying there is a grey area and a complexity to human sexuality
and orientations. So now we can perhaps (and finally) start having a
serious anthropological-theological discussion about that. (Sadly the
Curia’s position paper throws in pedophilia in the grey mix – apologies
followed later).
At long last, at least in theory, and
if we are to follow any logic in the implications (intended or
otherwise), we may then be able to talk with Church authorities about
the actual experience of human sexuality including its fluidity and
queerness – let’s call them grey areas. As we have been saying for a
very long time, the actual human experience of sexuality does not
necessarily fit either the gender binary (the Adam and Eve narrative(s)
often used (wrongly) to enforce that understanding of human sexuality in
religious circles), nor the LGBTIQ narrative, that may perhaps be
re-confining us in the same way that the gender binary previously did
(though it offers a far more positive and affirmative narrative).
The
issue here is the creation of categories to understand a human sexuality
that is itself always defied and subverted by the experiences of human
beings. Another critique is that the LGBTIQ discourse is a Western
conceptualization of human sexuality, and many in the so called global
South fail to identify with those categories, even though there are men
who have sex with men, women who love women… Others use different
definitions such as sexual and gender nonconformity – language can be
indeed limited when it comes to capturing the breadth and depth of the
experiences of human sexuality.
Religious and secular definitions of
human sexuality often oppose each other in their understanding of what
human sexuality is, and what it is for, yet mirror each other in trying
to define sexuality through the creation of some or other bounded
category within which human sexuality is to be boxed. The document,
therefore, most likely unknowingly raises an interesting point about
that experience of sexuality, one that cannot be categorized. This, I
reckon, may be an avenue for discussion between secular and religious
narratives, and possibly also between global North and South narratives
as well.
Secular and religious leaders (not only
the Roman Catholic ones) use different starting points to discuss human
sexuality and its expression, and it is here that disconnections are
wide and deep. What used to be considered as undesirable, is not
entirely so from a secular legal point of view and the Church in Malta
(not only) is not too sure what to do about all these (‘unexpected’)
social developments.
The Roman Catholic Church (again not
only) is stuck here. Its tradition and official teachings about human
sexuality are not helping it in engaging in dialogue with today’s
society. For those of us who have been critically engaged on issues of
faith, sexuality, religion and spirituality, we also know that tradition
itself and the entire teachings need not necessarily be dismissed, but
can instead become tools to help those for whom faith remains an
important part of their own lives, to re-visit those same teachings, and
to critically rediscover the message of Jesus as liberating rather than
an oppressive one.
Pope Francis’ statement ‘who am I to
judge’ is tremendously helpful, yet not helpful enough. It does not help
the Church in Malta (or any other country) to engage with secular
societies and the legal changes to protect LGBTI people and at the same
time align itself with those who are opposing these developments. Pope
Francis’ message is often very well received, but at the same time can
come across as confusing: acceptance limited to a pastoral level, while
opposing legal reforms in favor of civil unions. And of course one could
say he can’t do otherwise because the teachings of the Roman Catholic
Church are what they are. There can be no change from the side of the
Church, unless there is a profound transformation of the understanding
of human sexuality, but how can the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic
Church make such a break from two thousand years of traditions and
teachings about human sexuality, and more particularly about
homosexuality? But it is also true that when digging through the layers
of tradition, other stories emerge, and same-sex love (always
interpreted as non physical) is no novelty for Roman Catholic Tradition,
and we find quite a few of those narratives in scripture as well.
The Roman Catholic Church is
desperately in need of a new language about human sexuality, and it
needs to listen to all research and lay findings and perspectives that
have emerged in the past decades across a range of disciplines and
sub-disciplines including psychology, anthropology, sociology, queer
studies, gender studies, and disability studies among others. It needs
to first become comfortable with and then engage a discourse that is
inclusive of intimacy, pleasure, and playful delight. It needs to
include the role that passion (eros) plays in leading people into
relationships and communion, and at times also into conflict and
violence. It is here that the Church could offer inspiration in helping
societies reflect about sexuality in all of its dimensions, as a
potential force for people to enjoy bodily and other pleasures, flourish
and construct meaningful relationships or as a force that could also
lead to the path of self-destruction or that of others.
The way sexuality is framed and
presented by Church authorities does influence the way people live with,
and experience their sexual passions, and at times, especially for
those of us who happen to be LGBTIQ, this influence is not a positive
one (generally speaking). While theological discourse about human
sexuality is affirmative – life is good (for heterosexual people), its
application is often limited and fails to offer clear and practical
guidance in general. Church authorities do have a knack for coming
across as having an entirely negative understanding of human sexuality
at a popular level. The Roman Catholic Church needs to learn or re-learn
to talk about sex.
The Church itself has a number of
religious and lay people, including theologians, who offer this kind of
language already, and these are often marginalized. If the Church wants
to be vibrant once more, the hierarchy needs to lend its ears to
critical theologians and pastoral leaders, and not sideline them or even
persecute them. I am recalling Don Andrea Gallo who passed away in
2013, and who often called on powerful authorities within the Roman
Catholic Church to develop a more liberating theology of human sexuality
that is inclusive of sexual diversity.
The Roman Catholic Church in Malta (and
not only) needs to stop functioning like a museum of handed down
traditions, of teachings that can only be ‘transferred’ rather than ones
that are actively and critically questioned and renegotiated. Rabbi
Steven Greenberg tells us that religious traditions need to work their
truths through life, and not above it, they need to work inside and
across its complexities. Maybe it is time to remember that Roman
Catholics may have flirted too much with Greek philosophy and need to
rediscover the roots of the rebel rabbi we follow inside, to re-learn
from Jewish traditions, where questions are the hallmark of engaging
with sacred text, and to remember that religious law should not command
the impossible. Jewish teachings could help us deepen our understanding
of human sexuality (of course homosexuality a contentious issue there as
well).
Catholics need to interrogate those
beliefs that led so many baptized LGBTI as well as theologians into
exile, while traumatizing so many others, notably the families of those
‘exiled’. We need to reject the idol god fabricated and sold over the
years that seems to have a constant hang-up on human sexual desires. The
Roman Catholic Church has an opportunity to engage and re-discover the
meanings and reasons behind its own sexual rules. After all,
Christianity views human sexuality as both a gift and as sacred ground,
but only within a set of parameters, and this understanding excludes
many other forms of human sexuality, viewed negatively – as flaws in
human nature (at least in official teachings). It is time to expand on
the sacredness discourse, and also for the hierarchy to ask itself: what
is the experience and expression of human sexuality (including its
‘shadow aspect’, that is when it is not life-giving but violent, and
used as a weapon to harm others) telling us about our Creator and
creation for those who believe? Can those understandings inspire secular
society?
If the Roman Catholic Church finds the
courage to embark on such a journey, it could offer a service to our
contemporary society, where some of the sexually liberated may be
searching for a deeper and more meaningful understanding of that
liberation. At the very least, those who believe and follow Church
teachings, need some of the heavy weight, burden and guilt lifted off
their shoulders, because all this does is push people away or forces
them to turn inwards.
The Church itself is in dire need to
start engaging with and incorporating that which is sexual and spiritual
within its understanding of all human beings, including their
spirituality, beyond the heteronormative understanding of Creation. And
maybe, a secular society with all of its advancements (and
misconceptions), could be the fertile ground for today’s Church to find
that space for much needed renewal on sexual matters. Maybe secular
society needs to also learn not to entirely reject its complex religious
history, and be humble enough to also admit that possibly, learning to
dialogue with this Other, could be fruitful for society at large. And it
is in the fissures, that points of encounter can perhaps be found.
Mario Gerada is a Maltese activist
who tries to navigate between his gay and Roman Catholic identities.
Faith, sexuality, religion and spirituality are also academic interests
he’s been grappling with for the past fifteen years or so. He is one of
the founding members of Drachma LGBTI and Drachma Parents’ Groups.
[i] Vega, B. (1994) Adónde está la Salsa en SalsaSoul? In Althaus-Reid, M. (2003), The Queer God, Oxon: Routledge.
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