Asking better questions about homosexuality and Christianity

Christopher C. Roberts in First Things:

Here is what Berry fails to imagine, but what his analysis helps us to explain: chastity for gays and lesbians is possible, but, like any type of chastity, it requires profound community support, or else, in our culture, it feels like pointless loneliness. We must organize family and parish life so that “lay celibate” is not a synonym for “lonely.” All due honor to the various therapists and groups already doing good work, but if we are going to counsel continence in today’s America, it is not enough to offer private therapy and support groups in the church basement.

The pro-life movement has aggressive legal strategies, but, as some have observed, it has also matured to realize that a frightened teenager needs support in order to make virtuous choices. Pro-lifers also applaud generous parents who adopt in ways that render abortion moot. What is the equivalent hospitality that the Christians should learn to offer homosexuals? How can we befriend gays and lesbians with apparently intractable orientations? All of us struggle with chastity in one way or another at some stage in our lives, so how can we discover and express solidarity amongst the many ways of patiently cultivating chastity?

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