Surprising and helpful reflections from a chaste Catholic lesbian

I like Eve Tushnet.

She is a faithful Catholic who is also lesbian.

I would guess that she would not call herself lesbian, pure and simple.  For that is to dehumanize her.  It is to define her by her hormonal drives.

I am sure she would identify first and foremost as a Catholic, perhaps then as a writer, certainly then as a woman, and perhaps then, but maybe even lower on the list of priorities, as a lesbian.  Just as I would not define myself as heterosexual until I said many other things, and only if the context demanded it.

In a recent blogpost, she made a number of  thought-provoking observations.  I have no doubt twisted them some, but here is what I got from them:

1. Celibacy is countercultural, and a better answer to gays growing up than changing an institution in order to get married.

2. Staying behind and kneeling while everyone else goes up for Communion is humiliating but soul-building.  It is a step on the pilgrimage to the place where one can receive communion.

3.  There is a certain virtue in being a “bad Catholic.”  As long as you accept the Church’s judgment of you, and don’t start judging the Church.  For Protestants, this means accepting Orthodoxy’s judgment of my failures and sins, and not trying to redefine it so that I can feel better about myself.  If we take this humble approach, the Church (and God!) will have more mercy on us than we might have on ourselves.

4. We should use art and sexuality to draw non-Christians to talking about faith and God, but not assume that for gays the most important thing is their sexuality.  For many gays, to talk about God is far more important.  And art has a unique way of drawing many to the transcendent.

5. Christian sexual discipline is extraordinarily stringent, and failure is the normal condition.  We are not called to success, but to repent and believe.

6. There is a beautiful life waiting for gay celibates, and it is found in a life of love connected to other people.