The Third Way

I apologize for the very long hiatus from blogging here. I found the following video today, thanks to some participants on the Catholic Answers Forums. This is (apparently) the video that I mentioned a while back that Fr. John Hollowell was planning to make about Catholic teaching on homosexuality (though Fr. Hollowell is not actually in the video). I am very impressed with how the video turned out. Please watch it and share it with others. I believe that this video conveys the message that we Catholics need to get out into the public -- this "third way" that is neither the condemnation and bullying of homosexual persons that comes from some Christians, nor the approval of homosexual activity that comes from much of secular culture.



By the way, I recognized a couple of great Catholic bloggers among the people who were interviewed: Melinda Selmys of Sexual Authenticity, and Joseph Prever who is also known as Steve Gershom.

UPDATE: Not only does the general public need to hear the message of this video, but so do Catholics -- myself included. We need to take this message to heart, about being more welcoming and understanding of people who have same-sex attraction. As Melinda Selmys says in the video, the church must function as family and community to same-sex attracted people who are committed to chastity, and she calls us to task for not doing a very good job of it right now.

Homily on Homosexuality by Fr. John Hollowell

Here is a good homily on homosexuality by Fr. John Hollowell:



Fr. Hollowell is also working on a professionally-produced video on this subject, titled "Unnatural Law?".

A Nice Video in Defense of Marriage, from Ireland

Here is another video in defense of marriage. This video makes some of the same important points that Dr. Morse made in the previous video that I posted, but in a much shorter and simpler format:



(Found via the Ruth Institute blog.)

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse: "Same Sex Marriage: Why Not?"

Since the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments today and tomorrow on two cases dealing with so-called same-sex marriage, here is a good video on this topic:



I found this video at the Aggie Catholics blog. I recommend their post on the subject, Why Same-Sex Marriage Is A Bad Idea.

For further reading, I also recommend USA Today's interview with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on the topic of redefining marriage. It is one of the best short articles I have read on this subject, particularly in the mainstream press.

An interesting video project regarding Catholic teaching on homosexuality

This might be something worth donating to:



More information can be found here.

If any bloggers would like to share this video on their own blog, right-click on the video and select "Copy embed code," then paste the code into your blog post. (These instructions may not work on all platforms, but they worked for me with Firefox on Windows 7.)

(Video found on Fr. Z's blog.)

Helen Alvaré on Religious Freedom and Sexual Liberationism

In this video from the Franciscan University of Steubenville's Distinguished Speakers Series, Dr. Helen Alvaré convincingly argues that the ideology of "sexualityism" (or sexual liberationism or sexual libertinism) is the biggest opponent of religious freedom in the West today.

Content Warning: This video contains frank discussions of sexuality and sexual morality, and would not be appropriate for children.



Here is the video description from YouTube:

Dr. Helen Alvaré, professor of law at George Mason School of Law, delivers the annual Henkels Lecture at Franciscan University of Steubenville, as part of the Distinguished Speakers Series. Her talk, "Religious Freedom and Sexual Liberationism," looked at how secular society's interpretation of birth control, co-habitation, and abortion as the new norms has generated an incredible mistrust among the sexes.

You can find more videos from Franciscan University of Steubenville on their YouTube channel.

Melinda Selmys - "The Straight Story"

Before I go further, let me warn my readers/viewers that this video deals with adult themes (though not in a graphic way or anything like that).



The YouTube video description gives a good summary of this talk by Melinda Selmys:

Melinda Selmys gives her talk at the 2012 Courage Conference titled, The Straight Story where she gives an account of her life where lived the lesbian life style and then came to God and became wife and mother of six children. She then gives her assessment of the origins and ramifications of her same sex attraction, discussing whether it is intrinsic to a person's nature as many would have us believe today or whether it is simply a temptation for some people which can be resisted like any other temptation as part of one's overall effort to conform their will to the will of God. She includes many references to philosophy, theology, psychology and to her own personal experience to form an intelligent, Christian, broadminded view of a very complex issue.

What I found most interesting about this talk is that Mrs. Selmys demonstrates that homosexuality is a complex issue which does not always perfectly fit any pre-defined narrative. In doing so, she goes beyond both the standard secular take on homosexuality and the standard Catholic take on homosexuality (but while still remaining faithful to what the Catholic Church teaches).

(Video found on Melinda Selmys's blog.)

Jimmy Akin Responds to Dan Savage on Homosexuality and the Bible

In case you didn't hear about Dan Savage's recent rant against Christians and Christian teaching on homosexuality, you can read about it on Jimmy Akin's NCR blog or at The American Catholic blog, if you really want to. (But please be warned of offensive language, insulting comments, and inaccurate portrayals of what the Bible says, if you watch the video of Mr. Savage's talk.)

Having gotten that background out of the way, I will come to the point of this post: Jimmy Akin (of Catholic Answers and of JimmyAkin.com) has created a video responding to some of Mr. Savage's claims. He does an excellent job of responding to Mr. Savage, and of explaining how to understand the Biblical prohibition on homosexual acts: