A major new study endorsed by 60 top international scholars, including former president of Ireland, Professor Mary McAleese, has called for an “urgent” change in Catholic teaching on gay relationships.
he authors of the study, which was launched on Tuesday, claim their findings disprove the traditional objections of the Catholic Church to same-sex relationships.
A spokesperson for the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research, which produced the study, said it “should serve as the final nail in the coffin of biblical and other arguments justifying homophobia”.
Professor McAleese told the Irish Independent that ‘Christian Objections to Same-Sex Relationships: An Academic Assessment’ would challenge the “firm and baleful grip on Christian thinking of views which have marginalized same-sex relationships” and which have been used “to justify teachings which conduced to dangerous homophobia” and made “lives miserable”.
She added, “Not for the first time has the Church backed itself into a cul-de-sac. Not for the first time will it have to acknowledge that it got things wrong at huge cost to humanity.”
The new report follows a statement in March from the Vatican’s doctrinal office – the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) – upholding the ban on blessing same-sex unions because, “you cannot bless sin” and restating the Church teaching that same-sex attraction is ‘disordered’.
The theologians and scripture scholars behind the Wijngaards Institute’s report have appealed directly to Pope Francis to establish an independent study to revisit the Church’s teaching on this issue.
Key discoveries include the finding that the Old Testament passages in the Book of Leviticus, which are traditionally believed to condemn same-sex relationships, are in fact a mistranslation and refer to specific kinds of male same-sex sexual activity such as adultery and incest.
It also argues that passages in the New Testament by St Paul which are long believed to prohibit same-sex relationships are misinterpreted.
Another finding is that there is no condemnation anywhere in the bible of female same-sex relationships, or of consensual and faithful same-sex relationships in general, and that from the point of view of natural sciences, homosexuality is a “natural variation within the range of human sexuality”.
The report is the work of twenty academics, including biblical scholars, theologians, ethicists, evolutionary biologists, and sociologists. The accompanying Academic Statement is endorsed by a further 60 academic scholars
According to Professor Mary McAleese, the international collaborative research project is “the first serious attempt to use the tools of interdisciplinary scholarship to challenge, probe and interrogate Church teaching in the area of homosexuality”.
She said the faithful needed this to help convince “a blinkered magisterium to open its eyes and ears, to see and hear the damage inflicted on good people, young and old, by teachings that run counter to science and counter to the love of the Creator”.
Professor McAleese, who is currently Professor of Children, Law & Religion at the University of Glasgow and Chancellor of Trinity College Dublin, said the study is the work of highly regarded scholars who want the best for the future of the Church and for humanity. “It is hoped the study will be accepted in that spirit and will open up much-needed debate. The Church will benefit hugely from opening the door to fresh thinking just as it is losing credibility by keeping the door closed.”
She said Pope Francis was the “ideal person” to acknowledge the importance of the study and to open debate on its findings. “The Church has not yet evolved an effective or credible model for such an internal discussion unfortunately but that is something
