Homily

I was discouraged the other day. I saw the results of a poll done by the Pew Research Organization. This poll was taken in the early months of 2014, and it consisted of two questions that were asked of Catholics in the United States. The first question was, "Do you think homosexuality should be accepted or discouraged? Of course there is a problem right off the bat. What does the question mean? If it means accepting that there are homosexual people, then there is no problem there of course, and why would you want to discourage people, any kind of people? As is so often the problem in these matters, there is no accuracy in the way things are discussed. Does the question mean homosexual activity, relations with people of the same sex? Likely that's what they are talking about. But then why not ask the question directly, such as, "Do you think homosexual acts are moral or immoral?" That's very plain and clear. Once you use language like, "accept," it sounds as though you are talking more about accepting people not about specific behaviors. Let's change it up a little. Here is another question, "Do you think heterosexuality should be accepted or discouraged? If that question sounds stupid to you in this context, I think it points out how dumb it is to use it in the other context. Accept? Accept what? People or certain behaviors? There is a huge difference between those two things.

But let us assume that the poll question means accepting or discouraging homosexual behavior, which is probably the intention of the people conducting the pool. And here is where the discouragement comes in. Of Catholics 18-29 years old, 85% of those polled said that homosexuality should be accepted. All Catholics in general, 70% answered the same. Even more surprising, of Catholics who attend Mass every week or more often, 60% said homosexuality should be accepted.

Then there is a second, equally discouraging poll question that was asked, "Do you support or oppose same-sex marriage?" Catholics age 18-29 favor same-sex marriage by a 75% approval rate. All Catholics favor it by 57%, and even Catholics who attend Mass every week or more often give their approval by 45%. I could not believe my eyes. I mean, I can understand that if you include people who say they are Catholic but don't practice or live their faith, then the numbers would be leaning a certain way, but when you get results like this from people who are at least going to church every week, it reveals a huge problem in faith among many Catholics. And if older Catholics hold these views in such numbers, then it is not a surprise if even younger Catholics do so even more. What is the problem? It's a huge misunderstanding or else a refusal to accept the truth of Christ as passed down to us in His Church.

It is the teaching of Christ, delivered to us in His Church, that marriage is a sacred union of a man and a woman who pledge to love one another faithfully for life and accept children as a gift from God, raising those children in the love of the Lord. Sexual relations outside of marriage are always considered to be most seriously wrong. Those are the relevant points. This was and always has been considered to be the truth of Christ throughout Christian history, even by Protestant churches all the way down to the most modern times. But for the past 50 years these truths have been chipped away from the public morality of our country and, following, from the personal moral code of so many people.

How so? I've mentioned these before, but I'm so shocked by reading these poll results, I want to do it again, please. Overwhelming acceptance of artificial contraception, the overwhelming numbers of marriages that end in divorce, the almost total acceptance of sexual relations outside of marriage and even in many cases adulterous situations, the acceptance of abortion, the proliferation of pornography the sexualization of children at a young age, the overwhelming number of pregnancies outside of marriage, the high respect afforded to Planned Parenthood as an organization (and as someone noted to me recently, the last thing that group does is plan anyone for parenthood) all these things individually and together have led us to disregard the teaching of Christ in favor of doing what we want, and so bit by bit, we turn from truth and end up in the arena of personal opinion, not just moral failings—we are all sinners—but it's when we deny sin, that we are in trouble. It has led us to this place today where moral values are up for grabs. Apparently, but perhaps I really shouldn't be so surprised, when I look back over the past few decades, apparently we, even as the Church, in this country can no longer accept the word of Jesus Christ, but in a new wave of Protestantism each person is left to decide for themselves what is true and what is false. We no longer know what marriage is about, nor what it means to be a man or a woman, or what place children have in a marriage, or what human sexuality is all about. We no longer have a clear understanding of what is true, or where truth can be found, outside of our personal opinion. We are like Pontius Pilate who wondered what truth meant, even as Jesus was standing in front of him.

For me this is the bottom line, this is the foundational question: Do we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, or do we not? That is THE question, because there is no question about His teaching in these matters. All the Christian churches have taught these truths until our generation challenged them. And to those Christian groups which have now changed their minds on these matters, if we could not trust you before, how can we trust you now? And if you think the Church has not carried this truth to us from Christ, then everything is up for grabs, so why even bother? Jesus left us without any way to know what is right or wrong, or what we need to do to live good lives? If we do not accept the teaching of the son of God, then we do not accept Jesus as the Son of God If He is mistaken about the nature of human life, marriage, family—then your opinions are as good as His. Would we be willing to stand up before Him today, if He were right in front of us, and say, "Jesus, I think you are wrong about this, and the church you gave us to teach your truth is also wrong about this."? If Jesus is not infallible, then why follow Him? And if we are swayed by public opinion, do we believe most people are smarter than us? And if we are afraid that people will not like us or they will call us names and accuse us of being hateful people, should we not be the people who have the courage of our convictions and show the world that our love for Christ and for our neighbor cannot be shaken by threats and insults, even as many in the world today suffer terrible hardships for their faith? If people stand up and say, "You hate gays!" and we say, "We do not hate gays," who is telling the truth?

Dear Friends, at the bottom of all this are the most basic of all questions. Do we accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God, Our Lord and Savior? Do we accept that He gave us a Church, His Body, to guide us in His message and His truth? Do we believe that His truth cannot ever be false or change?

It's the same question asked three times at every Baptism: "Do you believe in Christ?"

The apostle Thomas had a faith problem until he stood in front of the Risen Christ. He didn't say, "Truth. What does that mean?" like a certain Roman procurator. We stand here today in a different but very real way before the risen Christ. Then let us also say it: "My Lord, and my God!"