One really popular song going around right now is Same Love by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Have you heard it?
I had heard of it, but had neglected to really listen to it. And since the radio is broken in the car I drive, I didn’t hear it from there. After being reminded of it recently, I decided to look it up and see what it was all about.
Oh boy.
I’m not one to sit down and over-analyze song lyrics, but after listening to this, I was disappointed in the Catholic people I know who are jamming to it and gushing over its message.
Why?
This song is basically saying that the love of a gay couple is the same love as all the other love in the world (by comparing it to a mother’s love) and how we just need to let them love each other. But it’s also quite the anti-Catholic and anti-conservative-people song by mocking many of our sentiments. It uses the standard “Catholics hate gay people” mantra to get that point across.
“The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision, And you can be cured with some treatment and religion”
“When I was at church they taught me something else, If you preach hate at the service those words aren’t anointed, That holy water that you soak in has been poisoned”
“And a certificate on paper isn’t gonna solve it all, But it’s a d**n good place to start, No law is gonna change us, We have to change us”
“I might not be the same, but that’s not important, No freedom till we’re equal, d**n right I support it”
The problem?
A quote from Archbishop Fulton Sheen seemed rather appropriate here:
“There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church….As a matter of fact, if we Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do.”
You see, the Catholic Church doesn’t actually hate gay people. If it did, I would have a problem with it. Tons of people would. We’re told to love one another and so forth, so that just wouldn’t make sense to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation.
But guess what?
Loving someone doesn’t mean you’re okay with them doing whatever they want.
Why do parents stop their kids from reaching into the cookie jar for a 5th time? Because it’s not good for them.
What the church teaches is that we were made to love and be loved. Vocations such as marriage are ways to love each other on earth, and to become closer to God. Giving in to human appetites does not help that. The church calls single to people to lives of chastity. The church calls homosexual people to chastity. And guess what? The church even calls married couples to chastity.
Discrimination 101.
You see, by truly loving homosexual people, the Church calls them to live their lives in an ordered approach to their attractions. But it isn’t any different than the call of single people to be abstinent until marriage. And it isn’t different than the call of married couples to remain faithful to their spouse.
It’s not the same love, but it’s all the same call.
A Drop in the Ocean 
THANK YOU! Your bolded sentence sums it up for me. Well said. Thanks for having the boldness to say this!
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Anytime 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it.
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I disagree. I think that by mandating people to a life of chastity you are mandating them to a life of loneliness and self loathing. I’ve tried the whole Courage thing and it made no positive impact on my life whatsoever. All it did was isolate me and make me feel like an even bigger freak.
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Eric, I’m sorry if that’s the extent of your experience with this concept of chastity. I believe that until a person has an encounter with a person living an authentic life (in this case, of chastity), it is nearly impossible to understand or appreciate it. I think this is part of the reason society sees Catholics (and our “rules” per se) as limiting and terrible. To us, they are freeing. Until you encounter that, I don’t blame for for not seeing the beauty in it.
As Catholics we’re not trying to push an agenda on others. I know you might feel that way, but once we’ve experienced the love of Christ and the beauty of Catholicism, we want to share that with the world. That’s why we talk about our faith and morals – so that we may draw people to the light we have found in Christ.
So if you did not find value in living a chaste life, I’m sorry. Everyone needs someone to keep accountable to (and commiserate with on occasion), and I understand how difficult it would be without someone to be there with you. I encourage you to find someone who has the same beliefs – a friend perhaps, or some sort of mentor. You are never, ever, alone, and no one deserves to feel that way.
Feel free to contact me if you’d like to discuss this further.
God Bless.
Laura
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I am not quite sure what there would be to discuss. You said it yourself, until I have some kind of divine intervention I am never going to get anywhere. I honestly do not think that I will ever feel this so called “beauty” and “light.” No matter how much prayer I did, confessions I went to, I was still plagued by an overwhelming darkness. I guess I am not meant to know god’s grace. Might as well enjoy myself then so I am going to miserable anyway.
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Gays in the church have so few options open to them. Its easy for straight people to say oh well its not really that hard overcome its easy to say it can be changed. Straight people are not called to question their orientation, their attractions, their sexuality. Instead to embrace and most straight people are then conviently “called” to marriage. but yes gay people should view their own sexuality and bodies with suspicion…..
Its sad to see a straight conservative catholic who has what…millions of other followers in faith to say Im the victim of an intolerant society that hates me. Someone has a victim identity complex
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Hello again, colormeanew! It’s true that the Catholic Church is learning how to respond to the individuals with homosexual attraction who long to be fully part of our faith community. I am encouraged to see things like Courage Ministries which specifically address this.
I understand that it is hard for people who are dealing with same-sex attraction. We all have crosses. It looks different for different people. The Church isn’t out to get just people with same-sex attraction. It also asks unmarried people to refrain from sexual activity, those in the priesthood or religious life to remain celibate forever, and for married spouses to be responsible parents. None of those choices are easy. But Christianity isn’t supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to get us to heaven.
The human body is good and beautiful. I encourage you to read Love and Responsibility or Theology of the Body for Beginners (by Christopher West) to see what the Church teaches on the goodness of the human body. It doesn’t ask people to be “suspicious” of their bodies, but to order our desires and temptations properly.
I am not a victim. But it’s true that Christian values and beliefs are often under attack. I think it’s mostly because people don’t understand them. Thank you for being here and learning more with me1
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