Natural law suggests that there are a set of rules that are determined by the very nature of humanity, creating laws that are universally true and not bound by any creed. Professor Stephen Pope of the theology department discussed natural law and how it relates to both Catholicism and homosexuality as part of the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC) and the theology department's series on Catholicism and Sexual Ethics.The lecture, given to a diverse crowd of undergraduates, members of the community, faculty, and prospective students on Wednesday night, was the third in a series that has previously touched on topics such as the teaching of sexual ethics within the church and the concept of virtue ethics. Pope began by giving what he said was a "thumbnail sketch" of natural law, Catholicism, and homosexuality.
Although he said that he is generally wary of any "ism." Pope believes that Catholicism, at its best, can be very positive.
"When we talk about Catholicism, we're talking about a long-standing Christian tradition," Pope said. "It's premised on the belief that God is active in grace in the lives of every person and in the lives of every community around the world."
Pope also emphasized the role of the Catholic Church and its responsibility to promote the authentic identity of Christianity as best as it can, a duty that can sometimes get lost in the process.
"Unfortunately, the institution oftentimes betrays its own identity, and it ends up being a counter-witness to the love and justice it's supposed to be witness to," Pope said. "In any institution, because there are human beings who are in charge, that authority is subject to being misused."
Pope then discussed the relationship between the church and natural law. While natural law is an important consideration in Catholic doctrine, it ideally can apply to every civilization in the world.
"[Natural law's] appeal is that it can reach across religious boundaries and it can reach across cultural boundaries to answer basic questions about what makes a good community," Pope said.
As an example of natural law, Pope said that while many creeds forbid stealing, one doesn't have to be a follower of a particular religion to know that stealing is wrong. Adherents to natural law would argue that the general aversion to taking someone else's possessions is contained somewhere in human nature and thus is universally understood across cultural and religious boundaries.
Natural law relates to homosexuality in a specific way. Thomas Aquinas was one of the first people to study natural law within the context of the Catholic Church. In his studies, Aquinas considered both the rational nature and biological nature of human beings. Pope discussed how Aquinas's consideration of natural law found the male and female bodies complementary for purposes of procreation and thus any union not between a man and a woman was contrary to nature.
But as the church reached the middle of the 20th century, the understanding of sexual acts within the church started to shift.
"There starts to be an understanding of sex not as a physical act, but as a form of communion of two people who love each other," Pope said. "The church stopped talking about the primarily procreative aspect of sexuality and started talking about procreation and love becoming two coequal purposes of sexuality."
Pope finished his sketch when he said that this new perspective on sexuality also has the possibility to change the role or at least offer a new way to consider homosexuality within the Catholic Church.
"The church does not condemn sex within a marriage if a woman is infertile or pregnant or during a time in her monthly cycle that is likely to be infertile," Pope said. "This openness to the moral value of non-procreative sex have been taken by some theologians to constitute useful indications of the potential of morally meaningful sex among gays and lesbians."
The question-and-answer session opened with a question about the ramifications of what is now understood to be a constantly changing nature of Thomas Aquinas's natural law, which was based on a very static view of the organic world.
"One of the big shifts that took place is the beginning of the notion of human experience being historical; that our very notion of human nature is always affected by history," Pope said.
Pope said that much of our understanding of what it means to be human has changed considerably since Aquinas's time. We have come to a greater understanding of people as cultural, social animals and also to an understanding of the distinctively human traits of love and consideration, Pope said.
"The challenge to the Catholic Church is the challenge of understanding, the challenge of compassion. The fear of the Catholic Church is this fear of relativism; that you can't trust people to make a decision because they're going to abuse it, but people are going to abuse it if they want to abuse it," Pope said.
Pope emphasized that the Catholic Church explicitly condemns all hate crimes and discrimination against people who are gay. While the Catholic Church does believe that there is something "implicitly disordered," about those with homosexual desires, they do not believe that there is anything wrong with the individuals themselves, only the specific action of homosexual sexual acts.
The rules against homosexual discrimination within the church are mirrored at Boston College. In the bias-incident protocol drawn up last fall, discrimination and acts against gay students are explicitly forbidden.
"I think the belief of the entire University community, and I include the administration and faculty, is that every student on this campus, regardless of sexual orientation and religious beliefs, should be treated with the utmost respect," said Interim Dean for Student Development Paul Chebator. "That's where we have to start. And from there we have to start looking at other issues."
For Pope, one particularly pertinent issue is the consideration of sex by both gay and straight couples.
"Personally, I don't think the issue is straight or gay. I think the issue is whether you're going to use sex to get pleasure and treat it as a recreational activity, or if you're going to treat it like a deep bond," Pope said. "The fundamental question is whether you can channel sexual energy into love, into commitment."
Pope noted that some Catholics have a tendency to condemn the behavior of gay individuals without acknowledging their own sexual indiscretions as seen by the church.
"I applaud [Professor Pope] for talking about sexuality as it should include heterosexual conduct. This notion of love being the primary goal of a sexual union along with procreation is really important and there are a lot of cavalier attitudes on this campus about sex," Chebator said.
The discussion of sex on campus continues the tradition of earlier lectures in the series, the brainchild of Celso Perez, president of the GLC and A&S '09. Perez started the series in order to foster discussion on what he feels are important issues involving sexuality and the Catholic Church.
"I commend Celso for doing this," Pope said. "I think it takes some guts and some practical wisdom, but to organize it the way he has, in a constructive way, is really great." Chebator was equally impressed with the attendance and caliber of the event from an administrative point of view. "Even though there is no formally registered organization, you wouldn't know it by last night," Chebator said.
"Here is an organization that is run as a part of student government that is sponsoring programs around gay student issues. I understand symbolically there is a peace there; we do whatever we can to try and support our gay students."
Perez was very satisfied with the evening, particularly the involvement of the prospective students, community members, and faculty in the question-and-answer session. The spirited conversation sparked by the debate lasted for a full hour and a half.
"This is the type of conversation we're supposed to be having." Perez said. "I don't think what we're doing is in spite of our Catholicism, but rather because of our Catholicism."
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