Growing up in a Catholic middle and high school, I remember constantly being told what to do. I was told marriage was only between a man and a woman. I was not supposed to use condoms, let alone have sex before marriage, because sex was only for bringing new life into the world. Abortion was out of the question because that was equal to murdering your unborn child. While religion classes and mass did touch on God’s love, out of all of these lessons, I heard the warnings against contraception and abortion the most. However, Pope Francis recently spoke out against the church’s “obsession” with homosexuality, contraception and abortion.
In an interview with La Civilta Cattolica (identified in an article by The New York Times), an Italian Jesuit Journal, Francis spoke out against the church, saying that the church should not be “obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently,” as reported by Reuters. This is a departure from Pope Benedict XVI, who preached a more conservative message. According to huffingtonpost.com, Benedict saw gay marriage as a threat to “human dignity and the future of humanity itself.” According to Reuters, when homosexuals told Francis they felt condemned by the church, Francis said, “the Church does not want to do this.”
I spent six years in Catholic school, and all I learned about gay marriage was that it’s against God’s teachings. Other than that, homosexuality was never talked about. It was like the teachers thought if they ignored the issue, it would go away. Gay marriage and equal rights for same-sex couples have become hot topics over the past few years, especially this summer when Proposition 8 was ruled unconstitutional. With more states allowing gay marriage, the church and Catholic schools should not try to condemn homosexuals or ignore the issue. I remember the Bible preached to “love thy neighbor.” While homosexuality may not be in line with church teachings, Christians should preach love and acceptance, not hatred and exclusion.
While homosexuality was rarely discussed at my school, abortion was mentioned frequently. In my sophomore year of high school, I took a class called apologetics, one of the numerous religion classes I was required to take in order to graduate. We did an entire project on abortion. Mine was on abortion survivors, which was slightly less depressing than all the other projects. We were required to create quizzes based on our PowerPoint presentations to further support that abortion is murder.
In terms of contraception, I never learned about it in sex education in high school. The friends I have spoken to who went to public high schools learned how to put on a condom, usually with the teacher pulling one over a banana. That was not the case for me and I feel cheated. Instead, we got frequent talks about abstinence and waiting until marriage.
The teachers kept me and the other students in the dark about subjects like homosexuality while using fear to teach against abortion and contraception rather than giving all of these subjects an honest look. I am glad Francis has called for Christians to stop fixating on those who are gay, who use contraception or who get abortions. The real focus is to spread love and acceptance, not hatred and fear.
Francis also mentioned in his interview that people were beginning to have a negative view on Confession, an important part of Catholicism. According to Reuters, Francis said the confessional, “is not a torture chamber but the place in which the Lord’s mercy motivates us to do better.” To me, Confession always felt like a torture chamber. The teachers and priests made it sound like any little action you did was worthy of Confession, something wrong you had to admit to like a criminal. The teachers and priests spoke about how free you felt by confessing your sins. There is nothing freeing about sitting alone in a room with some priest I barely know, my back to him and confessing that I masturbate. It was uncomfortable and embarrassing because I did not trust him. I did not have the same trust in priests that my teachers preached. I have not set foot in a church, let alone a confessional, since the service before high school graduation. I may not find peace in Confession, but those who are seeking help should not feel dread when they enter the confessional. Again, Francis has the right idea by wanting to make Confession an appealing choice rather than a dreadful one. People should find freedom by confessing their sins, not feel as if the priest is judging them. Save the judgment for God.
I hope Christians take Francis’ suggestions to heart. I do not want Catholic school students to have to walk through the hallways wondering if there is something wrong with them for being attracted to the same sex, thinking that abortion is an automatic ticket to hell or to not use a condom during sex. According to Reuters, Francis said, “Religion is the right to express its opinion in the service of the people, but God in creation has set us free.” Staying quiet about certain subjects and believing there is only one way to go about solving problems is how you create fear and guilt, not freedom.
Jake Koniszewski can be reached at john.koniszewski@spartans.ut.edu