The Challenge of Honesty: Gays, Lesbians and the Catholic Church

While honesty has been a source of empowerment for many gay and lesbian Catholics, it has also presented a challenge for the Catholic Church, according to openly gay Catholic theologian, priest and author James Alison, Th.D., who delivered a lecture at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus on Nov. 11.

“Twenty years ago, it might have been considered scandalous for a priest or a bishop to speak honestly as a gay man,” said Father Alison, author of Faith Beyond Resentment: Fragments Catholic and Gay (Crossroad/Herder & Herder, 2001). “[Today] it is vastly more scandalous that such people cannot speak honestly when so many others can, given that truth, transparency and coming into the light are central to the Gospel.”

During his lecture titled “Honesty as Challenge, Honesty as Gift: What Way Forward for Gay and Lesbian Catholics?” Father Alison told the crowd gathered in the 12th-floor lounge of the Leon Lowenstein Building that the value of honesty is cheapened when it is used “as a means of comparison against some other group, or as a form of accusation against others.” Father Alison said that honesty should be regarded not as a weapon but as an important gift, a cornerstone of the church. After all, had the apostles not given honest and credible witness to the crucifixion and resurrection, there would be no church. In a similar way, he added, without a lasting continuation of that spirit of honesty and credibility, the future of the church will be in doubt.

Although honesty should be regarded as a gift, Father Alison said that it should not be treated as something that can be possessed. Rather, it is a spirit that actively takes possession of individuals and leads them on a journey much like salvation. For Father Alison, such a regard for honesty is not only essential to Catholic theology; it holds special meaning for present-day gay and lesbian Catholics.

“Being gay or lesbian is not something we grasp and hold onto,” said Father Alison, who has studied, lived and worked in Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, the United States and his native England. “We are far more undergoers of something than creators of it, let alone protagonists in it. … This is not a moral issue, something that should be or shouldn’t be, but is much closer to being something which just is.”

Father Alison noted that gay and lesbian Catholics are taking part in the creation of a new consciousness in the church. He attributed the process to “something like a redefinition of being human, for which words like gay or straight are insufficient, but which affects both gay and straight alike.”

On Nov. 10, Father Alison delivered a lecture titled “Stand Up and Be Godless: The Challenge Which Comes With the Gift of Faith” at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus. During the lecture, he described how belief in God overtakes and gradually transforms individuals, enabling them to be creative and take the risks that faith demands. Both lectures were sponsored by the Office of the University Chaplain and made possible through the generosity of Robert Anthony (GAS ’70).

— Ryan Thompson