By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

“What the (Catholic) Church teaches is, by large measure, quite hurtful to many people in our community,” theologian Patricia Beattie Jung said last week. “(But) At the same time those who teach this do not do so out of malice.”

Jung, who is Roman Catholic professor of theology at Loyola University Chicago, outlined the theological precedents for the Catholic Church’s current stances on homosexuality at a Jan. 23 talk at St. Clement Church in Lincoln Park.

“Many people don’t know precisely what it is the church teaches,” Jung said. “It’s actually a very complex, nuanced set of teachings.”

The church recommends “complete, lifelong abstinence” for gays—“what may be four to 10 percent of the population,” she said, making gays perhaps the largest population segment for whom the church advocates celibacy. The church further recognizes that orientation is “not chosen” and needs to be integrated into how GLBTs live, according to Jung.

Historically, according to the church, “the best sex was no sex at all,” Jung said. She added that the church’s position stems from its viewpoints on the “three P’s”—paternalism, purity and procreativity—that evolved over the last century, except with regards to homosexuality.

Many in the audience spoke after Jung’s presentation and discussed their experiences as gay Catholics. One man said that he had driven for three hours to get there. He came from a smaller city and a congregation that would not be welcoming to gays.

Another audience member asked where in the New Testament Jesus gave any position on homosexuality.

Jung replied that his view on the issue, if he had one, wasn’t recorded. But she said that church positions are determined by clergy, theologians and lay Catholics. As such, citing fidelity to scripture is unlikely to sway future rulings.

But Jung added that Catholics have a responsibility to “wrestle” with the teachings and follow their consciences after. “None of these teachings are infallible. They are part of the ordinary, authoritative teachings of the church,” she said.

She was pessimistic about where how far teachings on homosexuality were likely to advance under the current pope. “It doesn’t bode well for the short-term future,” Jung said.