Homophobia And Misogyny

Photo of Bishop Gene Robinson and his parents, Imogene and Victor Robinson, from the Dallas Morning News.

Tobias Haller at In a Godward Direction is doing a series of posts on human sexuality titled "True Union". I've been reading them and, on occasion, leaving a comment. I hope that Tobias finds a way to collect this series of posts in a pamphlet or booklet or, at the very least, that he will gather them together with links on his home page. Here are the links to those he has written so far: True Union (1), True Union (2), and True Union (3)

I left comments to a couple of the posts which include these words - and I am aware that quoting oneself has an air of desperation about it - nevertheless....

Grandmère Mimi said...

And I keep coming back to my perception of a God who loves us infinitely, who delights in us. Why would that God create persons drawn to love and desire those of the same sex and then deny them fulfillment of those very desires that he created them with?

And no, I don't want to hear about pedophilia, and rape, and incest, because those actions cause harm to others. Desires which cause harm to others are, of course, to be suppressed....
September 24, 2007 10:17 AM

And this:

Grandmère Mimi said...

We women have suffered long enough from the writings of Aristotle and Aquinas, with their tossing around of the word defective, however near to innocuous the term is defined by....

Contemporaries of mine who attended Roman Catholic seminaries were taught that women were "occasions of sin". No wonder some of the priests acted strangely in encounters with women. Not all RC priests took this nonsense to heart, but enough of them did that we felt the sting.

Your [Tobias'] mention of the Incarnation is vital to the discussion, because the man, as biological father, is totally out of the picture - not necessary - absent from the scene.
....
October 09, 2007 4:36 PM

And this:

Grandmère Mimi said...

....,I'm sorry, my friend, but what comes to mind is, "There is none so blind as they that won’t see."

If you can't see that your own church and, to a large extent, most Christians denominations are as yet riddled with gynephobia as well as homophobia, then I don't think I can help you see. The churches have come a way, but they have a long way to go.

You say:

"In marriage God unites them in such a way that, by forming 'one flesh', they can transmit human life: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.'"

I'm an old lady. I can no longer transmit biological life. Am I no longer one flesh with my husband of 46 years, because I can't produce a baby?

OK, that's my last feminist word on the subject. I see my words and ....'s words as not so very much off topic, as I think the prejudice against women and the prejudice against gays and lesbians are interconnected, and both are rooted in unreasonable fear.
October 11, 2007 10:29 AM

From an article in the Dallas Morning News on Gene Robinson, which I thought was quite well done, mainly because the interviewer let Bishop Robinson speak:

"I take the long view of history," he says. "The debate will end with full inclusion of GLTB people in the life and ministry of the Church. We're really only arguing about timing."

Bishop Robinson is right, but LGTB folks are getting impatient, and rightly so.

Asked about homophobia, Robinson is more philosophical than religious.

"Homophobia is aimed more at gay men than lesbians, "he says. "It's because of an internalized misogyny and the demise of patriarchy."

Misogyny, he explains is a form of prejudice wherein the male is considered superior to the female. "For the misogynist, the greatest affront to being male is to allow someone to treat you like a female. That's why same-sex couples are often asked which one is 'the man' and which one is 'the woman' in the relationship."

In terms of the Bible and religion, Robinson explains, from the time Eve gave Adam the forbidden fruit to Paul's insistence on female subjection, women have been considered subservient to men.

It seems that my thinking is not far off the mark from Bishop Robinson's own thinking.

I like his final words:

"We're trying to figure out what the truth is," he says. "When enough of us figure out that God's table and God's church are open equally to all people, we'll act on that and deal as pastorally as we can with those who don't see it that way."

I'm not sure if lesbians agree that homophobia is aimed more at gay men than lesbians, but from listening to men and women talk, I find that they are much more put off by the idea of same-sexuality between two men than between two women.

Gene Robinson and Tobias Haller have studied and pondered these issues far beyond my capacity, yet, by the grace of God we arrive at something resembling a similar conclusion. Thanks be to God.

Thanks to Jim (the Spin) Naughton at the Episcopal Café for calling my attention to the article.

The Feast Day of The Martyrs Of Oxford

Give a thought and a prayer to the brave Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of Rochester, and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, who suffered martyrdom under Queen Mary. Latimer and Ridley were burned at the stake together for the crime of heresy. Latimer's last words to Ridley were, "Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man, for we shall this day light such a candle in England as I trust by God's grace shall never be put out."

Read about them at the Lectionary.

During the reign of the Protestant King Edward VI, Henry VIII's only son, Thomas Cranmer translated the church worship service into English in the 1549 First Book of Common Prayer.

When Roman Catholic Queen Mary took the throne upon Edward's death, she ordered Cranmer to write a letter of submission to the Pope. He wrote four letters and tore them up, but he sent the fifth. However, Mary did not believe he was sincere, so she had him burned at the stake for heresy. His final words were, "I have sinned, in that I signed with my hand what I did not believe with my heart. When the flames are lit, this hand shall be the first to burn."

This post is short, because I'm still exhausted from Teresa of Avila. My apologies to the three gentlemen.

READINGS:

Psalm 142 or 124
1 Corinthians 3:9-14
John 15:20--16:1

PRAYER

Keep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, after the examples of your servants Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer; that we may live in your fear, die in your favor, and rest in your peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

UPDATE: Oh dear! Tobias has an excellent sermon posted to mark the feast day, which makes my offering look more pitiful, but being of generous heart, I give you the link.

From Luiz

Our friend, Luiz Coelho, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, sent me this video showing the services at Christ the King Anglican Church located in the City of God, one of the worst slum areas in Rio. Luiz and his parish priest serve the people at the church in the neighborhood, with special outreach to the children.

In the video, Luiz is on the right holding the cup as the priest gives communion.

The picture on the upper right of my blog, titled "Wounded Bird", was painted by Luiz' father, who is now deceased. Luiz gave me permission to use it on my blog.

The email from Luiz ends with this:

"No to hate and yes to love,
No to death and yes to life,
No to falsehood and yes to truth,
No to oppression and yes to justice,
No to cruelty and yes to mercy,
No to violence and yes to the path of peace,
No, no matter what it may cost, and yes, no matter what it may cost.
For you are the source of love leading to reconciliation and forgiveness."
(a Sabeel prayer - http://www.sabeel.org)

Feast Day Of Teresa Of Avila

"St. Teresa in Ecstasy" by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Image from The Web Gallery of Art.

I was reluctant to do a post on Teresa of Avila, because I was put off by hearing and reading stories about how she wanted to impose strict rules of poverty on the nuns in her convent, having them wear sandals instead of shoes - thus the Discalced Carmelites. Now I have no problem with that part of the discipline, but I remember stories about her introduction of the discipline of flagellation into her convents. I must say that flagellation creeps me out.

Then we have Teresa's own words from her writing in The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself on her ecstasy during contemplative prayer:

"I saw an angel very near me, towards my left side, in bodily form, which is not usual with me; for though angels are often represented to me, it is only in my mental vision. This angel appeared rather small than large, and very beautiful. His face was so shining that he seemed to be one of those highest angels called seraphs, who look as if all on fire with divine love. He had in his hands a long golden dart; at the end of the point methought there was a little fire. And I felt him thrust it several times through my heart in such a way that it passed through my very bowels. And when he drew it out, methought it pulled them out with it and left me wholly on fire with a great love of God."

This seems de trop, too much. But who am I to question what happens between God and a saint? Also, - dare I say it? - it hints at a sexual experience. I'd say it shouts out as a sexual experience. Of course, I could be wrong. I have never read Teresa's writings, only brief excerpts.

Bernini's sculpture, pictured above, is inspired by Teresa's words. I have seen the sculpture at the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome. It is breathtaking, a masterpiece of the baroque style. While we were there, a member of our party irreverently renamed the sculpture, which shocked me at the time, but it also got me to thinking about Teresa'a words and the sculpture, and I had to admit he had a point.

However, I came upon a couple of sources where I learned that Teresa was much more interesting than I had first believed, so I will move forward with conventional biographical material.

From James Kiefer at The Lectionary:

Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada (later known as Teresa de Jesus) was born in Avila, Spain, 28 March 1515, one of ten children whose mother died when she was fifteen. Her family was of partly Jewish ancestry.

Teresa, having read the letters of Jerome, decided to become a nun, and when she was 20, she entered the Carmelite convent in Avila.

In fact, because of his ancestry, her father was questioned by the Inquisition.

In 1560 she resolved to reform the monastery that had, she thought, departed from the order's original intention and become insufficiently austere. Her proposed reforms included strict enclosure (the nuns were not to go to parties and social gatherings in town, or to have social visitors at the convent, but to stay in the convent and pray and study most of their waking hours) and discalcing (literally, taking off one's shoes, a symbol of poverty, humility, and the simple life, uncluttered by luxuries and other distractions). In 1562 she opened a new monastery in Avila, over much opposition in the town and from the older monastery. At length Teresa was given permission to proceed with her reforms, and she travelled throughout Spain establishing seventeen houses of Carmelites of the Strict (or Reformed) Observance (the others are called Carmelites of the Ancient Observance). The reformed houses were small, poor, disciplined, and strictly enclosed. Teresa died 4 October 1582.
....

Teresa is reported to have been very attractive in person, witty, candid, and affectionate. She is remembered both for her practical achievements and organizing skill and for her life of contemplative prayer.

One of Teresa's poems:

Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
compassion on this world
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

I've read this poem before, and I like it quite a lot.

Here's something a little livelier from Catholic Online:

Teresa's father was rigidly honest and pious, but he may have carried his strictness to extremes. Teresa's mother loved romance novels but because her husband objected to these fanciful books, she hid the books from him. This put Teresa in the middle -- especially since she liked the romances too. Her father told her never to lie but her mother told her not to tell her father. Later she said she was always afraid that no matter what she did she was going to do everything wrong.

That's getting off to a bad start.

...she led a fairly ordinary life, though she was convinced that she was a horrible sinner. As a teenager, she cared only about boys and clothes and flirting and rebelling -- like other teenagers throughout the ages. When she was 16, her father decided she was out of control and sent her to a convent. At first she hated it but eventually she began to enjoy it -- partly because of her growing love for God, and partly because the convent was a lot less strict than her father.

She sounds like a normal teenager to me.

Even after Teresa entered the convent, she struggled in her spiritual life.

Teresa suffered the same problem that Francis of Assisi did -- she was too charming. Everyone liked her and she liked to be liked. She found it too easy to slip into a worldly life and ignore God. The convent encouraged her to have visitors to whom she would teach mental prayer because their gifts helped the community economy. But Teresa got more involved in flattery, vanity and gossip than spiritual guidance. These weren't great sins perhaps but they kept her from God.

She seems all too human to me. Aren't we all tempted by pride and wanting to be liked?

"May God protect me from gloomy saints," Teresa said, and that's how she ran her convent. To her, spiritual life was an attitude of love, not a rule. Although she proclaimed poverty, she believed in work, not in begging. She believed in obedience to God more than penance. If you do something wrong, don't punish yourself -- change. When someone felt depressed, her advice was that she go some place where she could see the sky and take a walk. When someone was shocked that she was going to eat well, she answered, "There's a time for partridge and a time for penance." To her brother's wish to meditate on hell, she answered, "Don't."

Now that's beautiful and - or so it seems to me - of vital importance to a saintly life. I should read more of her writings. Perhaps, I should have done so before posting this, because the purpose of the feast days is to honor the saints, and I came into this post with many doubts. Since I struggled so with this, and I am not knowledgeable about Teresa's writings, I might have done better not to post it. But here it is with all its flaws.

St. Teresa is the patron saint of Headache sufferers. Her symbol is a heart, an arrow, and a book. She was canonized in 1622.

READINGS:

Psalm 42:1-7 or 139:1-9
Romans 8:22-27
Matthew 5:13-16

PRAYERS
O God, who by your Holy Spirit moved Teresa of Avila to manifest to your Church the way of perfection: Grant us, we pray, to be nourished by her excellent teaching, and enkindle within us a keen and unquenchable longing for true holiness; through Jesus Christ, the joy of loving hearts, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.

Thanks to Paul at Byzigenous Buddhapalian for the reminder of the sculpture by Bernini.

Fishing With A Fundie

Every Saturday, at this time of the year, Grandpère goes fishing with one of our sons. Fall is prime time for salt-water fishing, and each Saturday the two are in a boat in the marshes or in a lake. They are out to catch fish, which is serious business with them. The two are quite competitive - so competitive that my other son won't go with them, because he likes more easy-going fishing.

Grandpère invited an acquaintance to go along with them, a man he knew from the university where he worked before he retired. This is an honor. Not too many people get asked. The guy has had many health problems, and he was feeling better, so it seemed like a good time to invite him. We knew that he was a staunch Baptist, but in the boat yesterday, he went into full fundie right-wing mode. The subjects of the conversation were as follows:

Salvation (Yes! GP needed to be saved)
Creationism (Yes!)
Intelligent design (Yes!)
Evolution (No!)
The media (No!)
Except for Fox News (Yes!)
Time Magazine (No!)
And now - Quelle Surprise! - Bush (No!)

These topics of conversation rattled Grandpère and threw his fishing off. He didn't catch many fish. Prediction: this man will not be invited to go fishing again.

Actual Headline

Actual headline in the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Actual Maria von Trapp's Stepson Dies

Comment: Did the headline writer fear that we would jump to the conclusion that it was Julie Andrews' stepson who died?

Clive Owen - The Golden Guy

Yesterday I went to see: "Elizabeth: the Golden Age". The movie was so-so. What made the trip to the theater worthwhile was getting to look at Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh. He looked the best I've seen him, and he always looks good. Just look at that photo up there. The longish hair and the mustache and the little beard look terrific on him.

Elizabeth was close to deified in the movie. She blessed babies and that sort of thing. I don't know if these are the true feelings of the English about their royalty, but then I've never really understood the Brits and their royalty.

The movie was so loud. I do wish the cineplexes would turn down the sound. I did get a free large popcorn and drink in appreciation for all the money I spent on the trips I made there with my grandchildren during the summer. No wonder Americans are obese. They were so huge that no normal person could finish either one.

Miracle Needs A Miracle

COMMENT: I'm bumping this post up again and shortening it a bit. The Tulane medical students who are helping the family report that bloggers and blog readers are contributing to help rebuild the Joseph's family home.

I hardly ever post appeals for help on my blog, but this story from Scout at Frist Draft touched my heart. It's the story of one New Orleans family who has lost their home twice - once to Katrina and another time to fire.

From Scout's email:

Kellie Joseph and her 6 children lost their home to Katrina. They had nearly completed rebuilding when someone abandoned a stolen car in their backyard and lit it aflame to destroy evidence. The flames engulfed the home.

A group of Tulane University medical students who heard of this devastating news decided to help the family rebuild again and started a website named Hope in Grace for what is called "Project: Bring Miracle".

Recently the students contacted me. The online donation effort has reached a standstill after some initial local media attention. It is their hope to reach a wider audience through the Internet. They are asking for online donations to a rebuilding fund specifically restricted for use only in reconstruction.

This is where we as bloggers can help. We can't rebuild New Orleans but perhaps we can help one family that has now fallen through the cracks. We have the ability to reach a wide audience and even small donations could help bring this family home if enough people donate. They used their Road Home grant for the first rebuild so that is now lost. Unfortunately they can only receive $12,000 from insurance and so $132,000 is needed to rebuild. [A request has been made for inclusion with the Brad Pitt group however I believe there is slim hope of that panning out as their home is in a different section of the Lower 9th. Even if this would work out they would need $52,000]
....

Thanks for reading
Scout Prime at First-Draft.

It's hard for me to refuse anything to Scout, who has kept the story of the neglect and abandonment of my beloved and ruined New Orleans front and center on her blog. We've met several times when she visited NOLA. Scout and I and other bloggers worked together on gutting a house in the Gentilly area of New Orleans.

From the website Hope in Grace:

Miracle, her mother Kellie, and six brothers and sisters have all called the historic Holy Cross neighborhood in New Orleans home for nearly ten years. Her mother had worked their way out of the St. Bernard Housing Project that the family had moved into following the loss of her husband in a motor cycle accident, to become a homeowner in this neighborhood. Determined to give her children the best possible options, she kept them out of trouble, in school and church-related activities, and close to home. After the storm, her children were having a hard time integrating into their new schools, and Kellie quickly realized the need to return her family to the place that defined their being, to New Orleans. This unsettling tragedy severely jeopardized this noble hope.

A rebuilding fund has been established by State Representative Charmaine Marchand at Capital One that is specifically restricted for use only in reconstruction.

Donations can be made HERE.

Also there is a page where you can leave a much needed message of hope for the family--

I know not everyone can help, but those of you who are prayer warriors, you can help with your prayers for Miracle and her family and those who are helping them.

UPDATE: From Scout:

An update here. The Tulane medical students at Hope in Grace website inform me that $3,070 in donations have been raised since yesterday. It is wonderful and the Joseph family is extremely grateful for the donations.

I want to thank you for posting and helping to spread the word. I thought you might want to update your readers as well. As you can see we are under way but more is needed to reach the goal of rebuilding the Joseph's home. If we reach enough people we may just be able to help Bring Miracle and her family home to their beloved New Orleans lower 9th Ward. 10-12-07

It Was All Wrong

From the New York Times:

Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who took command of the coalition forces in Iraq in June 2003, now says it was all wrong from the day he took charge. The prosecution of the war was "incompetent" and is now "a nightmare with no end in sight." Now he tells us.

But his own role as commander in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib scandal leaves him vulnerable to criticism that he is shifting the blame from himself to the administration that ultimately replaced him and declined to nominate him for a fourth star, forcing his retirement.

I'd say he is vulnerable to the charge of shifting blame. Now he says he might write a book. The books from the late-to-the-party critics of the war are coming thick and fast. Will he exonerate himself in his book?

General Sanchez has been criticized by some current and retired officers for failing to recognize the growing insurgency in Iraq during his year in command and for failing to put together a plan to unify the disparate military effort, a task that was finally carried out when his successor, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., took over in mid-2004.

That could well be a legitimate criticism. What was your plan, Gen. Sanchez?

"The administration, Congress and the entire inter-agency, especially the State Department, must shoulder responsibility for the catastrophic failure, and the American people must hold them accountable," he said.

And you, Gen. Sanchez. Who will hold you accountable? You could have spoken up in 2003, and you didn't. You said you knew then of the "incompetence" which led us to where we are now, "the nightmare with no end in sight", yet you kept silent.

As I read the article, I found myself growing angrier and angrier. Years after it was plain to him that the whole operation was a terrible mistake and a terrible failure, he lays blame everywhere but on himself. It's true that there's blame enough to go around, but, Gen. Sanchez, you had your chance to speak up, but you didn't. And now it's late - too late for those who were tortured, too late for the dead and wounded - American, coalition, and Iraqi. It's too late for the families and friends of the dead and wounded and tortured, too late for those who have been driven from their homes in Iraq, with more dead and wounded and displaced to come. Shame on you, Gen. Sanchez.

"Hymn Without End"

From Derek Olsen at the Episcopal Café:

One of the great liturgical truths is that when we pray, we never pray alone. Even when we are physically alone, our prayer is never solitary but is woven into the greater garland of unceasing prayer that surrounds the throne of God and of the Lamb, the chorus of—as the Book of Revelation shows us—the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders, the choirs of angels, the great throng that none could number band, ultimately, every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and in the seas.

Speaking truthfully, our prayer, our praise, our worship, doesn’t truly begin or end; rather we simply rejoin ourselves to the hymn without end.

I've often thought of the "cloud of witnesses" who join with us when we pray, but mostly with regard to public worship, rather than private prayer. But Derek puts it so beautifully when he speaks of the never-ending cycle of prayer in which we may join at will, even when we pray privately. The saints in heaven and the faithful on earth pray with us, whether we are physically alone or with others.

That imagery from Revelation resonates powerfully, because, to me, it is a metaphor for true worship, the attitude of heart with which we approach the throne of grace.

Often when I take my walk in the evening, I pray this daily devotion:

At the Close of Day

Psalm 134

"Behold now, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, you that stand by night in the house of the LORD.

Lift up your hands in the holy place and bless the LORD; the LORD who made heaven and earth bless you out of Zion."

A Reading

"Lord, you are in the midst of us and we are called by your Name: Do not forsake us, O Lord our God."

Jeremiah 14: 9, 22

"Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised;

For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, whom you have prepared for all the world to see;

A Light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of your people Israel."

Prayers for ourselves and others may follow. It is appropriate that prayers of thanksgiving for the blessings of the day, and penitence for our sins, be included.

The Lord’s Prayer

The Collect

"Visit this place, O Lord, and drive far from it all snares of the enemy; let your holy angels dwell with us to preserve us in peace; and let your blessing be upon us always; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The almighty and merciful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless us and keep us. Amen."

Book of Common Prayer, p.140

Tonight, as I prayed, I was mindful of of the many saints on earth and in heaven who prayed with me, some perhaps saying the very same prayers. Surely someone, somewhere said "The Lord's Prayer" with me.