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<h1><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">Austrian bishops commission book calling same-sex relationships ‘image of <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">God</span>’s goodness’ </span></h1>
<div>A new book commissioned by the bishops demands that Church teaching on homosexuality be overturned</div>
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<span><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/austrian-bishops-commission-book-calling-same-sex-relationships-image-of-gods-goodness" target="_blank">https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/austrian-bishops-commission-book-calling-same-sex-relationships-image-of-gods-goodness</a></span>
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<div><span>By Martin Bürger</span></div><div>
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<p>LINZ, Austria, May 26, 2020 (<a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/" target="_blank">LifeSiteNews</a>)
–<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> A new book commissioned by the Austrian bishops argues that
homosexual relationships come from <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">God</span>, revealing <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">God’</span>s “goodness and
humanity.” The book calls upon <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the Church </span>to change <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">her teaching against</span>
homosexuality and to bless homosexual relationships. </b></span></p>
<p>According to liturgical scholar Fr. Ewald Vollger OT, who contributed
to the book, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>changing <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Church teaching on</span> homosexuality “can be not only
discussed, but also demanded.” </b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">The Church could only bless homosexual
relationships after a previous change to Church teaching, as Vollger
pointed out himself.</span></span></span></p>
<p>Talking to the <a href="https://www.kirchenzeitung.at/site/themen/gesellschaftsoziales/mehr-als-ein-normaler-segen" target="_blank">diocesan newspaper</a>
of the Diocese of Linz, he said, “There is also <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>a considerable number
of bishops </b></span>that<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> would like to see a rethinking in the area of<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> sexual
morality </span>for the evaluation of same-sex relationships.”</b></span></p>
<p>While making sure to distinguish the blessing from the sacrament of
marriage, Vollger nevertheless claimed that <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>homosexuality needs to be
seen in a positive light</b></span>.</p>
<p>“Just as marriage between a man and a woman is an image of God’s
creative love, so is <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>a same-sex relationship an image of God’s attention
to human beings,</b></span>” he said. <span style="background-color:rgb(246,178,107)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">“If partners live the gift of mutual love in
faithfulness to one another and live their lives with <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the spiritual
gifts of God</span> such as kindness, forbearance, patience, reconciliation,
etc., their relationship is also an image of<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> God</span>’s goodness and
humanity.”</span></b></span></p></div></div></div><p>Vollger praised the blessing of homosexual couples on Valentine’s
Day, as it takes place annually, for instance, in Cardinal Christoph
Schönborn’s cathedral in Vienna. The blessing proposed in the book
commissioned by the Austrian bishops, however, goes beyond that.</p>
<p>“<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>A benediction,</b></span> as proposed from the point of view of the theology of
liturgy, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>would also have an official character through which <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the Church</span>
expresses the obligation of fidelity and the exclusivity of the
relationship</b></span>,” according to Vollger.</p>
<p>In his interview with the diocesan newspaper, Vollger did not explain
how Church doctrine could change. <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>The Church’s condemnation of
<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">homosexuality </span>goes back to ancient biblical times.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>“The rejection of <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">homosexual behavior that</span> is found in the Old Testament is well known,” writes <a href="https://www.catholic.com/tract/homosexuality" target="_blank">Catholic Answers</a>.
“In Genesis 19, two angels in disguise visit <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the city of Sodom</span> and are
offered hospitality and shelter by Lot. During the night, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the men of
Sodom demand that</span> Lot <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">hand over</span> his guests <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">for homosexual intercourse.”</span></b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>After Lot’s refusal, “the angels blind <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the men of Sodom</span>. Lot and his
household escape, and <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the town</span> is destroyed <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">by fire</span> ‘because the outcry
against <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">its people </span>has become great before the Lord’ (Gen. 19:13).”</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>It is because of <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">this passage </span>that <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">homosexuality</span> is called <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">one of the four sins that cry out to</span> God for <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">vengeance. </span></b></span></p><b>
</b><p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>In the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+6%3A9-10&version=RSVCE" target="_blank">New Testament</a>, St. Paul is clear that<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> active unrepentant homosexuals</span> cannot enter <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">heaven</span>. </b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of
God? Do not be deceived; neither<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> the immoral</span>, nor <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">idolaters,</span> nor <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">
adulterers,</span> nor <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">homosexuals,</span> nor<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> thieves</span>, nor <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the greedy,</span> nor<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> drunkards,</span>
nor <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">revilers</span>, nor <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">robbers will</span> inherit the kingdom of God,” he writes</b></span>.</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>homosexual acts are
“acts of grave depravity</b></span>,” pointing out that tradition has “always
declared that ‘<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’”</b></span></p>
<p>“They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to
the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and
sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved,”
states the Catechism. </p>
<p>The Catholic Church furthermore teaches that the homosexual
inclination is also “objectively disordered” since <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>God created sexual
attraction for the purpose of drawing a man and a woman together to
become husband and wife in marriage. </b></span></p>
<p>The book commissioned by the Austrian bishops looks at the blessing
of homosexual relationships not only from the point of view of liturgy.
It also contains a section on ethics and moral theology, a biblical
section, as well as a chapter looking at the current situation <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>in
Austria</b></span>, where<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> homosexual “marriage” was legalized in 2019.</b></span></p>
<p>Advocates for changing Catholic teaching on homosexuality in North
America used the publication of the book to push their agenda.</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Pro-homosexual <span style="background-color:rgb(246,178,107)">Jesuit Fr. </span>James Martin tweeted about it:</b></span></p>
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<p><span style="background-color:rgb(246,178,107)"><b><a href="https://www.newwaysministry.org/2020/05/25/archdiocese-of-salzburg-publishes-new-book-on-church-blessings-for-same-gender-couples/" target="_blank">New Ways Ministry</a>, </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>which,</b></span> according to its <a href="https://www.newwaysministry.org/about/#mission" target="_blank">website</a>,
“<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>educates and advocates for justice and equality for lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Catholics, and reconciliation within
the larger church and civil communities,” also wrote about it.</b></span></p>
<p>German-speaking bishops are a significant force in advancing the homosexual agenda.</p>
<p>Cardinal Reinhard Marx, at the time head of the German Bishop’s Conference, <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/cdl-marx-homosexual-couples-belong-to-churchs-sacramental-community-can-receive-blessing" target="_blank">said</a>
in 2019, “I insist: we welcome homosexuals, they belong to the Church,
also to the sacramental community.” He added that homosexual couples can
receive “a blessing in the sense of a pastoral accompaniment, we can
pray together.”</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>The current president of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg
Bätzing, has also called for changing<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> the Church’s official teaching </span>on
“practiced homosexuality” by “jumping over trenches.”</b></span></p>
<p>“Here the statement of the Catechism is first of all that these people are to be met with esteem and respect,” Bätzing <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/in-easter-interview-german-bishops-head-calls-for-changing-church-teaching-on-homosexuality" target="_blank">said</a>
in an interview earlier this year. “But every single sexual act is seen
as evidence of a disordered sexual life. This is something that many
people no longer want or can understand.”</p>
<p>Bätzing claimed that in moral theology, “we have long since moved
towards saying” that if “true love and faithfulness are lived,” even
among same-sex partners, “we must acknowledge that.”</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>On the other hand, German Cardinal Gerhard Müller has come down strongly on the side of Church doctrine during a talk in 2018.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>“If a priest blesses a homosexual couple, then this is an atrocity at</b></span>
<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>a holy site</b></span>,<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> namely, to approve of something that</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><u><b> God does not </b></u><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>approve
of</b></span></span>,” the former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith pointed out.</p>
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