North Carolina Catholic school divided over teaching on homosexuality

Anger at Charlotte Catholic school after speaker criticizes homosexuality

Some parents and students at one of North Carolina’s largest Catholic schools are outraged after a Nashville Dominican nun who holds a doctorate in theology criticized homosexuality in a presentation to students, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Apparently the school invited  Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel, a Dominican, to speak at a school assembly. Notably missing from all accounts of this story is what she actually said. Controversialists and polemicists on all sides are busily filling comboxes and sending petitions even as we speak. As tempting as it might be to add to the stream of bile rising over this conflict, I thought it might be interesting to get some idea what was actually said.

Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel OP

According to the website of Aquinas College, the talk was likely Sr. Jane's Masculinity & Femininity, Difference and Gift based on JPII's theology of the body. I cannot find anything on the actual talk but here's a link to the Newman Connection which offers a video course on the theology of the body. You can listen to Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel, OP expound on the theology of the body. So, instead of jumping head first into the fray, sit back and listen to some of the stuff they are fighting about.

Newman Connection: Rich Gift of Love

Addendum: Nearly 1,000 attend Charlotte Catholic meeting on nun’s speech

Good luck getting any concrete information about what was actually said. The meeting was closed to the public and media so any reports are the accounts of attendees. Her assembly talk was a one hour distillation of her usual lecture course so at least some of it was off the cuff and we are relying on second hand accounts from students.

During her speech, Laurel quoted studies that said gays and lesbians are not born with same-sex attractions, and that children in single-parent homes have a greater chance of becoming homosexual, Hains and others said.

The catechism does not attempt to explain the origins of homosexuality. For those of you who are not in possession of a catechism... 

(2357) Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." 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 complementarily. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

(2358) The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

(2359) Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

I am quite prepared to defend the Church's teaching about homosexuality as stated here. I am not prepared to defend any particular scientific study without knowing anything about it.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/04/02/4813240/more-than-1000-attend-charlotte.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/04/02/4813240/more-than-1000-attend-charlotte.html#storylink=cpy

Masculinity & Femininity: Difference and Gift

Masculinity & Femininity: Difference and Gift

Masculinity & Femininity: Difference and Gift

Masculinity & Femininity: Difference and Gift