Remember Daniel Avila, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops staffer who published a column blaming homosexuality on demonic activity in the womb? He screwed up.

Daniel Avila, an attorney who serves as policy advisor for the Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has retracted a Boston archdiocesan newspaper column linking Satan with the origins of same-sex attractions.

Sadly, though, this withdrawal does not indicate any actual change in opinion. He merely failed to follow the proper technical procedure.

Statements made in my column, ‘Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction’ of October 28, do not represent the position of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the column was not authorized for publication as is required policy for staff of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.



Deep down though—or perhaps not so deep down—he still believes that what he wrote has the potential to allow the Church to justify its continued discrimination against gays.

“If in fact this analysis of causation and culpability is correct, then it opens new perspectives on the Church’s teaching in this area,” he concluded. “Being born with an inclination which originates in a manner outside of one’s control is not sufficient proof that the condition is caused by God or that its satisfaction meets God’s purpose. Furthermore, a proper understanding of who is really at fault should deepen our compassion towards those who experience same-sex attraction and inform our response to the question of loneliness. Ultimately, an accurate attribution of responsibility for same-sex attraction frees us to consider more fully the urgent question of why sexual difference matters so much to God.”

Shoot, that last question’s an easy one. Sexual differences matter so much to God because they matter to the bigots who created Him in their own image. Everybody knows that.

Share this: Print

Email

Facebook

Twitter

More

Reddit

