President Obama’s controversial announcement about gay marriage and the Catholic Bishops’ response, North Carolina’s contested Amendment One, and the widely criticized 30-day conviction of Dharun Ravi, Tyler Clementi’s roommate, have all received extensive media coverage as conversation about homosexuality, and the treatment of homosexuals, becomes more mainstream while remaining controversial.  The debate is not limited to media outlets but has also led to increased discussion among the community, both by the administration and the student body.

On Mar. 6, the administration welcomed Father Kevin Nadolski, OSFS to speak at a special faculty meeting presentation called “The Visitation Student, Sexuality, and the Magisterium.”  He covered the many angles of how to address homosexuality and Church teachings in the Catholic classroom.  School Counselor Joey Halm said, “I took his overarching message to be that homosexuals, or any non-heterosexuals for that matter, were created that way by God.  The Church teaches that we don’t choose our sexual orientation.  We as a Catholic school don’t shame people for their sexual identity but instead try to support all young people as they work to honestly live as God has called them to live.”

While many students did not know about the faculty presentation, some brought up the same questions this year.  For example, students Ann Christie `13, Julia Rauen `13, and Juliana Vossenburg `13 tackled homosexuality and respect in their Catholic Social Teaching praxis project.  The main part of the project, whose title “praxis” means putting into action, was a survey of the junior class in order to gauge how “Visitation felt about the current topic,” said Vossenburg.  The recieved responses from 93 juniors to questions that ranged from “Would you feel comfortable coming out to the Visitation community?” to “Do you know for certain the Church’s position on homosexuality?”

The three students expressed their surprise at some of their results.  For example, more than three quarters of the 93 juniors surveyed answered that they have “heard a classmate use inappropriate and derogatory comments to refer to homosexuals”; the majority of juniors surveyed also said they would not “feel comfortable coming out to the Visitation community”; and less than half of the surveyed students correctly described at least part of the Church’s views on homosexuality.

Vossenburg stressed the potential for growth in the  school community from their research.  In her introduction to the project, Vossenburg wrote, “At a Catholic institution, we are often instructed to love our neighbors, regardless of physical appearances, socio-economic class, mental capabilities, or diverse cultural and political backgrounds.  We try to instill Salesian virtues like humility, kindness, and understanding in our students.”  After the survey she remarked that “Striving towards this holiness is wonderful, but is our faith transferring practically into our everyday lives?”

Rauen reinforced the group’s intentions for a positive impact and said that many students approached her after the survey and told her that they “came away with a positive reaction about the questions.”  

While national headlines continue to change and update readers about issues regarding homosexuality and non-heterosexual relationships, Halm believes that the recent initiatives here have prompted more discussion.  Halm said, “I believe our school community is acknowledging the need to struggle with these difficult issues.”

The Church’s Official View
Defines homosexuality as: “relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction towards persons of the same sex.”
Church Tradition says: “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.  They are contrary to the natural law.  They close the sexual act to the gift of life...Under no circumstances can they be approved.”
Calls homosexuals to: “chastity.  By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.”
Calls Christians to: accept homosexuals 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.”

From the Vatican’s Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part Three: Life in Christ, Section Two: the Ten Commandments, Chapter Two: You Shall Love Your Neighbor as Yourself, Article 6: The Sixth Commandment II: The Vocation to Chastity: Chastity and Homosexuality