GENDER

Complimentarity of Roles
◦ Based on Tradition and Scripture
- Husbands (Men) are the ones who lead and protect the family and work
to earn a living to sustain
- Wives (Women) are the ones who manage the household and raises the
children.

- Both have different capability but their roles are complimentary for the
sustenance of the family
Complimentarity of Roles
◦ Modern Times
-This teaching has received pushback from some feminist theologians,
particularly when it is used to keep women from taking on leadership roles.
There is also the concern of essentializing men and women—that all men
have these particular traits, or that all women have these particular traits,
without acknowledging the individual charisms and gifts that each man or
woman may have.
Issue about the LGBTQ+ Community

The LGBTQ+ Community are often viewed in the society as though they were
damaged goods, unworthy of ministry, and even subhuman. Which would really
contradict the teachings about God’s love and our responsibility to accept and love
our neighbors.
◦ This has led to a renewed call for dialogue on the teachings on gender,
not just for women, but even for the LGBTQ+ community, whose
voices have become more prominent in society and whose
experiences are important to also listen to as human beings with
dignity.
◦ Though Church teaching still opposes homosexual marriage, the shift
of moral theology from an act based to a person based approach
has helped the Catholic Church look at the LGBTQ+ community, not
as walking sexual acts, but as living human beings with different
beliefs and motivations and who are capable of love.
◦ Act Based Approach - Looks and judges merely from the acts of
the LGBTQ+ community. Therefore LGBTQ+ community are easily
criticized heavily.
◦ Person Based Approach – Considers LGBTQ+ community as
human beings loved by God, capable of making choices and as living
human beings with different beliefs and motivations and who are
capable of feeling love. Catholics on the ground would also favor a
more person based approach and have disagreed with much of
traditional Church teaching on homosexuality.
Fr. James Martin and the Bridge
◦ Fr. James Martin, a Jesuit, has also sought to bridge the divide between the
Catholic Church and the LGBTQ+ community. He argues for the need to build
bridges between the two communities, especially because many of those who are
practicing Catholics are also part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Two Parts of the Bridge:

Institutional Church: LGBTQ+ Community:

- Respect - Respect
- Compassion - Compassion
- Sensitivity - Sensitivity
 “Some of this may be hard for members of the LGBT[Q+] community to hear.
Some of this may be challenging for bishops and Catholic leaders to hear. This I
sbecause neither lane on that bridge is smooth…It costs when you live a life of
respect, compassion, and sensitivity. But to trust in that bridge is to trust that
eventually…the hierarchy and the LGBT[Q+] community will be able to encounter
one another, accompany one another, and love one another. It is also to trust that
God desires forgiveness. It is also to trust that God desires reconciliation.”