Couples for Christ submission

Submission to Parliamentary Committee on 17/10/06 re homosexual “marriage”/unions:

My name is Fr. Gregory Charnock, the spiritual director for the Cape of Couples for Christ, one of the new movements in the Catholic Church renewing individuals and families in the power of the Holy Spirit – restoring sanity and normality – bringing healing and light. We have already endeavoured to serve our country South Africa and you who are appointed by the people, for the people, to be the servants and protectors of the people. This we have done by writing to you and sending you books, videos and DVD’s.

You have already listened to many words. I shall be brief. I give you instead an African picture.

Summer is almost here and so in the country areas all over we encounter snakes in the bush and sometimes we see them on the roads. Imagine I now pick up a snake, behind its head, so I am not bitten. I hold it here before you. More about this snake shortly.

I don’t want to speak about religion. I want to talk about wisdom. We all wish to be wise, we do not like to be stupid.

Now, love of wisdom is a science. It is called philosophy, philo (love) & sophia (wisdom). A basic principle of this science of philosophy is that two opposite points of view which are diametrically opposed can, obviously, not both be true. One is true, one is false. They cannot both be right, one position is right & one is wrong.

So, you must, if you wish to be wise, and not stupid, ask yourself which proposition is the truth. Then you must act in accordance with that truth. So, now, homosexual marriages/unions are either right or they are wrong. You either, in truth, give them legal recognition or you do not. Love of wisdom – philosophy.

Now, secondly, a word about an open society, such as our new South Africa. Yes to tolerance, from the State’s point of view. Yes to compassion and mercy, from the Church’s point of view. Respect for the dignity of every human being. We say: buckets of love. No insults. Jesus came to save, not to condemn. The Church exists for the forgiveness of sins. Her sacraments, received with the right dispositions, bring new life, in Christ.

However, there seems to be a fanaticism, which will not listen to reason, seeking not just tolerance, but also to impose this new ideology on the entire country, so that vulnerable children are taught that such things are normal. Christians – Catholics – are already being vilified and abused for holding that the basic unit of every civilized society throughout history until now has been, & will always be, the family based on self – giving love between a man and a woman with the stability that gives to children. We are attacked even more viciously for the celibacy & virginity of our Priests and Religious, yet Jesus was an unmarried man and His mother, Mary, was ever virgin. We recall the martyrdom of so many of the early Christians, indeed Christians through the ages, who witnessed to Christ in virginity & celibacy.

Reason and the common good require a wise Government to safeguard national integrity and stability. This is done by nurturing the key social institution, the traditional family, which is under such pressure already; this key basic unit of stability in every village, town and city in our land.

The expense to the taxpayer of alternative arrangements for the proper formation and care of children, and care of the elderly (our senior citizens), will increase substantially, if the stability of the traditional family is further eroded. And no Government can ever substitute for the genuine community and authentic care available in that place of love and life, which is the family as we have always known it.

So, an open society cannot close itself to wisdom, to reason, and, obviously, to life.

Let us see now how this applies to Law.

It is obvious that Law should always be seen to be wise, reasonable and life giving. Otherwise, the law itself is brought into disrepute.

“Human law is law inasmuch as it is in conformity with right reason and thus derives from the eternal law. But when a law is contrary to reason, it is called an unjust law; but in this case it ceases to be a law and becomes instead an act of violence.” “Every law made by man can be called a law in so far as it derives from the natural law. But if it is somehow opposed to the natural law, then it is not really a law, but rather a corruption of the law.” (St. Thomas Aquinas quoted by Pope John Paul II in EVANGELIUM VITAE – the Gospel of Life – dated 25/03/95, paragraph 72. St. Augustine also quoted St. Thomas Aquinas. “ Non videtur esse lex, quae iusta non fuerit.”)

Government should not send a wrong message to the people, by passing such a law, especially to impressionable and to young people, and children, that something which is not good, is in fact so.

Finally, as with everything else I have said here, a word of TRUTH spoken in love.

Honourable Members of Parliament, we have made available to you, with our letters and submissions, evidence of the testimonies of countless homosexuals who have, with great courage, turned their backs on a lifestyle which has eventually brought them nothing but deep sadness and instability. They testify how they have now found peace in the incredible grace, love and mercy of God – not in a false concept of mercy. You see, healing, wholeness and authentic love, which are life-giving, cannot be separated from Truth & right reason.

Even Dr. Robert L Spitzer, who led the campaign inside the American Psychiatric Association to discontinue listing homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder, changed his view: “Like most psychiatrists, I thought that homosexual behaviour could be resisted, but sexual orientation could not be changed. I now believe that’s untrue – some people can and do change.” (See www.narth.com/docs/spitzer2.html.) (See also www.dad.org)



A couple of concluding points must be made.

In terms of United Nations documents, children have the right to proper formation and nurturing in stable families, the right to fathering and mothering, which is necessary for what psychologists/psychiatrists term psychosexual individuation.

Sadly, it is also necessary to say something to you, of those who call themselves Christians and yet support this attempt to persuade Government to describe something as marriage which it can never be, to call something good which is not in fact so. We say they are sincerely wrong. Indeed they should be careful that they do not find a great millstone round their necks as they deform the conscience of our beloved New South Africa. TRUTH is a person. His name is JESUS CHRIST, who is SAVIOUR and LORD. The Catholic Bishops around the world are unanimously in agreement with Pope Benedict in opposing homosexual marriages/unions. So too you will find, are a huge majority of the Anglican Bishops of Africa. Committed Christians are committed to TRUTH.

Look at this snake! It is poisonous. It is not African. It is a foreign import. It is deadly, especially to children. And all of us are precious children of God!!!

Please, dear representatives of the people, protectors of the people, servants of the people, for the sake of the children, do not let this thing happen. Please. In the name of Almighty God, who is our loving Creator and Redeemer, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May God bless you all.



Notes:

1. In response to questions form Members of Parliament, I read paragraphs 2357 to 2359 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church ( Year of publication 1995, revised edition 2001) to the Committee.
2. I also expressed my alarm at reports that the new Government in Spain, having introduced homosexual “marriage”, now proposed including this in school curricula for children as young as 10.
3. Having listened to the Parliamentary Liaison officers of the South African Council of Churches and the Dutch Reformed Church repeatedly attempt to reassure the Committee that they had a mandate to represent millions of Christians in South Africa, which is not the case, in saying yes to homosexual marriages, I have been reflecting anew on Our Lord’s words in Matthew 7:15. What we are seeing is – “the darkness of the lack of faith and of apostasy, which has spread everywhere. It is the darkness of evil and sin, which has now obscured hearts and souls. It is the darkness of faithlessness and impiety, of egoism and pride, of hardness of heart and impurity.” (MMP 484, l, m & n).

4. I have also been thanking God again for the infallible teaching in Faith and Morals by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church on the subject of homosexuality, at a time in which clarity and compassion are much needed.