The website of the University of Notre Dame has a feature post celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride on its diversity and inclusion page this month.
“Pride Month is observed each June in the United States in commemoration of the Stonewall Uprising. The month is also a time to recognize the contributions of LGBTQ+ Americans and raise awareness about efforts for equal justice and equal opportunity for the LGBTQ+ community,” the post stated.
As of Wednesday morning, the university’s media relations staff did not reply to CNA’s multiple requests for comment. The university’s campus ministry office told CNA that it was not aware of any plans for an initiative honoring the Sacred Heart in the month of June.
The Stonewall Uprising of 1969 began when New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in the city. The raid led to six days of violent protests outside the bar and in neighboring areas.
Notre Dame’s Pride post also included a PBS series link for users to learn more about the Stonewall Uprising, featuring a collection of videos.
Some of the videos include an explanation of three generations of same-sex relationships in Western culture, interviews of people identifying as LGBTQ+ answering the question “when did you become gay,” a documentary on the Stonewall uprising, and more clips “that explore the LGBTQ+ experience in the United States and around the world.”
The university’s Pride post also encourages people “to explore what it means to be an ally in the effort to achieve equality for all” by offering resources from the pro-LGBT group Human Rights Campaign. Those resources consist of explanations of different sexual identities, ways to affirm those who identify as LGBTQ+, and more.
In the Human Rights Campaign “For People of Faith” section, it states, “If you come from a religious background that teaches that non-straight sexual orientations or gender variance are wrong or immoral, look back to your texts and history and take time to learn from people of faith who have become allies because of their faith, not despite it.”
One of the religious resources offered by the campaign is a post titled “What Does The Bible Say About Homosexuality?” While the post cites the Book of Genesis in claiming that “God began by creating human beings of male and female sex,” it adds, “there is nothing that indicates in Scripture that God only created this binary.”
The page argues that “Christians have a moral imperative to reconsider their interpretation of what the Bible says about LGBTQ identities.”
Notre Dame’s Pride post also referenced President Joe Biden’s June 1 proclamation for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Pride Month.
“Pride is both a jubilant communal celebration of visibility and a personal celebration of self-worth and dignity,” the post read, quoting Biden’s statement.
Biden, a Catholic, also called on Congress to pass the Equality Act. The Equality Act would extend federal civil rights protections to sexual orientation and gender identity, where race is currently protected.
The legislation also prevents religious freedom claims from being made by individuals and groups under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The landmark 1993 law has been invoked by many as a defense against various government mandates, but the Equality Act would override those religious freedom protections.
The U.S. bishops’ conference has warned that the Equality Act could be used to “punish” religious groups which do not recognize same-sex “marriage” and transgender ideologies.
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Thousands of pro-life advocates gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 1, 2021, in conjunction with oral arguments in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion case. / Katie Yoder/CNA
Washington D.C., Dec 2, 2021 / 08:04 am (CNA).
Anna Del Duca and daughter, Frances, woke up at 5 a.m. Wednesday morning to brave the 30-degree weather outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. They arrived hours before oral arguments began in the highly-anticipated abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The case, which involves a Mississippi law restricting most abortions after 15 weeks, challenges two landmark decisions: Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which upheld Roe in 1992.
“We’re looking forward to the end of Roe versus Wade in our country,” Anna, who drove from Pittsburgh Tuesday night, told CNA. In her hands, she held a sign reading, “I regret my abortion.”
Anna Del Duca (right) and her daughter, Frances, traveled from Pittsburgh to attend a pro-life rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021, in conjunction with oral arguments for the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion case. Katie Yoder/CNA
“I would like to use my testimony to be a blessing to others,” she said, so that “others will choose life or those who have regretted abortion or had an abortion would turn to Jesus.”
Anna remembered having an abortion when she was just 19. Today, she and her daughter run a group called Restorers of Streets to Dwell In Pittsburgh that offers help to women seeking healing after abortion.
Anna and Frances were among thousands of Americans who rallied outside the Supreme Court before, during, and after the oral arguments. To accommodate them, law enforcement closed the street in front of the court. Capitol police also placed fencing in the space in front of the building in an attempt to physically separate rallies held by abortion supporters and pro-lifers.
At 21-weeks pregnant, pro-life speaker Alison Centofante emceed the pro-life rally, called, “Empower Women Promote Life.” The event featured a slew of pro-life women of diverse backgrounds and numerous politicians.
“It’s funny, there were so many diverse speakers today that the only unifying thread was that we want to protect preborn children,” Centofante told CNA. They included Democrats, Republicans, Christians, Catholics, agnostics, atheists, women who chose life, and women who regretted their abortions, she said.
She recognized women there, including Aimee Murphy, as people who are not the typical “cookie cutter pro-lifer.”
Aimee Murphy, 32, founder of pro-life group Rehumanize International, arrived at the Supreme Court around 6:30 a.m. She drove from Pittsburgh the night before. Her sign read, “Queer Latina feminist rape survivor against abortion.”“At Rehumanize International, we oppose all forms of aggressive violence,” she told CNA. “Even as a secular and non-partisan organization, we understand that abortion is the most urgent cause that we must stand against in our modern day and age because it takes on average over 800,000 lives a year.”
She also had a personal reason for attending.
“When I was 16 years old, I was raped and my rapist then threatened to kill me if I didn’t have an abortion,” she revealed.
“It was when he threatened me that I felt finally a solidarity with unborn children and I understood then that, yeah, the science told me that a life begins at conception, but that I couldn’t be like my abusive ex and pass on the violence and oppression of abortion to another human being — that all that I would be doing in having an abortion would be telling my child, ‘You are an inconvenience to me and to my future, therefore I’m going to kill you,’ which is exactly the same thing that my rapist was telling me when he threatened to kill me.”
On the other side of the police fence, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the National Abortion Access Coalition and NARAL Pro-Choice America participated in another rally. Yellow balloons printed with the words “BANS OFF OUR BODIES” escaped into the sky. Several pro-choice demonstrators declined to speak with CNA.
Voices clashed in the air as people, the majority of whom were women, spoke into their respective microphones at both rallies. Abortion supporters stressed bodily autonomy, while pro-lifers recognized the humanity of the unborn child. Chants arose from both sides at different points, from “Whose choice? My choice!” to “Hey hey, ho ho, Roe v. Wade has got to go!”
At 10 a.m., the pro-life crowd sudddenly went silent as the oral arguments began and the rally paused temporarily as live audio played through speakers.
Hundreds of students from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, traveled to Washington, D.C. for a pro-life rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021, in conjunction with oral arguments in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion case. Katie Yoder/CNA
During the oral arguments, students from Liberty University knelt in prayer. One student estimated that more than a thousand students from the school made the more than 3-hour trip from Lynchburg, Virginia.
“Talking about our faith is one thing, but actually acting upon it is another,” he said. “We have to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. So to me this is part of doing that.”
Sister Mary Karen, who has been with the Sisters of Life for 21 years, also stressed the importance of prayer. She drove from New York earlier that morning because, she said, she felt drawn to attend. She came, she said, to pray for the country and promote the dignity of a human person.
“Our culture is post-abortive,” she explained. “So many people have suffered and the loss of human life is so detrimental, just not knowing that we have value and are precious and sacred.”
Theresa Bonopartis, of Harrison, New York, was among the pro-life demonstrators outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021. She runs a nonprofit group called Entering Canaan that ministers to women and others wounded by abortion. Katie Yoder/CNA
She stood next to Theresa Bonopartis, who traveled from Harrison, New York, and ministers to women and others wounded by abortion.
“I’ve been fighting abortion for 30 years at least,” she told CNA.
Her ministry, called Entering Canaan, began with the Sisters of Life and is observing its 25th anniversary this year. It provides retreats for women, men, and even siblings of aborted babies.
Abortion is personal for Bonopartis, who said she had a coerced abortion when she was just 17.
“I was kicked out of the house by my father and then coerced into getting an abortion,” she said. “Pretty much cut me off from everything, and that’s something people don’t really talk about … they make it try to seem like it’s a woman’s right, it’s a free choice. It’s all this other stuff, but many women are coerced in one way or another.”
She guessed that she was 14 or 15 weeks pregnant at the time.
“I saw my son. I had a saline abortion, so I saw him, which I always considered a blessing because it never allowed me to deny what abortion was,” she said. Afterward, she said she struggled with self-esteem issues, hating herself, guilt, shame, and more. Then, she found healing.
“I know what that pain is like, I know what that experience is like, and you know that you can get past it,” she said. “You just want to be able to give that message to other people, that they’re able to heal.”
Residents of Mississippi, where the Dobbs v. Jackson case originated, also attended.
Marion, who declined to provide her last name, drove from Mississippi to stand outside the Supreme Court. She said she was in her early 20s when Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973.
“At the time, of course, I could care less,” she said. Since then, she had a change of heart.
“We were the generation that allowed it,” she said, “and so we are the generation who will help close that door and reverse it.”
Marion, who declined to provide her last name, was among those who attended a pro-life rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021, from Mississippi, where the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion case originated. Katie Yoder/CNA
The crowd at the pro-life rally included all ages, from those who had witnessed Roe to bundled-up babies, children running around, and college students holding up homemade signs.
One group of young friends traveled across the country to stand outside the Supreme Court. They cited their faith and family as reasons for attending.
Mathilde Steenepoorte, 19, from Green Bay, Wisconsin, identified herself as “very pro-life” in large part because of her younger brother with Down syndrome. She said she was saddened by the abortion rates of unborn babies dianosed with Down syndrome.
Juanito Estevez, from Freeport, a village on Long Island, New York, at a pro-life rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021. Katie Yoder/CNA
Juanito Estevez, from Freeport, a village on Long Island, New York, arrived Tuesday. He woke up at 6 a.m. to arrive at the Supreme Court with a crucifix in hand.
“I believe that God is the giver of life and we don’t have the right [to decide] whether a baby should live or die,” he said.
He also said that he believed women have been lied to about abortion.
“We say it’s their right, and there’s a choice,” he said. When girls tell him “I have the right,” his response, he said, is to ask back, “You have the right for what?”
Mallory Finch, from Charlotte, North Carolina, was among the pro-life demonstrators outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021.
Mallory Finch, from Charlotte, North Carolina, also woke up early but emphasized “it was worth it.” A pro-life podcast host, she called abortion a “human-rights issue.”
“I hope that it overturns Roe,” she said of the case, “but that doesn’t mean that our job as pro-lifers is done. It makes this, really, just the beginning.”
Denver, Colo., Aug 21, 2018 / 03:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A federal judge has ordered that $718,000 in compensation be paid to the Catholic Benefits Association after its successful religious freedom legal fight against mandated health care coverage tha… […]
Father Joseph Friend, Father Artur Bubnevych, and Father Donald Planty are among five U.S. parish priests who have been selected to attend a global gathering of 300 priests at the Vatican from April 28 to May 2, 2024, as part of the ongoing Syno… […]
32 Comments
Sure. It’s all about acceptance, compassion, inclusion and freedom from bullying. Give me a break.
NOTRE DAMN UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS admonish critics to consult the bible regarding homosexual activity. How about this:
Noah and Ham (Genesis 9:20–27), Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1–11), Levitical laws condemning same-sex relationships (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13), two words in two Second Testament vice lists (1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:10), and Paul’s letter to the Romans (Romans 1:26–27).
As for research findings, apparently not mentioned in the Notre Damn website puff piece, how about this “trinity” of findings:
FIRST, one recent study in the mix is a review of two hundred peer-reviewed studies on sexual orientation and gender identity. The conclusion: scientific evidence does NOT support the popular notion that “gender identity is an innate, fixed property of human beings that is independent of biological sex” (Mayer/McHugh, The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology and Society, Ethics and Public Policy Center, No. 50, Fall 2016).
Five of the genetic markers were “significantly” associated with same-sex behavior, the researchers said, but even these are FAR FROM being predictive of a person’s sexual preferences. “We scanned the entire human genome and found a handful – five to be precise – of locations that are clearly associated with whether a person reports in engaging in same-sex sexual behavior,” said Andrea Ganna, a biologist at the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Finland who co-led the research. He said these have “a very small effect” and, combined, explain “considerably LESS THAN 1% of the variance in the self-reported same-sex sexual behavior.”
This means that non-genetic factors – such as environment, upbringing, personality, nurture – are far more significant in influencing a person’s choice [!] of sexual partner, just as with most other personality, behavioral and physical human traits, the researchers said.
THIRD, even a relatively innocuous modern addiction—overindulgence in digital and virtual reality games—is found to produce corresponding neuro-chemical and possibly cellular changes in the brain itself, e.g., dopamine which is responsible for reward-driven behavior. A recent study completed at University College London (using MRI technology) strongly implies that a habit of lying [e.g., university website puff pieces?] tends to suppress the part of the brain (the amygdala) that responds emotionally to a “slippery slope” pattern of small and then larger lies (Garrett/Ariely/ Laxxaro, Nature Neuroscience Journal, October 24, 2016; reported by Erica Goode, New York Times, October 25, 2016).
Good observations, and if they were honest and open minded about considering how ideology reinforces habituated behavior, they would consider the significance of the fact that 98 percent of homosexuals are pro-abortion. And if they do not, they would do some soul-searching as to the ideological make-up of their beliefs that coaused them to not consider the meaning of this fact.
And one more comment about genetics. The self-evident fact that homsexuals have fewer children than non-homosexuals would provide evidence that genetic factors, if they ever existed, would diminish over time form the gene pool, not increase.
I am sickened and saddened to see the continual moral and theological decline of Catholic institutions, including the Church and its leadership. Wolves have entered into the sheepfold and are devouring the flock. Where are the shepherds of Christ who will defend and care for the flock? False shepherds have infiltrated the Church, leading the flock astray, abusing the flock, stealing from the flock. Demons appearing as angels of light have seduced the minds of shepherds and sheep, leading them away from the Truth that sets men free, the Truth that is the only way to the Father. They twist God’s Word to conform to the passions of the flesh and the god of this age, instead of choosing to be transformed by the pure Word of God into the image and likeness of God. With words and teaching disguised as Truth, they slowly poison the hearts and minds of the flock. Those who are poisoned remain within the flock, even leading it, destroying the Church from within, for a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools…. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” (Romans 1:18-32)
“But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions. It is these who case divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.” (Jude 17-18)
“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.'” (Jesus Christ to the Church in Sardis, Revelation 3:1-6).
Equality for the LGBTQ group? Why doesn’t the LGBTQ group start with an in-depth study of those who are like themselves? With such tendencies who feel trapped and don’t want that condition. And then those who love their situation which is condemned by the Creator. I remember a guy who I had often seen at Mass who committed suicide because he had these tendencies and didn’t want them. I know of a young boy at this time who has rejected God and says he plans to commit suicide because he doesn’t want to be gay. I know of two females who find themselves in this situation and have become totally reclusive being filled with anger and hate. I have heard horror stories of such people who think suicide is the only way out. With equality, the LGBTQ group should make a sturdy study on this and release it to the public, what do they have to fear, they claim it’s a great life. Maybe Notre Dame University can launch this study. The bottom line, when it comes to LGBTQ there are 2 types of people. Those who don’t want these attractions and feelings and then there are those who have them and in their vileness and wickedness are proud of it. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on these poor souls.
Andrew Angelo, you are right, and the suicide rate is much higher among these people. It must be incredibly disheartening and confusing to know inside that you are conflicted with an inner struggle, but then all around you in the world people are telling you it’s a choice, or that it’s okay, and there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s a mental illness, and until the medical field classifies it as such (like they used to), there will be more unresolved depression and suicides. These people aren’t getting the necessary tools and help to deal with their disorder. Imagine knowing you have a sore toothache, but your dentist keeps telling you it doesn’t hurt, or the hurt is good, and that you chose it! Talk about gaslighting…
Andrew, thanks for witnessing the struggle of gay Christians. You do so much for gay people by sharing your persinal experiences. I can say that I thought I was royally f*ucked when I found that I was gay. I thought my life was over.
Notre Dame denigrated itself the day they awarded an honorary degree to pro-abortion Barack Obama. They continue to denigrate themselves by admitting that the Bible in the Book of Genesis claims that “God began by creating human beings of male and female sex,” then adding that, “there is nothing that indicates in Scripture that God only created this binary.” Wrong. The creation account declares binary (male and female) as the natural law without explaining it further, because natural law is what works. If Notre Dame desires to shame its name by advocating for the most deadly sin of Pride, they should include the explanation of Adam and Eve desiring to be God, which is the lack of humility in recognizing who they were made to be and wanting to be more. The alphabet people are imitating Adam and Eve in their desire to take God’s place by declaring His creation inadequate or incomplete. They attempt to make themselves above God by obliterating His natural law to “be fruitful and multiply.” That, people, defines binary.
To the point—and Notre Dame wears the crown of all the Catholic universities that
support and promote what is called “sexual reassignment” together with all the trimmings. Other institutions of higher learning(indoctrination) are more covert.
Great comment!
Sodom and Gomorrah Now. A take on Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. Our once livable culture is becoming fast dangerous. Obscenity celebrated in virtually all commercials, social gatherings. Churchgoing reduced to live streaming. If at all. Once proudly Catholic, Notre Dame home of beloved convert Norwegian born Knute Rockne perhaps best football coach ever. Now a feminized charade of what once was. Transformation has been so rapid and plenary most seem dazed [those still with normal sensitivities] angry or join the self indulgent orgy many angry as well. Anger is commonplace a form of discontent with it all not finding Nirvana in cancel culture. In olden times back when prophets prophesied about God angels appeared here and there on our Earth. During Sodom and Gomorrah Now, an alert must be given. Angels enter at your own risk.
Absolutely sickening to see the way ND has capitulated to the zeitgeist and abdicated its role as America’s foremost Catholic university (though the problem goes back even further to the Land O’ Lakes Statement) in the last 20 years.
When I was a student in the mid ’90s, ND refused to grant the “Gays and Lesbians of ND/SMC” group (The T and Q and + blah blah, hadn’t been added yet!) any official status (which would have allowed them to receive extracurricular activity funds, usage of certain buildings, etc.) Now the University itself openly celebrates homosexuality and “trans,” and endorses renaming a month after one of the 7 deadly sins.
Oh people. Fr. Jenkins didn’t write the article a marketing director named Cidni Sanders wrote the story. She is neither a theologian, professor, nor adminstrator, I don’t think she is even Catholic. But she is the nicest person ever and she has a job to do and it is to write about diversity and inclusivity. This year she also authored articles about North Korean immigrants, refugees from Africa…and God Forbid…Muslims at UND. If you are really concerned go and visit and talk to one of the many Holy Cross priests on the University of Notre Dame campus or do like Raymond Arroyo and I did and send your kid there. My son was the only one of his High School classmates with a big smile on his face at the end of his academic year because they were they only university to trust in God and open up, (Even though my wife and I were very concerned to hear he charged the field after the Clemson game). I don’t like it either but a top notch university should be about dialogue and dialectic about everything in the seen and unseen world.
Franciscan University opened up fully last fall. And no vaccinations required. ND disclaims liability for its decision because the student can choose to reject vaccination and go somewhere else (and give up their coveted spot at ND)
My son got a full scholarship to UND. We as a family are struggling to make ends meet in order to send our 2 other sons to Catholic High School, if the Lord has blessed us with not having to pay for a college education for my oldest son I think that is a good thing – even if it has its problems.
Oh, it was written by some non-Catholic PR flack – well, that’s ok then! Sorry, the University is responsible for what it’s PR people write in its name.
And the only outrage you can muster about anything is the idea that your son may have gone onto the field during the Clemson game!? Oh my God, what a crime! Hope you never saw the 1993 FSU game! We’d have given you a heart attack – even tore down the goalposts!
Cidni Sanders…”the nicest person ever.” But, it all happens on Jenkins’ watch.
The name of the game is stealth and compartmentalization. In the Navy the slogan is that “you can delegate responsibility, but you can’t delegate accountability.” The Administration has failed, and is accountable.
There are many of us whose children are attending UND who are praying a new dawn for UND with the resignation of VP of Student Affairs Ms. Harding and installation of Fr. Gerard Olinger. I trust in the Holy Spirit.
Notre Dame is apostate, and serves as the collegial flagship of the 50-year-long project that is the now the “McCarrick Establishment.”
Notre Dame owes its status as “apostate-power-house” to its progenitor frauds McCarrick and Hesburg, co-creators and co-signers of the 1967 “Land-of-Lakes Statement,” by which the co-signing apostates and apostate-sex-abusers, including McCarrck and Hesburg, declared their universities’ “freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind….”
And notice on the last 2 pages the signatory apostate frauds, including the “Right Rev. Theodore E. McCarrick, President, Catholic University of Puerto Rico.”
So there you have it, the entire superstructure of the contemporay US Church establishment is founded by the sociopath sex abusing fraud McCarrick, and his fellow fruad apostates.
The Good Shepherd made this declaration: “I spew them out of my mouth.”
It is an error to cite the Bible. The opposition does not accept it as a viable source, indeed homosexual activists want to declare it hate literature. The argument must be based on nature where the primary law is perpetuation of the species. Homosexuality does not fit into nature’s plan, and must be regarded as an aberration. This separates the person from the act — a process disapproved by the activists.
So when are devout Catholic families going to stop fawning over the school? The appeal of reputation, beautiful campus, high competitiveness, and football is too great. Raymond Arroyo sent his child(ren) there. My own youngest daughter thinks it’s THE school to attend.
Franciscan University, as well as others, needs the support of Catholic families. My oldest son attends Franciscan and said in his freshman year, “everyone should come here.”
Sure. It’s all about acceptance, compassion, inclusion and freedom from bullying. Give me a break.
Except when the “acceptance” and “inclusion” would include Catholics who want to actually be Catholic.
Mitre Dame celebrating Pride month is disgusting. They no longer a Catholic Institution.
NOTRE DAMN UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS admonish critics to consult the bible regarding homosexual activity. How about this:
Noah and Ham (Genesis 9:20–27), Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1–11), Levitical laws condemning same-sex relationships (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13), two words in two Second Testament vice lists (1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:10), and Paul’s letter to the Romans (Romans 1:26–27).
As for research findings, apparently not mentioned in the Notre Damn website puff piece, how about this “trinity” of findings:
FIRST, one recent study in the mix is a review of two hundred peer-reviewed studies on sexual orientation and gender identity. The conclusion: scientific evidence does NOT support the popular notion that “gender identity is an innate, fixed property of human beings that is independent of biological sex” (Mayer/McHugh, The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology and Society, Ethics and Public Policy Center, No. 50, Fall 2016).
SECOND, more recent research into the genome itself points to some genetic markers—it does NOT find a gay gene—AND concludes that these markers do NOT account for same-sex behavior. https://news.yahoo.com/no-gay-gene-study-finds-180220669.html
From the news release:
Five of the genetic markers were “significantly” associated with same-sex behavior, the researchers said, but even these are FAR FROM being predictive of a person’s sexual preferences. “We scanned the entire human genome and found a handful – five to be precise – of locations that are clearly associated with whether a person reports in engaging in same-sex sexual behavior,” said Andrea Ganna, a biologist at the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Finland who co-led the research. He said these have “a very small effect” and, combined, explain “considerably LESS THAN 1% of the variance in the self-reported same-sex sexual behavior.”
This means that non-genetic factors – such as environment, upbringing, personality, nurture – are far more significant in influencing a person’s choice [!] of sexual partner, just as with most other personality, behavioral and physical human traits, the researchers said.
THIRD, even a relatively innocuous modern addiction—overindulgence in digital and virtual reality games—is found to produce corresponding neuro-chemical and possibly cellular changes in the brain itself, e.g., dopamine which is responsible for reward-driven behavior. A recent study completed at University College London (using MRI technology) strongly implies that a habit of lying [e.g., university website puff pieces?] tends to suppress the part of the brain (the amygdala) that responds emotionally to a “slippery slope” pattern of small and then larger lies (Garrett/Ariely/ Laxxaro, Nature Neuroscience Journal, October 24, 2016; reported by Erica Goode, New York Times, October 25, 2016).
Good observations, and if they were honest and open minded about considering how ideology reinforces habituated behavior, they would consider the significance of the fact that 98 percent of homosexuals are pro-abortion. And if they do not, they would do some soul-searching as to the ideological make-up of their beliefs that coaused them to not consider the meaning of this fact.
And one more comment about genetics. The self-evident fact that homsexuals have fewer children than non-homosexuals would provide evidence that genetic factors, if they ever existed, would diminish over time form the gene pool, not increase.
Edward, and yet this hasn’t happened. The mystery of sexual orientation continues. It must be more complex than we think.
Excellent, thorough response
“…God only created this binary.”
Desperation time in trying to find Bibical support for mental illness and lifeless sodomy.
The Holy Spirit has warned us about those who “tamper with God’s word” (2 Cor 4,2) or do “abide in the teaching of Christ” (2 John 9).
Question for Notre Dame and their alumni: What is more important, fidelity to the faith or the football team?
I am sickened and saddened to see the continual moral and theological decline of Catholic institutions, including the Church and its leadership. Wolves have entered into the sheepfold and are devouring the flock. Where are the shepherds of Christ who will defend and care for the flock? False shepherds have infiltrated the Church, leading the flock astray, abusing the flock, stealing from the flock. Demons appearing as angels of light have seduced the minds of shepherds and sheep, leading them away from the Truth that sets men free, the Truth that is the only way to the Father. They twist God’s Word to conform to the passions of the flesh and the god of this age, instead of choosing to be transformed by the pure Word of God into the image and likeness of God. With words and teaching disguised as Truth, they slowly poison the hearts and minds of the flock. Those who are poisoned remain within the flock, even leading it, destroying the Church from within, for a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools…. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” (Romans 1:18-32)
“But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions. It is these who case divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.” (Jude 17-18)
“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.'” (Jesus Christ to the Church in Sardis, Revelation 3:1-6).
“Where are the shepherds of Christ who will defend and care for the flock?” We have one here in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.
Equality for the LGBTQ group? Why doesn’t the LGBTQ group start with an in-depth study of those who are like themselves? With such tendencies who feel trapped and don’t want that condition. And then those who love their situation which is condemned by the Creator. I remember a guy who I had often seen at Mass who committed suicide because he had these tendencies and didn’t want them. I know of a young boy at this time who has rejected God and says he plans to commit suicide because he doesn’t want to be gay. I know of two females who find themselves in this situation and have become totally reclusive being filled with anger and hate. I have heard horror stories of such people who think suicide is the only way out. With equality, the LGBTQ group should make a sturdy study on this and release it to the public, what do they have to fear, they claim it’s a great life. Maybe Notre Dame University can launch this study. The bottom line, when it comes to LGBTQ there are 2 types of people. Those who don’t want these attractions and feelings and then there are those who have them and in their vileness and wickedness are proud of it. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on these poor souls.
Andrew Angelo, you are right, and the suicide rate is much higher among these people. It must be incredibly disheartening and confusing to know inside that you are conflicted with an inner struggle, but then all around you in the world people are telling you it’s a choice, or that it’s okay, and there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s a mental illness, and until the medical field classifies it as such (like they used to), there will be more unresolved depression and suicides. These people aren’t getting the necessary tools and help to deal with their disorder. Imagine knowing you have a sore toothache, but your dentist keeps telling you it doesn’t hurt, or the hurt is good, and that you chose it! Talk about gaslighting…
Andrew, thanks for witnessing the struggle of gay Christians. You do so much for gay people by sharing your persinal experiences. I can say that I thought I was royally f*ucked when I found that I was gay. I thought my life was over.
Notre Dame denigrated itself the day they awarded an honorary degree to pro-abortion Barack Obama. They continue to denigrate themselves by admitting that the Bible in the Book of Genesis claims that “God began by creating human beings of male and female sex,” then adding that, “there is nothing that indicates in Scripture that God only created this binary.” Wrong. The creation account declares binary (male and female) as the natural law without explaining it further, because natural law is what works. If Notre Dame desires to shame its name by advocating for the most deadly sin of Pride, they should include the explanation of Adam and Eve desiring to be God, which is the lack of humility in recognizing who they were made to be and wanting to be more. The alphabet people are imitating Adam and Eve in their desire to take God’s place by declaring His creation inadequate or incomplete. They attempt to make themselves above God by obliterating His natural law to “be fruitful and multiply.” That, people, defines binary.
To the point—and Notre Dame wears the crown of all the Catholic universities that
support and promote what is called “sexual reassignment” together with all the trimmings. Other institutions of higher learning(indoctrination) are more covert.
Great comment!
Why are Catholic parents still sending their kids here?
Sodom and Gomorrah Now. A take on Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. Our once livable culture is becoming fast dangerous. Obscenity celebrated in virtually all commercials, social gatherings. Churchgoing reduced to live streaming. If at all. Once proudly Catholic, Notre Dame home of beloved convert Norwegian born Knute Rockne perhaps best football coach ever. Now a feminized charade of what once was. Transformation has been so rapid and plenary most seem dazed [those still with normal sensitivities] angry or join the self indulgent orgy many angry as well. Anger is commonplace a form of discontent with it all not finding Nirvana in cancel culture. In olden times back when prophets prophesied about God angels appeared here and there on our Earth. During Sodom and Gomorrah Now, an alert must be given. Angels enter at your own risk.
Absolutely sickening to see the way ND has capitulated to the zeitgeist and abdicated its role as America’s foremost Catholic university (though the problem goes back even further to the Land O’ Lakes Statement) in the last 20 years.
When I was a student in the mid ’90s, ND refused to grant the “Gays and Lesbians of ND/SMC” group (The T and Q and + blah blah, hadn’t been added yet!) any official status (which would have allowed them to receive extracurricular activity funds, usage of certain buildings, etc.) Now the University itself openly celebrates homosexuality and “trans,” and endorses renaming a month after one of the 7 deadly sins.
Will never give another dime to ND.
P.S. Will people please stop saying “Notre Dame University”? It’s University of Notre Dame. Thanks.
Oh people. Fr. Jenkins didn’t write the article a marketing director named Cidni Sanders wrote the story. She is neither a theologian, professor, nor adminstrator, I don’t think she is even Catholic. But she is the nicest person ever and she has a job to do and it is to write about diversity and inclusivity. This year she also authored articles about North Korean immigrants, refugees from Africa…and God Forbid…Muslims at UND. If you are really concerned go and visit and talk to one of the many Holy Cross priests on the University of Notre Dame campus or do like Raymond Arroyo and I did and send your kid there. My son was the only one of his High School classmates with a big smile on his face at the end of his academic year because they were they only university to trust in God and open up, (Even though my wife and I were very concerned to hear he charged the field after the Clemson game). I don’t like it either but a top notch university should be about dialogue and dialectic about everything in the seen and unseen world.
Franciscan University opened up fully last fall. And no vaccinations required. ND disclaims liability for its decision because the student can choose to reject vaccination and go somewhere else (and give up their coveted spot at ND)
My son got a full scholarship to UND. We as a family are struggling to make ends meet in order to send our 2 other sons to Catholic High School, if the Lord has blessed us with not having to pay for a college education for my oldest son I think that is a good thing – even if it has its problems.
Oh, it was written by some non-Catholic PR flack – well, that’s ok then! Sorry, the University is responsible for what it’s PR people write in its name.
And the only outrage you can muster about anything is the idea that your son may have gone onto the field during the Clemson game!? Oh my God, what a crime! Hope you never saw the 1993 FSU game! We’d have given you a heart attack – even tore down the goalposts!
Cidni Sanders…”the nicest person ever.” But, it all happens on Jenkins’ watch.
The name of the game is stealth and compartmentalization. In the Navy the slogan is that “you can delegate responsibility, but you can’t delegate accountability.” The Administration has failed, and is accountable.
There are many of us whose children are attending UND who are praying a new dawn for UND with the resignation of VP of Student Affairs Ms. Harding and installation of Fr. Gerard Olinger. I trust in the Holy Spirit.
Notre Dame is apostate, and serves as the collegial flagship of the 50-year-long project that is the now the “McCarrick Establishment.”
Notre Dame owes its status as “apostate-power-house” to its progenitor frauds McCarrick and Hesburg, co-creators and co-signers of the 1967 “Land-of-Lakes Statement,” by which the co-signing apostates and apostate-sex-abusers, including McCarrck and Hesburg, declared their universities’ “freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind….”
Read it here:
http://sycamoretrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Land-OLakes-Statement.pdf
And notice on the last 2 pages the signatory apostate frauds, including the “Right Rev. Theodore E. McCarrick, President, Catholic University of Puerto Rico.”
So there you have it, the entire superstructure of the contemporay US Church establishment is founded by the sociopath sex abusing fraud McCarrick, and his fellow fruad apostates.
The Good Shepherd made this declaration: “I spew them out of my mouth.”
True that, Chris!
It is an error to cite the Bible. The opposition does not accept it as a viable source, indeed homosexual activists want to declare it hate literature. The argument must be based on nature where the primary law is perpetuation of the species. Homosexuality does not fit into nature’s plan, and must be regarded as an aberration. This separates the person from the act — a process disapproved by the activists.
So when are devout Catholic families going to stop fawning over the school? The appeal of reputation, beautiful campus, high competitiveness, and football is too great. Raymond Arroyo sent his child(ren) there. My own youngest daughter thinks it’s THE school to attend.
Franciscan University, as well as others, needs the support of Catholic families. My oldest son attends Franciscan and said in his freshman year, “everyone should come here.”