The Catholic Church took a big step forward with this week’s announcement that priests can now offer blessings to same-sex couples.
The Vatican explained the major shift in policy by noting that all blessings are “an invitation to draw ever closer to the love of Christ,” but the church remains firm on its traditional doctrine about marriage. Priests can now offer blessings to couples “in irregular situations and same-sex couples without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage.”
Local Catholics rightly hailed the change.
Gay rights activist Rick Garcia called the decision significant because it shows Pope Francis “is looking at the humanity of LGBTQ people and doesn’t reduce them to sexual objects. They see them as people who have relationships and family and are part of the church,” Garcia told Sun-Times reporter David Struett.
A same-sex couple in New York City has already received a blessing, according to The New York Times. On Tuesday morning, Damian Steidl Jack, 44, and his husband, Jason Steidl Jack, 38, held hands and bowed their heads as they received a blessing from Rev. James Martin.
Following the Vatican’s declaration that this kind of blessing not be performed with “any clothing, gestures, or words that are proper to a wedding,” Father Martin wore no robes and read from no text.
“May the Lord bless and keep you,” Father Martin began. “May the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his countenance to you and give you joy and peace. And may almighty God bless you,” he said, making the sign of the cross, “the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
After blessing the couple, the priest told the New York Times, “It was really nice to be able to do that publicly.”
While this major shift in church doctrine is welcome, it’s sad that same-sex couples still will be treated differently. They can’t be married in the Catholic church, and they can’t receive this kind of blessing in connection with a civil marriage ceremony — rules that continue to stigmatize and marginalize gay and lesbian Catholics.
These blessings, as local Cardinal Blase Cupich noted in a statement, should take place in “other contexts, such as a visit to a shrine, a meeting with a priest, a prayer recited in a group, or during a pilgrimage. ... there is no intention to legitimize anything. but rather to open one’s life to God, to ask for his help to live better, and also to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived with greater faithfulness.”
We share Cupich’s hope that here in the Archdiocese of Chicago, home to 2.2 million Catholics, this significant step forward “will help many more in our community feel the closeness and compassion of God.”
The Sun-Times welcomes letters to the editor and op-eds. See our guidelines.
