A Sweet Spot in the Culture War: Homosexuality

 Pope Francis is again stirring the Catholic pot with his approval of civil unions for homosexual relationships. Given my outstanding credentials as a Culture Warrior  I should be "loaded for bear" and ready for combat. But I am entirely tranquil on the issue. There are obvious reasons. I have become practiced in largely ignoring the off-the-cuff comments of our pontiff, as I disregard the tweets of our president. Additionally,  I sympathize with the case in favor of financial and legal rights, hospital visitation and so forth. Thirdly, our judiciary has already shoved gay marriage down our throats so a step toward civil union would be a positive move, currently, in the moral and cultural scene. 

But something else is happening in me. My "liberal-liberational-anarchistic" streak, strong in my youth but recessive in my adult life, always coexistent and in tension with my fervent moral conservatism, has been reasserting itself now in my old age. At the moment I am reading an appreciative biography of JFK by Fredrik Logevall "JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century" and reviving (in chastened form) the enchantment of "Camelot." My favorite writer at the moment is hardcore Catholic bohemian Heather King. I am thinking fondly of my college years near Chicago and  the influence of Saul Alinsky on the resurgent Catholic passion for justice for the underdog (even as the Catholic Right is horrified by his explicit identification with Satan, "the first revolutionary.". I think often of my anarchist-iconoclast hero Ivan Illich. Some of my favorite nephews have gone maverick and are having a (good?) influence on me.

Regarding homosexuality: I remain fervent in my advocacy of the sacred unitive/procreative meaning of sexuality as proclaimed so elegantly by St. John Paul the Great. But I also love homosexual men. They are interesting, delightful, intellectually stimulating, and tons of fun. I really really like so many of them. And they like me. This has been true throughout my entire adult life. We work together, enjoy each other, and admire each other. I cannot recall an explicit argument or disagreement. These issues of morality and politics simply never come up. It is not a problem. I know what they think; I think they know what I think. The mutual affection and respect entirely dominates. In the real world, on the ground level, us conservative Catholics and homosexuals and gays get along just fine...It is not a problem. 

So...I am not worried about the Pope's comments. I am not worried about this battleground of the Culture War. We just love each other; and like each other; and enjoy each other. It is easy!