After Pride: Icons
Author: Andrew Comiskey
July 03, 2023
I liked these guys but wouldn’t
agree that they were ‘married.’ ‘Friends with benefits’ better described them.
As we talked, it was clear they were riding the wave of rainbow justice—wealthy
dudes with no dependents ready for Europe.
We were all grounded on a
tarmac in Buenos Aires. As flight attendants redistributed luggage in the
overheads, a young man sprung up and firmly insisted that his wife and baby needed
access to these 3 items. (No negotiation.) The infant cried and mom looked anxiously
at dad. How he attuned to their needs and acted to secure them released a wave
of new life; holy love permeated the cabin.
They were icons—a glimpse
of the divine. ‘In creating humanity as man and woman, God imprints on humanity
the mystery of that communion which is the essence of His interior life’ (St. John
Paul II). God—Three in One—reveals Himself through man for woman, woman for man
(Gen. 1:26-27).
I need icons. You do too:
persons whose ordered humanity speaks more clearly than a Bible verse or an
encyclical.
Annette and I had the privilege of sermonizing two Sundays at her
Anglican Church. She was marvelous. Honestly. As she spoke
of our sexual differences and kids—the overflow of our love—I had an Edenic
moment in which I re-encountered in her ‘the eternal feminine’, something of
the pure unique gift she is to me. God entrusted us to each other. My
responsibility? Proceed with awe and decisive action for her good.
Joseph and Mary. Adam and
Eve. Jahweh and Israel. Jesus and Church. We need man and we need woman.
We need icons—the fullness
of God’s image in a Church so intent on atoning for sins against vulnerable
people that she honors the selfish and dishonorable. I just read a
bewildering essay on ‘gay’ Catholics in which Eve Tushnet spoke
self-reverentially about Side A and B (‘gays’ actively practicing and ‘celibate’)
then urged us to discern the choice best for us. In the weird world of Revoice,
Dignity USA, and Outreach, we are invited to forge identity and community on
disordered desires and to act on those desires as ‘conscience’ calls.
Jesus wasn’t mentioned. Just
‘gay’ rights and victim-speak: an airless cabin in need of icons.
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