This last week I was in Houston at the Ordinariate Clergy Assembly. We meet once a year to be with our Bishop, to reconnect with those who live far away, and to study a subject that our Bishop wants us to learn about. This year, not surprisingly, we spent the majority of our time hearing lectures about the Church's teaching on family, sexuality, and how to help guide those who struggle with the confusion that exists today surrounding these topics.
One subject that was touched on in more than one lecture was the impact that homosexuality has on society. This got me to thinking ("chicken and egg" fashion) on how homosexual thinking and society have mutually fed each other over the last few decades. Let me explain. Does society fall into various sins, and then encourage homosexuality, or does homosexuality rise up and then encourage other sins? It happens to be both, and it is almost impossible to determine which really comes first. There is one specific pattern, though, that we cannot ignore.
This pattern that I am referring to is almost universally the case whenever a society falls into the mortal sin of sodomy. Before sodomy can become accepted in a society, chastity must be compromised. It may sound overly simplistic, but let us consider this for a brief moment. As the Church clearly teaches, any deviation from the law of God is sinful, and homosexual practices are always gravely sinful. There are many sexual sins that exist, but sodomy is clearly contrary to nature itself; it is a rejection of the created order of God. Therefore, we should never accept the notion that sodomy is anything less than an extreme perversion.
How, then, does the devil accomplish the widespread acceptance of such an immoral act? It can only come about if he is able to loosen sexual morals on a broad scale. Once the basic idea of chastity (i.e. sexual self control) is doubted (by whatever means he chooses to do this), then it is just a matter of time before more and more sexual sin is practiced. Consider it this way: if theft is common in a society, then respect for personal property has been weakened; if hatefulness and anger are common in a society, then love of God and neighbor have been weakened; likewise, if homosexual behavior is common in a society, then chastity has been weakened. The devil has to beat down the good before he can promote the bad.
You may be asking yourself: how do we get out of this quagmire? There are three things that parents need to be teaching their children (and be doing so specifically before they hit puberty). The first is chastity, the second is modesty, and the third is chastity. In other words, do not allow them to get the slightest impression that the general perspective of the majority of Hollywood entertainment has any idea what sexuality actually is. We need to explain to children (once they are old enough to understand) that what Hollywood calls "romance" is closer to chimpanzees mating in the wild than to genuine godly love. They need to learn that God's laws of chastity are for the express purpose of granting us greater joy in sexuality rather than less!
How does one teach modesty in an immodest world? The easiest way that this is done is by teaching children how to dress in a manner that is becoming of a chaste heart and soul. Modesty is always beautiful (as G.K. Chesterton once said), and the habits of modesty must be ingrained into a child in his first few years of life. If you see a child that is dressing immodestly when she is 8, then that child will be dressing immodestly when she is 18. Parents, lost ground can always be made up, but it is always harder to do so. Furthermore, do not let Hollywood teach your children what is appropriate to wear; set a clear and holy standard for them and stick with it.
Chastity used to be an assumed part of a child's upbringing in the Church (maybe it became "too assumed" and people got lax about it?), now we must take extra steps to ensure that our children know what it means (remember, the world is going to try to teach them that it is bad). Boys especially must be taught how to respond to immodesty; what it means to "avert the eyes" rather than to gawk at something that is immodest. This also means that parents must exemplify modesty. Think about it Moms and Dads: do you dress modestly yourselves? How about the magazines that you allow in the home, or the commercials you ignore on the tv? This all comes into play when we are dealing with teaching our children to be holy. Either you will teach them to appreciate God's laws, or you will teach them to ignore them and accept the world's immorality; which will it be?
