those we recklessly label, scapegoat and sin- fully diminish in our graceless ignorance and fear.” Too many young gay Catholics have lapsed, disintegrated and even died tragically because there was no real place for them in the believing, worshipping community. (Fr) John Michael Hanvey Blackburn, Lancashire


Michael Sean Winters (“Not quite what he seemed”, 11 December 2010) quotes Professor Janet Smith as saying that “what is intrinsic - ally wrong in a homosexual sexual act in which a condom is used is not the moral wrong of contraception but the homosexual act itself”. This came as quite a shock to me because for 50 years of my adult life I have believed that the Catholic Church’s judgement concerning homosexual acts is that they are immoral, pre- cisely and exclusively because they are contraceptive, that is to say, they are not “open to the transmission of life” (Humanae Vitae, para. 11). I was under the distinct impression that this analysis was classically expressed by St Thomas Aquinas, who condemns mastur- bation, acts “against nature” and bestiality all for precisely this reason (Summa Theologica, 2-2, question 154, articles 10-11). Furthermore, I had the clear impression that this analysis was repeated without change in manuals of scholastic theology down the centuries even to those put before me in the early 1960s. To suggest that in the tradition of Catholic moral theology there is some other reason for condemning homosexual activity is, to me, quite novel and I should like to know what it is. There is another novel idea concerning these


matters. It is the modern notion of sexual orien - tation, whether this is understood to be genetic, or a combination of nature and nur- ture. This derives from observation of what is perceived as a naturally occurring phenom- enon in humans. Consequently, it is logically prior to any moral analysis of the same but must seriously affect one’s moral analysis if one is convinced of its reality. Whether or not it is true is one thing, but what is certain is that it is totally absent from any moral analy- sis, Christian or non-Christian, of sexual conduct prior to the twentieth century. This alone qualifies it to be considered part of that “great task” on which the Pope said the Church needs to engage in the context of today’s studies of sexuality and anthropology. (Fr) J. Ambrose Walsh Cardiff


I am a Catholic and my partner is Anglican. We have an active ministry within our Churches and have been together for 37 years. Our civil partnership four years ago was warmly supported by our Christian friends. Our civil


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22 | THE TABLET | 1 January 2011


partnership has given us recognition, a cele- bration of loving relationships and a “blessedness” which the hierarchical Church has not been able to open itself to giving. In the interview with Archbishop Longley (“Compassionate conservative”, 11 December 2010), I was disappointed to read that he is not in favour of civil partnership because, he says, it is easily confused with the sacrament of marriage, between a man and a woman. From my perspective this is not the case.


The fact that it is called a “civil partnership” defines it very clearly by not using the word “marriage”. This is a matter of semantics when used in a secular context but clearly distin- guishable in a “sacred” context. In terms of what constitutes a relationship either between two men, or two women, or a man and a woman, there is very little difference. Does the Church imagine those of us in a civil partner- ship to have a “lifestyle” that is any different from those in a heterosexual marriage, or that the promises my partner and I made to each other at that ceremony four years ago were of any less meaning, value and sincerity than those made by a couple in a marriage? All cou- ples who choose to be in loving, committed relationships are “married” in the eyes of God, at least the God who I believe calls me and my partner into fellowship with himself, as members of the mystical Body of Christ. How could a truly loving Father be otherwise with those he has created and loved so dearly? I wonder if Archbishop Longley would con- sider giving gay couples a “blessing” in order to get around his problem with the words? Nigel Groom Malvern, Worcestershire


Catholic biblical scholarship Readers who enjoyed Fr Henry Wansborough’s article (“Relighting the fire of Scripture”, 11 December 2010) might be interested to know that a new edition of the Traduction Oecuménique de la Bible (“Ecumenical Translation of the Bible”), which we affection- ately call TOB, has just been published in France. The TOB was first published in 1975 and revised in 1988 and 2004. What makes this new edition exceptional is that it includes not only the Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament, recognised by the Catholic Church, but also the Deuterocanonical books recognised by the Orthodox Churches and used in the liturgy (Esdras 3 and 4, Maccabees 3 and 4, the Letter of Manasseh and Psalm 151). Another step on the road to unity! Sylvie Roura Houilles, France


Verbs at issue Americans have always been creative in con- structing verbs out of nouns. “Burglarise” and “hospitalise” come to mind. But “contracept” as used by Professor Janet Smith (“Not quite what he seemed”, 11 December) is a new one on me. Surely, if a verb is to be made out of this function, “contraceive” is the better choice. Neither, as it happens, is in my cur- rent Chambers dictionary. Stephen Haskell London SE4


The living Spirit


[One of the Magi reflects:] What we saw on the face of the newborn child was his death. And we saw, as sure as the earth beneath our feet, that to stay with him would be to share that death. Is the truth beyond all truth, beyond the stars, just this: to live without him is the real death, to die with him is the only life?


Frederick Buechner


The Magnificent Defeat (HarperOne, 1985)


This was the moment when Before Turned into After, and the future’s Uninvented timekeepers presented arms.


This was the moment when nothing Happened. Only dull peace Sprawled boringly over the earth.


This was the moment when even energetic Romans


Could find nothing better to do Than counting heads in remote provinces.


And this was the moment When a few farm workers and three Members of an obscure Persian sect Walked haphazard by starlight straight Into the kingdom of heaven. U.A.Fanthorpe “BC:AD”


O God, help me to be a person who gives with a warm hand. Melt any coldness and iciness there may be in my spirit and please make me a magnanimous and generous person. Fire me with a passion to give. In Jesus’ name I ask it. Amen.


Selwyn Hughes Wisdom for Living (CWR, 2010)


Great Maker of the year, Old Time by you begun, Each day, each minute and each hour, All passing one by one, Through all my time be near. O, guide me with your hand. My hours are steps, my days are roads To your sweet timeless land. Joyce Denham Circle of Prayer (Lion, 2003)


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