Gerald Augustinus is a popular blogger who runs one of the best named blogs in the Catholic blogosphere, The Cafeteria is Closed. The title of his blog is a direct reference to Cafeteria Catholicism. Namely picking and choosing, like one would at a a cafeteria, which doctrines and teachings of the Church please the palette on any given day. Upon the election of Cardinal Ratzinger Pope as Pope Benedict XVI, Gerald cleverly quipped that the cafeteria was now closed. His blog has been on our blogroll since its inception. Now that will have to change.
Some weeks back Gerald posted his thoughts on the subject of homosexuality. His comments received quite a reaction from his readers, many of whom were not pleased. It was a rather long post, but some of the relevant excerpts follow. The post was written in response to a number of questions posed by a FR. RP. .
Gay people don’t “rub in” their sexuality (except for the more flamboyant participants of pride rallies or weirdos like the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence”) any more than straight people do. The fact that they act like any other couple is not “rubbing it in” (assuming there is no public indecency) but simply not hiding part of their lives. Since this is a free country, people can, absent injury to others, live as they please. The same freedom that makes it possible for you to be Catholic makes it possible for others to be “openly” gay. Obviously, the Catholic Church has every right to ban “Dignity” from church property, but that is where it ends, just like Muslims can’t ban others from the ‘right’ to eat pork in public. Tolerance doesn’t mean embracing those with whom one disagrees but rather to let them be. Unfortunately, P.C. sometimes goes so far as to outlaw opinions differing from mainstream culture. I’m very much a libertarian when it comes to speech and actions that don’t harm others.
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Well, first of all, we’re always ‘in heat’, unlike animals. Again, being in a committed gay is not the same as being ‘enslaved’ to sex, much like an unmarried straight couple that’s not celibate isn’t ‘enslaved’ to sex by necessity of not being married. Sex addiction is of course a problem for people, both gay and straight. Promiscuity is easier, obviously, when only men are involved. Lesbian sexual behavior is usually different. Frequently, lack of sex can become a problem in a relationship.
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While a church – or the law, for that matter – cannot offer ‘second’ options – say, “Well if you steal, try to steal only a bit”, a society certainly should be interested in a tolerant climate and committed gay relationships rather than guilt-ridden, marginalized, closeted individuals who once in a while go on a sex spree. And, once more, homosexuality is not about mere ‘biological functions’, just like heterosexuality isn’t. It can be, certainly, and more so when there’s only testosterone to go around.
This post garnered a very strong reaction from Gerald’s readers prompting many of them to ask Gerald if the Cafeteria was now open again. I think it is obvious that Gerald’s comments do not reflect Catholic thought. While Christians should treat all people with dignity and respect, I do not think that it is proper to encourage by word, deed, or legislative act sinful behavior. I certainly do not wish to people to be more committed to their intrinsically disordered acts ccc 2357.
In comment on the above post Karen Hall of Some Have Hats said the following which summed up well my sentiments at the time.
The ideal and the Truth are what are constantly being attacked — they take a much more tougher whipping than any minority group, and constantly. And we almost never get to see anyone stand up for them. With the exception of the Pope, who you may remember, is the reason your blog got its name. I have to admit, I’ve read it for a long time and right now, I feel a bit duped.
At the time I endeavored to give Gerald the benefit of the doubt. I thought perhaps he had become too attached to a libertarian line of thinking and that this had clouded his judgment. I could relate to this as it is a stage of political thinking through which I briefly passed some decades ago but soon dismissed due to its obvious shortcomings. I also wondered if Gerald was perhaps trying to give a secular civics lesson on a Catholic blog and in doing so ignored some of the explicit teaching on the church on these matters. Anyway, like I said, I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Truth be told, however, I have rarely read his blog since that time so I missed some follow up posts on related matters that may indicate that the slack I cut him at the time may have been unwarranted. CMR pal Red Cardigan at And Sometimes Tea alerted me to some recent comments by Gerald that are even more troubling.
Gender identity disorder is real – it usually starts before school age. While the operation and the entire process [Hormone treatments and sex change operation] is easier before puberty, it’d seem wiser to let the person make the decision as an adult. Of course, parents have the right to decide on medical treatment – within limits.
Gerald now says that it would be morally licit for prepubescent children to undergo sex change therapy. This statement does not just reflect an overactive libertarian tendency, but an outright rejection of the teaching of the church on the nature of sexuality. Red Cardigan wrote in response:
I can’t even begin to express my sense of horror at the idea that children as young as ten might be give hormone treatments as part of a plan that includes the eventual mutilation of their sex organs as a way of treating what must be considered a deeply psychological problem.
I share her horror. It is because of the above that I am no longer assured that the Cafeteria is Closed will reflect Catholic teaching or can still rightly be called a Catholic blog. It is with regret that we feel that we must remove the Cafeteria from the CMR blogroll.
Gerald Augustinus, we are praying for you.
May 9, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Patrick, You nailed it. And thank you! I read Gerald’s blog for a long time and I would read these things and I’d excuse them. I’d actually think that he must be simply more nuanced than me. But finally, I figured it out. He’s not nuanced at all. He’s flagrantly opposing Church teaching. I’m done with him. Thank you for taking a stand.
May 9, 2008 at 3:22 pm
CMR, you guys are doing the right thing!
He also dismisses anyone who disagrees with him a homphobes. I can’t take him any more either.
May 9, 2008 at 3:32 pm
It’s no longer “The Cafeteria is Closed” but now “We the People”. While it saddens me to see a Catholic become secularized, and it causes me horror to think that he thinks that the founding fathers would have had anything to do with this, at least he isn’t claiming that his ideas are in line with the Catholic Church.
Tolerance is a lot less than just letting people be. Tolerance is just not killing those who are sinful, subversive, or offensive because the cost to society of their existence is less than the cost of removing them would be. In other words, one chooses the common good over punishment. That doesn’t mean that they can’t be shamed because they are doing wrong. We have to enforce social norms somehow.
In personally, would love to go back to a time when gays were closeted. That way, I wouldn’t have to see their disgusting sin advertised every time they walk by my office (I work near Dupont Circle, *shiver*), and I wouldn’t even have to put the concept in my childrens heads when they ask why. St. Paul called it the unmentionable sin for a reason- it is insidious, and corrupts even those who do not have that inclination.
May 9, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I believe that it was Maureen Dowd who came up with the phrase “the cafeteria is closed.” It was in her column of April 20, 2005.
“The white smoke yesterday signaled that the Vatican thinks what it needs to bring it into modernity is the oldest pope since the 18th century: Joseph Ratzinger, a 78-year-old hidebound archconservative who ran the office that used to be called the Inquisition and who once belonged to Hitler Youth. For American Catholics – especially women and Democratic pro-choice Catholic pols – the cafeteria is officially closed. After all, Cardinal Ratzinger, nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler” and “the Enforcer,” helped deny Communion rights to John Kerry and other Catholic politicians in the 2004 election.” Whatever else MoDo is (don’t get me started) she is occasionally clever.
But I like Gerald’s blog; I very often disagree with him (strongly), but he does manage to find some good material. BTW I totally disagree him over the pediatric gender identity matter. It’s child abuse to mess with a kid in that way. Lest we forget, the first moral precept of the physician is “primum non nocere -first do no harm.” Kit
May 9, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Thanks Kit. Although it was still clever for Gerald to use that even if he didn’t coin it.
With that said, please don’t mention that woman on this blog ever again. I have a very sensitive stomach.
May 9, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Gerald’s live and let live attitude shows complete disregard for the souls of those he purports to respect.
May 9, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I noticed the subtle and not-so-subtle changes in Gerald’s site for some time now, and his posts on sexuality really caused me to question his ability to live as a faithful Catholic. Whatever problems or phrase of life that he is going through, I will pray for him. I suspect that there are influences on him from close personal sources. However, I will not again comment on his blog–to do so lends credence to his rather nutty positions and stubborn refusal to follow his Church.
May 9, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Anon,
I think where Gerald misses the boat is on the nature of sin. He treats sin as merely a private matter with no community consequence unless “it hurts somebody”
Sin, by its very nature, wounds the individual and the community.
The catechism teaches that sin “It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity.”
and that we sin by cooperation when we “by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;“
When a community praise or even just turns a blind eye to sin such as this, it sins itself.
May 9, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I would read Gerald’s blog daily, along with yours and Fr. Z. I have been very disappointed with the direction it has taken and find myself going there less and less. He is taking his libertarianism far too seriously. I pray that he gets himself back on the right track and in line with Church teachings.
May 9, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Its A Outrage!
May 9, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I too used to read his blog daily, until the post you share above.
Have found your blog and pewsitters.com to more than make up for his.
Thank you – hopefully more will remove him from their list.
May 9, 2008 at 5:07 pm
What is he thinking? Sex changes for kids!!!
That doesn’t just NOT reflect Catholic teaching, it doesn’t reflect common sense or common decency!
May 9, 2008 at 5:27 pm
So, now everybody’s surprised that the golden boy from Vienna made a big goof, and all the good Catholic boys and girls have to take him off their blogroll.
Here’s my surprise: the rest of you shouldn’t be surprised.
There was a time in the early Church, when a “neophyte” would retain his status as a novice to the faith for a few years, and the mysteries of that Faith were continuing to be unfolded to him. (They have “novitiates” in religious life. Ever wonder why?) Unfortunately, our quest for “Catholic celebrity” makes us prop up the Next Big Thing who says all the right things, while they’re barely out of their baptismal robes. He’s not the only one either. There’s another one on the East Coast, and at the rate they’re going, you’ll learn about them soon enough.
You’ll find a lot of off-the-wall stuff on my blog. But you will never, NEVER, read anything that challenges the Faith. Even opinions about the “annulment crisis” that diverge from the rest of the “more Catholic than the Pope” crowd, you can’t touch it. It’s all straight up, no chaser, as Catholic AS the Pope. My parents gave me the gift of my Faith as an infant, so I’ve had fifty years to get used to the idea, which includes knowing just how much need I have for the Divine Mercy. But we don’t give that chance to people like Gerald. We can’t wait to see them trotted out in print and on television. They will never get a chance to go through life as an anonymous Catholic, to GROW IN THE FAITH without the glare of publicity. No, we need to make a golden calf of them, and we need it now. But are they ready for it?
Haven’t we just seen the results of someone who is not?
There is more to orthodoxy than the ability to talk a good game. Some of the new luminaries in the Catholic blogosphere have forgotten that. Some of us who have been watching them have forgotten as well. Is the attention we get for the glory of God? The answer is in what it does to our own soul. In all humility, when I had a crisis of faith several years ago, I announced that the blog was shutting down for forty days. I went “into the desert” so to speak. I didn’t just sit around; it was a genuine “poustinia,” within the confines of holding down a job every day. It was the smartest thing I could have done at the time.
I should say here and now, before somebody reading this (invariably) gets the wrong idea, that Gerald has definitely missed the boat on this issue. It’s not the only instance, either, and it does give on pause. Personally, I blame it on living in southern California, although I admit it doesn’t affect everyone in that way. In any case, Gerald’s is a soul worth saving, especially since it’s not so much lost, as it is confused. Most of us reading this, if we’re truly honest with ourselves, have to look in the mirror and say the same. Maybe if he’s brought down a notch, God will prove to us all who’s really in charge. Then we can all give him our Good Housekeeping seal again.
As far as this “man in the black hat” is concerned, Gerald is still a good egg. But first, he has to lose the pedestal we put him on. And while we’re at it, we may want to have second thoughts about our own.
May 9, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I also read his blog religiously (so to speak) until his post on homosexual behavior. But now I, too, am done. I do have something to thank him for, though, since I’m pretty sure I found your blog and Fr. Z’s through his.
May 9, 2008 at 5:47 pm
DL,
Why should be surprised…you are always one step ahead of the rest of us 😉
I want to be clear also that I am not writing off Gerald as a person or a Catholic. It is just that for now I cannot link to his blog in good conscience.
I am truly praying for him and would be happy to link him again if he comes to his senses. After a DLA prescribed waiting period, of course!
May 9, 2008 at 5:54 pm
David,
Lest any converts feign “offense” at your neophyte comment, let me speak up on your behalf.
As a fairly recent convert (4 years ago) I must say that I agree with your comment. I had the exact same thought as I read this post about Gerald’s transformation, and contemplated that perhaps those of us who are recent arrivals to the Faith ought to spend some time taking it all in before we decide to spout our opinions off to everyone.
It occurs to me that my starting a blog on Catholic, family, and church-state matters barely a year into my new-found Faith was probably an act of particular arrogance on my part.
May 9, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Jay:
The zeal of a convert is a powerful thing. One scales new heights in personal growth, and climbing too quickly increases the danger of falling. It happens to the best of us.
May 9, 2008 at 6:51 pm
The CiC post in question was a red flag to me that something was wrong…
…when he started linking to Rod Dreher a few weeks later, I knew all I needed to know.
Gerald, I DELETE you from my Favorites!
May 9, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I just love it when you Catholics turn on your own. Step out of line and you are banished to the 7th ring of hell.
I guess you forgot about the other teachings of Jesus about judging lest not you be judged.
May 9, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. He’s been on my blogroll for quite some time, but I’ve always thought his blog was overrated, and I’ve only rarely checked it out lately.