Melinda's list: Selmys' forty ways to love a lesbian (and hate Michael Voris)

Reprinted on RenewAmerica.

Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. (CCC #2357)

After being questioned by many (including myself) for condemning Michael Voris' documentary, “FBI (Faith Based Investigation) into Homosexuality," as erroneous, but then not giving any evidence to support this claim, former queer (her term) turned married Catholic mother of six, Melinda Selmys, went back to the blogging board and "called Voris' bluff," coming up with forty so-called errors in Voris' film. Sadly, many of these claims stretch the limits of credulity (if not veracity) and, as in the case of both of Selmys' previous two works on the subject ("How to Speak About Homosexuality" and "What I Mean By Acceptance"), raised more questions than they answered.

Part scholarly research and part knee-jerk reaction, Selmys herself admitted that many of Voris' "errors" are not actually errors at all, but merely her personal objections to Michael's style. For example, Error #6, "The entire 'history' section suffers from massive Western chauvanism. The result is a misleading and lop-sided portrayal," appears to be merely a typical feminist beef without fact, and #12, "Paranoia abounds. This is strictly speaking not a factual error, but it is an extremely problematic form of thinking," is even more problematic in that it harkens back to the original problem; Selmys is merely calling Voris names without giving reasons. As early as the third grade, students are now taught to give evidence to support their answers, and all parties concerned would have probably been better served if Selmys had made her list shorter and left such name calling off of it.

Speaking about homosexuality? Melinda Selmys' 'queer' way to save gays

Reprinted on RenewAmerica.

In her article, "How to Speak About Homosexuality," (and subsequent follow-up, "What I Mean By Acceptance"), former gay-turned-committed-Catholic author Melinda Selmys makes first one, then two attempts to trash and bash Michael Voris’ “FBI (Faith Based Investigation) into Homosexuality,” with mixed—or more accurately—mixed-up results. And here, the fault is not so much Selmys', who admits her journey from "sin" and "confusion" to Truth and Catholicism is still filled with "doubts, depression, self-loathing, and intellectual pride," but with First Things, who offers up the still-evolving Melinda as the authentic voice of Catholic/gay evangelization without the brash-but-accurate corrections of someone like Mike.

Melinda Selmys

First, after categorizing Voris' film as angry (not to mention "paranoid, hysterical, and alienating... [and] homophobic"), Selmys then slashes back by saying, "I’m tempted to rip into its bloody meat and leave behind a mangled carcass as a warning to others who might desire to make something similar," seemingly not realizing that by writing thusly she just revealed her own anger out loud. But whereas Voris clearly delineates early on in his video that his (righteous) anger is directed at the sin and not the sinner, Selmys immediately evokes an anger that is personal. Of course, after many readers rightly call her on the carpet for this, she tries to jokingly dismiss it by saying, "Several people have mistaken my desire to rip into Voris' production for rage. It's nothing that elevated. More like intellectual blood-lust, really"—and then proceeds to make the mess even worse.

For after her questionable jest, Selmys goes on to say, "My problem is not with people telling the truth about homosexuality, my problem is with people mistaking anger and disgust for [the] truth [of homosexuality]," claiming that Voris' 94-minute documentary contains "factual and logical errors...about one every two minutes." But instead of then depicting even a single so-called Voris lie, she sighs that "it would take me thousands of words to detangle them all," and instead plays the "C" card (that is, "Charity") and trots out the ol' "Offenses Against Truth” section of the Catechism (CCC 2475-2479) as her sole defense, something that should have made her editors cringe.

Rockne and the Resurrection: celebrating Easter and the Irish "feast"

Two weeks ago, you could say St. Patrick got the short shrift, for because March 17 fell on a Lenten Sunday, the patron saint of Ireland was not celebrated in church, at least not liturgically. Of course, while some priests did in fact mention Patrick (the wise ones, that is) I doubt on this greatest Christian feast of the year, that few will even think about the "feast" of that other great (Fighting) Irish icon, Knute Rockne.

For as 3-31-31 (the day Rockne died) flips around to 3-31-13, Christ's triumph over death and evil certainly trumps over Rockne's victories over 'Tech or the Trojans. Yet as Easter signifies Jesus' perfect love for us and each year symbolizes new life for the Christian, Rockne's life, which once symbolized all that was right with sports, now comes to signify all that is (still) right with Notre Dame. As Catholics have hope with a new pope, Irish fans have reason to believe again after an undefeated regular season.

Of course, whereas some Catholics would say Pope Francis is also a cause for concern (although washing women's feet on Holy Thursday is a topic for another day) many die-hard Domers would point out that a 42-14 BCS loss to Alabama is a far cry from a National Championship. But here we must remember that Rockne's model for making Notre Dame the nation's "flagship" Catholic university was not from the top (administration and faculty) down, but from the bottom (players and fans) up. Similarly, if Francis' style is to succeed, it may be from the laity inspiring the clergy instead of the other way around.

So while I urge you to spend the day remembering the great feat Christ performed for the faithful, take a few moments (perhaps during a commercial of the day's many sporting events) to recall what the Fighting Irish's most famous convert did for Notre Dame (and the sports and faith apostolate) too. For how often do you get a chance to sing "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" and "The Notre Dame Fight Song" on the same day?

Pope Francis, and Blessed Aloysius and Blessed Agnellus: how the saints chose Bergoglio for pope

Let’s not be naive, we’re not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God. –Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) on the issue of gay marriage

A frightful cataclysm may be about to change the face of the world. Let us trust wholly in God...corruption and evil are indeed rampant, but I still maintain that God will triumph in the end. –Blessed Aloysius Orione, predicting the horrors of WWII shortly before his death in 1940

Francis, rebuild my Church. –Jesus Christ, speaking in a vision to St. Francis of Assisi

Pope Francis

Although the prognosticators were puzzled and the oddsmakers baffled at the elevation of the holy old cardinal, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, to the first Pope Francis, the saints of the day had the selection pegged perfectly. Here's why, based on the blesseds the Church celebrated during the past two days, I believe Bergoglio had to become our next pope.

Bye bye (Pope) Benedict, hello 'Gay Mafia': can the family save the papacy?

In order for such evil to be concealed and tolerated, it is necessary that the right people hold key positions, and that not only a homolobby, but a homoclique or a homomafia is created. –Fr Dariusz, from his report "With the Pope against Homoheresy"

It can hardly be denied now...in light of this [report] that one of the big struggles the pope has had to deal with has been the issue of disobedient and uncooperative bishops and even cardinals who are either homosexual themselves or involved in a cover-up of the homosexual network or at the bare minimum covering up sex abuse cases. This whole mess is almost beyond belief...until you understand the degree of infiltration and effectiveness of this network of homosexual prelates and clergy...reaching into the Vatican itself. –Michael Voris, from his Feb. 25 broadcast of "The Vortex"

Back in the spring of 2009, I wrote a series of pointed blogs warning about the many potential evils of allowing our "Culture of Death" president, Barack Obama, to not only speak but be honored at the University of Notre Dame Commencement, first appealing to ND president, Fr. John Jenkins, then to the local bishop, and finally to Pope Benedict himself. "Surely the pope will intervene into this righteous cause," I told myself, but my pleas went unheeded. And as predicted, the evil did come, first with Obama being re-elected by dazzled but ill-informed Catholics, and then by Obama stabbing the Church in the back by making certain Catholic practices illegal with his HHS mandate.

Bobby Jindal: the next St. Thomas More or another "stupid party-er"?

Gov. Bobby Jindal

When Bobby Jindal, Louisiana governor and recently elected leader of the Republican Governor’s Association, recently reiterated that, “We must stop being the stupid party,” many in the party took notice. “We must reject the notion that demography is destiny, stop insulting the intelligence of voters...and accept that government number crunching–even conservative number crunching–is not the answer to our nation’s problems.” Instead of being the “party of austerity”; the "53 percent," Jindal urged the Republicans to be the party of "conservative compassion," stating, “The first step in getting the voters to like you is to demonstrate that you like them.” But as populist as that speech sounds, did the “unapologetic pro-life Republican,” and potential Catholic 2016 presidential candidate go too far by writing that “everyone who wants contraception should be able to purchase it,” and become another "Stupid Party" candidate himself?

A FIT thank you

Thanks, Tom, for your donation to FIT, especially in these tough economic times. Ten dollars may not seem that much to some, but if all my readers gave that amount, I would be able to reach my goal of writing about the issues of the day full time, at least for the month. But then, with all the additional readers my daily writing would bring out, perhaps I could join the ranks of Shea and Akin, and write my Catholic view of the news for a living. But I digress... thanks again!

God's grace & Mary's prayers,
Tom