Reconstructing a fragmented self: how LGBT Catholics negotiate a coherent sense of identity
Year: 2018
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This paper explores how lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) Catholics deal with \nthe intra-personal conflict that emerges from the incongurence between their faith \nand their sexuality. When they start experiencing sexual desires for persons of the \nsame sex, their inner state of being is shattered as they are engulfed with feelings \nof guilt, fear, anger, doubt and anxiety. They have to deal with their apparently \nirreconcilable sexuality and faith as they feel judged by God and by his Church. \nThe LGBT Catholics in my study are spiritually profound, introspective, faithful \nbeings. Yet they are not afraid to engage with the Church’s teachings to develop \ntheir own individual morality. Drawing upon the Catholic tradition itself, they seek \nto develop an alternative, LGBT-affirming moral heremeutic, a process aided by \ntherapy, reflection, prayer, priestly advice and other techniques which enable them \nnot only to find themselves but to relocate themselves within Catholicism. Through \nwhat Foucault calls “practices of the self” such as self-reflection, self-knowledge and \nself-examination, individuals engage with the established and prescribed moral code \nin a process of “moral subjectivation”. Such processes enable them to reconstruct \ntheir fragmented self and to ‘reclaim’ their rightful place in religious texts which was \ndenied them through heteronormative theological interpretations.
Source: OAR@UM (University of Malta)
Author: Angele Deguara
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2962674000