Anthony Apuron is the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana, Guam. He went to college in New Hampshire and studied seminary in New York. Recently he made a statement that condemned homosexuality in such a way that illustrated a keen misunderstanding of the culture of marriage-for-love that has evolved out of the culture of marriage-to-procreate to which the Catholic Church clings (which, perhaps, has everything to do with the fact that preists can't marry). This is the only explanation I can come up with for Apuron's statement that, "The culture of homosexuality is a culture of self-absorption because it does not value self-sacrifice." I'm not sure what specifically homosexuality has to do with self-sacrifice or a lack thereof (I'd argue that American culture as a whole is a pretty selfish one), but I can, after eighteen years of catechismic focus on the Catholic faith, follow some sort of squiggly path back to the whole "sex is meant for baby-making," thing.
However, Apuron quickly undercuts that line of reasoning when he says, "…any culture that is able to produce wave after wave of suicide bombers (women as well as men) is a culture that at least knows how to value self-sacrifice." Um. What? Is he actually praising suicide bombers and their devotion? Isn't suicide, like, one of the really really bad sins? I know it is. And this Archbishop, a man whose words undoubtedly reach the ears of countless under-educated yet devoted Catholics in Guam who don't understand rhetoric. A statement like the following could actually be a dangerous one:
One, however, does not have to agree with the gruesome ways that the fundamentalists use to curb the forces that undermine their culture to admit that the Islamic fundamentalist charge that Western Civilization in general and the U.S.A, in particular is the 'Great Satan' is not without an element of truth. It makes no sense for the U. S. Government to send our boys to fight Al Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, while at the same time it embraces the social policies embodied in Bill 185 (as President Obama has done). Such policies only furnish further arguments for the fundamentalists in their efforts to gain more recruits for the war against the 'Great Satan.
Bill 185 proposes a law that would allow gay couples to enter into domestic partnerships. Clearly, Apuron feels the bill should not be passed. But the way in which he expresses his disapproval is shocking (not to mention his implimentation of historically propagandist language like "our boys"). He says, without saying, that the United States is this "Great Satan," and implies that it is because the US has popularized the idea (even though same sex marriage is not a federally protected right here) that Guam is in the position to vote on this bill.
Despite eventually removing myself from the religion I was brought up with, I've always felt that Catholic dogma embodied a certain level of wisdom and introspection. But Apuron's views exhibit a fundamental ignorance of the people who he is supposed to guide, the Catholic values on life, and the nature of romantic love and how fundamentally unselfish it must be at times.
