Fr. Bryan Massingale, associate professor of theology, is offering his course for the second time, “Homosexuality and Christian ethics,” an honors seminar adopted from a seminary course.
Massingale taught at the St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee between 1991 and 2004, and then as an adjunct professor 2004-2005. It was there he first formulated the curriculum that would be simplified for undergraduates in “Homosexuality and Christian Ethics.”
Massingale said he was prompted to propose the course when a parish priest approached him concerned about his [the diocesan’s] uncertainty as to how to speak to the many gay and lesbian people in his parish. Massingale taught the course twice at St. Francis.
In his fifth year at Marquette, the Office of Student Affairs invited Massingale to speak on African American attitudes on homosexuality at an event on culture and sexual orientation.
At the event, Massingale said “Of the 30 or so [LGBT] students present, maybe 20 identified as Catholic, but none of them said they had any current relation with the Catholic Church.”
Massingale mentioned the phenomenon shortly afterwards at a faculty gathering, when he spoke with Anthony F. Peressini, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Honors Program. Massingale mentioned his experience teaching the seminary course, and Peressini invited him to submit a course proposal.
Peressini said honors curriculums are selected for topical relevancy and discussion of issues that would not be elsewhere. By way of example, Peressini said past honors courses focused on the Benedictine order, Irish poets and the origin of the universe taught by a theologian, a physicist, and a philosopher.
Massingale taught “Homosexuality and Christian Ethics” for the first time in 2007. Peressini said the course was selected to offer “a broader view as to how homosexuality is viewed in a different context.”
The seminar is one of eight offered by the Honors Program annually to juniors and seniors. The program decides which seminars are to be taught after sending out proposals to faculty members.
Massingale said readings for the course cover perspectives within Catholic and Protestant Christianity from the most restrictive to the most affirming. Peressini and Massingale independently said the course was well-received by students the last time it was taught.
Massingale said the possibility of offering the course to students outside the Honors Program “is not one I’ve actively pursued.”
Massingale said if the class were to be taught outside the Honors Program, it would likely be an occasional upper-division elective offering every other year, in the special section “Special Topics in Moral Theology.”
“I want to stress that no decision has been made to offer the course beyond the Honors Program, nor has there been even a discussion of that possibility,” Massingale said.
“I’ve taught it before in the seminary. It’s certainly topical, something that could be [used] in a wider setting,” said Massingale.
When asked if he foresaw any special difficulties gaining approval for teaching the course beyond the Honors Program due to the potentially controversial subject matter, Massingale said, “Frankly, no. When I was hired, they knew I had taught this at the seminary level. Frankly, I think it’s surprising to me, if I were told I could teach this at a seminary and not to undergraduates.”
Carlo Giombi, 20, a junior in Arts and Sciences, currently enrolled in the course, described the course as “one of the most important [ones] currently offered at MU.”
“It seems to me that there is a severe lack of in-depth analysis regarding the various stances on homosexuality, both inside and outside of the Church,” said Giombi.
Desiree Valentine, 21, a junior in Arts and Sciences, also enrolled in the course, said the course was recommended to her by a recent graduate who described it as “the best class he had taken during his time at Marquette.”
When asked if the instructor displayed any ideological bias, Valentine said, “I have trouble thinking that a professor need be completely objective in their instruction of a course, especially one such as this which incorporates a lot of discussion and seminar style lectures, but the professor so far has not made his stances on the issue extremely clear in any way save for the fact that he obviously thinks homosexuality and Christianity should be talked about.”
“This is an incredibly complex issue and therefore I think it’s hard to take any rigid ideological stances in the instruction of the course,” said Valentine.
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