the gay jew who CHANGED Catholic theology (Gregory Baum)

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Hey guys, I'm Redeem Zoomer. So today we're going to be talking about this guy, Gregory Balm. He was a prominent gay Jewish Catholic theologian who was very influential in changing the Catholic Church's theology of Judaism and its relationship to the Jewish community. But first, a disclaimer. This is not an opinion video. I'm not giving any of my personal opinions here. Just presenting the facts, presenting the history because this channel is all about different denominations and church history and how different ideas change and develop over time. During the month of June, everyone talks about different LGBT activists, but this guy, Gregory Bomb, doesn't really get talked about enough because the average person doesn't really appreciate the extent to which the Catholic Church was influenced by many of the progressive movements of the 20th century. Everyone always talks about how the Protestant churches were influenced by those, and that's absolutely true. They were. But in some ways, as we're going to talk about, the Catholic Church was influenced by 20th century liberalism in a more profound sense because some of it actually trickled into some of the binding documents of the Catholic Church, including the one that Gregory Balm helped write. So, who was he? He was a closeted gay Jewish man who was born in Germany. Luckily for him, he escaped before World War II. He moved to Canada and he joined the Roman Catholic priesthood. But he was closeted. He was not out of the closet yet. So the oppression of his people, the Jewish community, inspired him to write the first draft of this thing, Nostra Até.

[00:01:22]It was an important document of Vatican 2, which is a binding ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. People debate whether Vatican 2 is infallible, but it's still binding. In Catholic theology that means it still falls under universal ordinary magisterium which means every Catholic has to give religious submission of mind and will or intellect and will to a Vatican 2 says including its documents such as Nostraatate. So he wasn't the only person who worked on Nostratate but he was the primary author. He wrote the first draft of Nostratate and was very influential on Vatican 2's theology especially regarding this issue. So he did not stay a Catholic priest uh because of his sexuality. He later left the priesthood because he did not agree with the church's teaching on sexuality, but he still stayed in the Catholic Church as a layman and he continued to be a Catholic LGBT activist. So I think it's very interesting that one of the binding uh documents of Vatican 2 was written by an LGBT activist and all Catholics have to give religious submission of intellect and will to that document. So what does Nostra Atéate say? Nostraatate is about the Catholic Church's relation to other religions and it is really trying to mark a change in the attitude of the Catholic Church towards other religions with a special focus on Judaism. As an ethnically Jewish person myself, I am well aware that historically the Catholic Church has not had the best relations with the Jewish community. There's been a lot of hostility over the centuries. Nostratate was really trying to change that. Didn't just change the attitude of the Catholic Church towards the Jewish community. It also changed the theology. So Noseratate says things about a lot of religious communities but with a special focus on the Jewish community. So um it says positive things about Hinduism and Buddhism. It says in Hinduism uh people genuinely uh seek freedom through aesthetic practices or profound meditation. People fly to God in in Hinduism. In Buddhism, uh people in a devout and confident spirit acquire or may be able to acquire the state of perfect liberation or attain by their own efforts uh through higher help supreme illumination. So the Catholic Church isn't saying that all these religions believe the same thing. It's not complete religious indifferentism.

[00:03:31]But it says the Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. That's a major difference between Catholic and Protestant theology. I mean, some scholastic Protestants would agree with the more Catholic approach, but the Protestant approach is very strictly salvation by faith in Christ alone. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. The only way to God at all is through Jesus Christ. Some Protestants have articulated that more strictly than others. The most strict would be Carl Bart who says there's absolutely no knowledge of God apart from Jesus Christ. Whereas the Catholic Church says, you know, as Bishop Robert Baron says, Christ is the privileged route to salvation. uh and they would say um normally the only way to be saved is faith in Christ. But the Catholic Church also thinks thinks other religions can know true things about God through the systems of their religions.

[00:04:15]They would still say it's ultimately due to Christ and through Christ. But the Catholic Church especially due to their long tradition of natural theology has always had a slightly more inclusive view. Uh but still the Catholic Church used to say very strictly the only way to be saved, the only way you can go to heaven is if you are a Christian, if you are a member of the Catholic Church.

[00:04:35]That was very clearly articulated in the council of Florence. That was very clearly articulated in unim. But Vatican 2 largely reversed that teaching and ex and explicitly says in other documents like lumentium that people of other religions especially Muslims can be saved. Now does it mean they all Muslims can be saved? No. But it is opening up the possibility of salvation for non-atholic and even non-Christian groups. So it this says uh the church regards with esteem also the Muslims.

[00:05:02]They adore the one God. Adore means worship. So Vatican 2 officially stated that we worship the same God as Muslims.

[00:05:09]That's not the that's not something the average Protestant would agree with. But the Catholic Church now officially says Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Um and they say you know quarrels have arisen between Christians and Muslims historically. Uh but this sacred senate meaning Vatican 2 urges all to forget the past and move to promote together social justice and moral welfare and that's reflected in many statements of recent popes. Pope Leo recently said Christians should be less afraid of Islam and that is reflecting the theology of Vatican 2. Uh but then regarding the Jewish community, no stratate makes some very big changes that have been elaborated on more by recent popes. Uh it says, "God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their fathers. He does not repent of the gifts he makes or of the calls he issues." So now this is articulating something similar to dispensationalism. The theology of the church fathers was that, you know, the Jews were God's chosen people in the Old Testament, but the the sole continuation of God's chosen people in the New Testament is the church. So, it's not exactly like the church has replaced Israel, but that is what people accuse the church fathers of believing because they say, uh, the Jews are no longer God's chosen people. Christians are God's chosen people, and the church includes Jews and Gentiles, but the ethnically Jewish community, according to the church fathers, is not the chosen people at all. they've been cut off if they do not believe in Christ. The Catholic Church here is reversing that doctrine and saying that even though the church is the chosen people, God still has a special relation with the Jewish community because he does not repent of the gifts he makes or of the calls he issues. And we're going to see that that has been clarified by the Vatican to mean explicitly God still has a special relation with the Jewish community. It also says here just condemning medieval anti-semitism. what happened in Christ's passion cannot be charged against all Jews with that distinction then alive nor against the Jews of today. Um and it says they should not be presented as rejected by God. That's the big thing because a lot of the church fathers say were saying that you know once the community at large rejected the Messiah they were rejected by God and this is explicitly contradicting that and it all says the church reproves as foreign to the mind of Christ any discrimination against men. So, um, Nostraatate forbids any Catholics from engaging in any acts of anti-semitism. And apparently the Catholics and gropers in my comment section have not read Nora Até, but um, yeah, officially the Catholic Church bans any sort of anti-semitism whatsoever, largely thanks to Gregory Bomb and the document that he helped write. So, this is probably the biggest change in that document. uh the idea of rejecting non-Christian communities. The idea of God rejecting or reprobati it's the same root word in Latin repbating rejecting condemning non-Christian communities. So this is the council of Florence from the middle ages. It's contate domino. And it explicitly says you have to be Roman Catholic to be saved. There's no salvation in any other group whether any other Christian group or any non-Christian group. It says it firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, cannot become participants in eternal life. It doesn't just say that normatively they're not going to participate in eternal life. It says if somebody is in one of these groups, they cannot become participants in eternal life, but positively will depart into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. Therefore, it condemns, reproves, which means repro reprobo in Latin, and anathematizes and declares to be outside of the body of Christ, which is the church, anyone or whoever holds opposing or contrary views. So, it uses that word reprob. But then, no stratate changes that says true, the Jewish authorities and those who follow their lead uh press for the death of Christ. Still, what happened is passion. You already read that read that although the church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected repbati or a cursed by God as if this followed from the holy scriptures. This was very controversial during this time. This might seem like common sense to some people today, but it's very controversial because of this.

[00:09:09]There was an entire group called the sate of a contantists who split from the Catholic Church because they believed Vatican 2 contradicted the council of Florence. And if you read this, you can see how they would think that. I'm going to leave a link to a video from a state of a conscious perspective about um how people why a lot of people think there's a contradiction here. So bomb thought no stratate was necessary because of the Catholic Church's record of anti-semitism. It marked change in the attitude but it also marked a change in theology as we're about to see. Uh so um this nostrate has been officially interpreted by the Vatican to say that the church is no longer allowed as an institution to try and convert Jewish people to Catholicism. Uh so it says we should see evangelism to Jews as a in a different manner as other world religions. So in other words uh the Catholic Church doesn't see all non-Christian groups the same. So if somebody was like an atheist or a pagan, the Catholic Church would still probably say, "Yeah, they need to believe in God." I mean, you know, there's some Catholic voices like Bishop Robert Baron who would say even atheists of goodwill can be saved. But generally the the idea is the Catholic Church should try and engage in mission work to those that are not reached by the gospel. Uh but because of no stratate, the Catholic Church now believes we should not engage in mission work towards the Jewish people. This is an authoritative interpretation from the Vatican. So this interpretation of Noserati is not necessarily binding on all Catholics but this is still the official interpretation from the Vatican. There's this Vatican document called the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable is an authoritative interpretation of noat which is binding on all Catholics and it says that the Catholic Church as an institution neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards converting the Jewish community. Now, uh because I am ethnically Jewish, this is something I care about a lot. You know, I'm an ethnically Jewish Christian. Uh now, I I know I said I wouldn't be giving my opinion. Now, personally, I think it's very important that the Jewish people hear about Jesus Christ. I I think all people should come to faith in Christ.

[00:11:18]All people should become Christian. Uh but this is a bit of a different perspective here. This is saying largely thanks to the influence of Gregory Bal that uh it's not necessary to uh convert the Jewish people. And here uh in this uh part of the document, it is condemning what it calls replacement theology. Replacement theology is generally a divisive word for what we would call covenant theology.

[00:11:43]Presbyterians strongly believe in covenant theology. Like I said, it's this idea from the church fathers that the church is the sole continuation of Israel. So, uh, somebody who is ethnically Jewish and religiously Jewish, but not in the church, is no more part of God's people than somebody who is like, um, an Icelandic Norse pagan in the 4th century. Uh, covenant theology teaches that. Covenant theology teaches there has always and only ever been one unified people of God. In the Old Testament, it was Israel. In the New Testament, the church is the true Israel, the new Israel. So that's why St. Paul says, "All Israel shall be saved." That's what the church fathers believed. That's what Presbyterians still believe. It's covenant theology.

[00:12:24]And it's what the Catholic Church used to believe. But it says here, um, on the part of many of the church fathers, replacement theology or supersessionism steadily gained favor. The promises of God would no longer apply to Israel because it had not recognized Jesus, but had been transferred to the church of Jesus Christ, which is now the new Israel, the new chosen people of God.

[00:12:41]Judaism and Christianity became involved in antagonism which was diffused at the seven vat second Vatican council with its declaration no streratate. The church unequivocally professes within a new theological framework the Jewish roots of Christianity and the church does not question the continued love of God for the chosen people of Israel.

[00:13:02]That that's very key. It is saying that Israel as Israel whether they are Christian or not are still the chosen people. That's a direct denial of covenant theology and it embraces something more similar to dispensationalism. Dispensationalism is what you'll see from those Facebook grandma boomer prophecies that thinks the geopolitical nation of Israel might have something to do with the end times.

[00:13:25]uh there have been many effects of no stratate has greatly improved the relations between the Vatican and various uh Jewish leaders and it's a big change because you know praying with other religions was considered apostasy by the papal and cyclical mortalian animos in the early 20th century but recently popes have participated in worship with many non-Christian groups including Jewish groups uh they've prayed at the western wall they've done um joint you know worship services there's even that Muslim prayer group Muslim prayer room that was built in the Vatican recently and almost every time um the video I'm going to link in the description is going to leave examples of this but almost every time uh they did one of these things they cited no stratate as the reason for why they did that. So we talked about Gregory Bal's influence on the relation of the Catholic Church towards Judaism. Now did he really have a influence on the attitude of the church towards the LGBT community? Not exactly. there's no direct um influence of his LGBT activism on the modern Catholic church's approach. Uh there probably he probably still did pave the way uh because he was a Catholic theologian. He was never anathematized or condemned officially by the church for his work even after he left the priesthood. Even after he openly disagreed with Catholic teaching on the subject, he was one of the first very outspoken theologians within the Catholic Church who advocated for complete affirmation, acceptance of LGBTQ uh identities and sexualities.

[00:14:54]That's not a place the church has gone yet. Uh who knows if it will. Uh but in recent years the Catholic Church has adopted a more progressive attitude towards the LGBTQ community because recently there was that Vatican Jubilee Pride parade where there was a gay pride parade that took place in the Vatican uh and you know pope didn't do anything to stop it. There are many Catholic theologians like father James Martin who are advocating for positions like this and they are they know the popes very well. The popes have never really condemned them for this. Uh and the pope does condemn the more conservative groups. So there are many bishops especially those in Germany that are uh promoting uh more mainstream LGBTQ acceptance and affirmation. Uh some of the Jesuits like Father James Martin do that a lot. Uh now on paper the Catholic Church is still firmly against any same-sex relationships. Uh but there are a lot of voices within the Catholic Church that advocate for them. There are many pride masses. Just to tell a personal story, um, when I was in high school for a couple years, my Presbyterian church got this really liberal pastor. She was extremely progressive. She wanted us to fly a pride flag. She didn't, but she wanted us to. I mean, we didn't, but she wanted us to. She didn't really believe in the resurrection. She didn't really believe the Bible had authority. She was very progressive. I checked in on her a couple years ago, actually. Now, she's actually a Roman Catholic, but the thing is, she's just as progressive as she used to be. She attends a a very progressive Roman Catholic parish in New York City that does pride masses. So these things happen a lot in the Catholic Church. The popes don't really condemn these things. The popes do uh often punish the trad groups, the traditionalist groups like the SSPX and the groups that are pushing for the Latin mass. So some people interpret that as a sign the church is moving in a more progressive direction on LGBT issues. Uh so this is why I think it's important to mention his influence.

[00:16:46]While on paper the Protestant churches are a lot more progressive than the Catholic Church. While the mainline Protestant churches have given um at the highest levels explicit affirmation to LGBTQ issues uh LGBTQ understandings of sexuality, none of it is binding. So yeah, there are some Presbyterians who are very liberal in this issue, but there are also some Presbyterians who are very conservative. Even in like the mainline Presbyterian Church, the Peace USA, there are United Methodists that are still very conservative. There are Episcopalians that are still very conservative. There are ELCA Lutheran that are still very conservative. Um, and they get away with it just fine. Not just individuals, but even churches, bishops, dascese, presbyteries that are very conservative on these issues. Um, they get away with it because none of the progressivism in the mainline Protestant churches has ever been binding on its members. Um, meaning you none of the members or pastors or churches or even bishops have ever been required to affirm any of it. Whereas in the Catholic Church, there's less progressive in terms of less progressivism in terms of magnitude. But some of it including what especially what's in Vatican 2 is actually binding on its members. Um it binds all of its members to affirm that we worship the same God as Jews and Muslims and it institutionally forbids evangelism to the Jews. It still says they are the chosen people and that would not have been possible without the influence of theologians like Gerbal. So that's it for this video. Thank you guys for watching and I will see you all later.