Expert: Fr. Michael - 3/24/2011

Question
I am a trad Student in a non catholic high school. anyway i take Drama and we are holding a play that glorifies homosexuality. I of course am going to drop out of the play, that's a given, but I am considering if I can go to the event at all. We are going to something called Drama Fest and there will be acting classes. I won't be able to get my Trad conffessor in time to get advice on this and I'm in a rush. I am leaning more towards not doing it at all, even if it does affect my grade. What should I do?

Answer
Because your description is incomplete, I have to make certain assumptions.  First of all, when you say that the play "glorifies homosexuality," I am assuming that there is a political purpose in the writing and the staging of the play at the high school, perhaps to teach "diversity" and "gay rights."  That, of course, is to be rejected.  On the other hand, there are plays that involve the treatment of various immoralities, but the plays are not promoting those immoralities, e.g., Aeschylus' Agammemnon, which was not written to promote murder and adultery and is also a literary classic of Western Civilization.  (Too bad that was not the play chosen for presentation at the high school!)

I am also assuming that the Drama Fest is significantly focused around the objectionable play and promoting its immoral message.  If that is the case, you should absent yourself.  If, however, the Drama Fest is mainly an opportunity to learn how to act, with the play itself being quite secondary, participating would not be formal cooperation in evil.

You seem like a bright young man.  I think that you can make a prudent judgment about the nature and purpose of the respective activities.  Remember that part of your education should be that in the moral virtues, of which prudence, or practical judgment, is the chief.  Every day you need to make moral judgments on your own on the basis of the principles of your faith and of natural law.  That is part of being an adult.  Standing up for what is right, even though it might involve some price and discrimination, is a "learning experience" that is far more important than acting in a "gay play."