ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about 'sexual otherness in communion', that is, how the community which is gathered together in order to celebrate and become the body of Christ deals with, or integrates, those members of the faithful who do not conform to Church teaching on matters of human sexuality and gender relations. It addresses a perceived contradiction in the Roman Catholic understanding of the eucharistie community as socially transformative and the tendency to exclude from the eucharist the nonconforming, particularly with regard to issues of sexual morality. The chapter suggests the need to also recognize the gift character of sexual otherness which can generate a dialogue that enables a transformation of both the stranger and the welcoming community. It addresses the potential for embracing sexual otherness as a means of promoting counter-cultural witness in contemporary controversies over same-sex relations. The chapter examines the politics and its rejection by anti-communitarian theorists like Leo Bersani.
