What the Roman Catholic Church Has to Say About Homosexuality

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This came up in a previous post of mine. So I just thought I’d make it clear:

Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, 1995 A.D. Paragraphs 2357-9.

So I trust you see what I mean. ‘You can be homosexual, but you can’t be gay.’ Apparently you are supposed to be celibate. Whether homosexual Catholics really are, is another matter (most single heterosexual Catholics aren’t celibate :wink:).

And BTW, in case you were wondering, I still consider myself R.C. But I probably don’t believe most of what the Church teaches. What can I say? It’s just the way I am (but tracts like the above, do give me a little hope :slight_smile:).

Anymore questions :slight_smile:?

2

@Jim_B

The apparent exception to this “Sacred Tradition” are the many Catholic Priests who spend their free time molesting young boys and the many Catholic Priests, Bishops and Cardinals that spend their time covering up this abuse by aiding and abbetting the criminal abuse as well as obstructing justice.

Any claim to any moral authority by the Roman Catholic Church is ludicrous at this point.

The Church needs to call the pedophiles and their protectors to chastity and self mastery. Once I see all of the predators and their protectors in the Church hierarchy facing justice I will possibly think about returning to the church. I was born a Catholic. I was Baptized, educated, confirmed and married as a Catholic. I still remember most of the Latin responses for the Mass.

3

The abuse by Catholic priests should be considered APART from people who have sexual attraction to the same gender. Homosexuals do not intrinsically desire children, nor is it a characteristic of their sexuality to overpower and control a partner.

The Church has indeed failed to protect its youngest members from predatory priests. For far too long, Church reasoning has been to “pray a cure,” and hoping a transfer to a different parish would remove the supposed temptation.

Make no mistake: the Church effed up. But there is a change going on. Perhaps it isn’t fast enough, but as the upper echelons die off and new leadership moves in, it is my heartfelt hope that the change is real.

The Catholic Church by no means has a monopoly of religious figures who use their authority to prey upon their flock. Protestant churches have an equivalent amount of scandal, but it only seems to be publicized when the denomination is well-known.

Again, sexual abuse is not the same thing as homosexuality.

The Catholic Church has an actual ministry for gay Catholics. They offer counseling and support for family members of gays, and they accept homosexuality, and incorporate gay parishoners into the congregation. I doubt that the Sacrament of Holy Communion can be offered to gays; that is a hurdle Rome has yet to conquer.

It’s not perfect. But it is a far cry from the days of considering homosexuality as evil, perverted, contagious or sick.

~VOW

4

I am sorry if I was unclear. It was not my intention to equate the child abusers with homosexuals. I may have failed in this. Let me rephrase.

The Catechism states:

For the Church to continue to assert moral authority and then continue to allow it’s clergy to abuse vulnerable children who have been given into their care with impunity and worse, cover up these criminal acts by moving the abusers to another parish with a clean slate where the abusers find a new group of victims removes and credibility that they once had.

I do not single out the Church of Rome. Any organization that colludes with abusers by aiding and abetting the crimes and then covering up the acts of the perpetrators at the expense of the helpless victims should be prosecuted.

5

To put it another way, The Catholic Church says it’s ok to be gay, but not ok to have gay sex.

Draw whatever conclusions from that you like…

6

This subject touches a nerve for me. I was once a Catholic. After years of work to overcome my doubts, I was doing pretty well. The priest who was my closest spiritual advisor, my confessor, friend and the source of my absolution was the priest designated by the Bishop to smuggle a serial abuser out of town, cover up the evidence and the stonewall the authorities during the police investigation.

As the details came to light, I called him on his actions. He asked me to meet with him. He tried to explain that his actions were necessary to protect Mother Church. The discussion became heated. The last thing he said to me was “It would probably be better for all concerned for you to worship elsewhere.” My last act as a Catholic, after 45 years, was to walk out of his office.

7

It is ok to be gay, not okay to have gay sex but just fine to abuse any child you can find

8

Settle down there, buddy. Nobody but you was confusing the issue with the child molestation scandals, so take that elsewhere.

9

You know, this ‘be gay but don’t act on it’ stance is pretty standard in most churches of the Christian faith unless they’re among the more progressive ‘reconciliation’ types. So, I don’t see what the surprise is.

10

I’m genuinely confused by something. Last time I checked, the RCC would not ordain known gay men as priests. Even if they protested that they were going to be celibate, they would not be ordained.

Why?

11

[sarcasm] Because new young gay blood in the clergy would snag away all the sweet booty the higher clergy is preying on [/sarcasm]

12

I have no dog in this fight, but I’m so sick and tired of the hypocrisy and bullying coming out of the Catholic Church. Even around here, where we’re supposedly progressive and liberal, and one of the first places in the world to legalize gay marriage, there was a big to-do a few years ago when the students in a Catholic high school organized a club that was called something like the “Gay-Straight Alliance”. It was a response to bullying of gays in that and other schools, which in a few cases had driven them to suicide, and was an attempt to normalize these folks by creating an inclusive social environment. The independent Catholic school board banned any such club, and in local papers Catholic bishops roared fire and brimstone against it and what such clubs stood for. What a bunch of ignorant, medieval troglodytes.

13

The problem the church has is that it has no moral authority because it hides its hetro-normal activity. This normalization of silence and deceit regarding the relationships formed by priests, makes it difficult to deal with pedophilia or homosexuality in any other way.

14

I don’t believe this to be the case. Most conservative denominations believe being gay is wrong and should be changed (hence the gay conversion nonsense). I always considered the Catholic position to be an interesting one (though one I could not accept being a progressive Christian in a progressive denomination myself).

15

For many years I taught Catholic Catechism. There are no impediments to a gay person receiving Communion, other than what applies to all, i.e., to be in a state of grace. If you’ve committed a sin, minor or major, have participated in Reconciliation (confession) and received absolution, a gay person may receive Communion just as I may.

It is not any kind of sin to be gay. Behaviors may forgiven for any and all. Sexual orientation or attraction, or lack of same, has no sin attached. Only sinful behaviors, obviously we all are prone to those.

16

The following guidelines apply as a general rule. You should visit with a pastor, pastoral minister or confessor about your personal circumstances.

Gay or lesbian Catholics who are not engaging in sexual relations are living a chaste life and are members in good standing of the Catholic Church. They are free to participate fully in the spiritual and sacramental life of the Catholic faith community.

For example, if you are gay and are living a chaste life, you may…

  • attend Eucharist and receive Holy Communion unless otherwise impaired by serious sin.

  • celebrate the Sacraments of Penance, Confirmation and Anointing of the Sick.

  • have a Catholic funeral and be buried in a Catholic cemetery.

  • serve as a baptism sponsor (Godparent), Confirmation sponsor, or official witness at a Catholic marriage.

  • serve as a liturgical minister, such as lector, communion minister, hospitality minister, musician or cantor.

  • serve on the pastoral council or parish committees and boards.

  • have your children baptized and enroll them in a Catholic school or religious education program.

  • serve as a catechist in religious education programs or as a teacher in a Catholic school.

    Like heterosexual persons, gay or lesbian Catholics who occassionally violate the virtue of chastity should consider the nature of the activity, the particular circumstances under which it took place, and their general behavior and intention before deciding to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance.

https://waterloocatholics.org/information-for-gay-lesbian-catholics

17

So, single LGB Catholics who have one night stands that they regret can take communion, but ones in committed loving relationships (that are not chaste) may not.

ETA: to all who have done so, please knock off talking about pedophelia. I get that you don’t think you are conflating the issues, but instead making a great analogy. But there’s a reason why those issues keep getting linked. It’s like if you’re discussing a racial issue and you think you have a totally not racist analogy involving apes. Don’t go there, please.

18

Of course, this bit…

…isn’t an absolute. I mean, the word “homosexual” didn’t appear in translations of the Bible until the 20th century, if you point to Leviticus you end up with the usual argument about why certain strictures still apply and others don’t, and the whole thing about what Paul meant by “arsenokoitai”, a term he seems to have coined, isn’t settled.

The Bible comes out much, much more strongly about adultery, which is directly condemned by God Himself in the OT and Jesus in the NT, and yet that gets handwaved away by so many (“I said I’m sorry, God forgave me, it’s all good, moving on…”). Homosexuality barely gets a passing mention in the Bible. One is forced to suspect that the homophobia came first and drove the scriptural interpretation rather than it happening the other way around.

I appreciate that the current Pope has been trying to steer the Church in a more tolerant direction (apply the usual “oil tanker” metaphor here) but a few millennia of hatred and abuse are not so easily changed.

19

Didn’t read the whole thread, 'cause reading the Catholic Church’s stand on most things make me FURIOUS and gives me a stomach ache. However, from my Catholic upbringing, I present you with the following. (BTW four years of Catholic high school AND four years of Catholic college. Vatican II happened while I was in high school. I don’t know what Catholics teach re sex today, but this is what I was raised on.)

Sex is PRIMARILY for babies. Period. That is why God invented sex and that must be the intended outcome of every sex act. Period.

It is grudgingly conceded that sex can enhance affection and closeness in a marriage. But that’s not the main reason for Doing It, okay?

Any barrier to a sperm reaching an egg is wrong, forbidden, a sin.

Repeating: ANY act that prevents or makes it impossible for sperm to reach ovum is wrong, forbidden, a sin. This includes any kind of intentional barrier contraception (including condoms and the like), withdrawal, suppressing ovulation with chemicals, oral sex to ejaculation, AND the ever-popular masturbation. (The only method permitted is the so-called “Natural Family Planning,” AKA Vatican Roulette, i.e., timing sex to what you assume is the woman’s less-fertile time of month. HA!) ALL ARE SINS AND FORBIDDEN. All of those were MORTAL (deserving of eternal punishment in hell) back in the day-- does the Church still do mortal and venial sins?

I can tell you, that led to a LOT of angst when it came to confession… :flushed: You had to confess it or risk going to hell (if you got hit by a bus on the way out of church–always a fear), but how did a 12-year old girl tell this to an old man-- ick! I didn’t even have the terminology. And you damn well knew you weren’t going to give it up!

Naturally, forbidden sex would include homosexuality, 'cause there is no egg present, therefore no possibility of conception. Sorry, guys.

Citing Scripture doesn’t cut much ice with Catholics. Catholic dogma isn’t primarily Scripture-based like Protestant theology. It’s an accumulation of pronouncements over the centuries, claiming to be inspired by the Holy Spirit (whoever that is).

If this isn’t what the Church teaches now, fine. I don’t care. I’m giving background. I got away 50+ years ago, but I still bear the scars, like many Catholics of my generation.

Okay, that’s all I got. My stomach hurts.

20

Homosexual persons are called to chastity.

Many are called, but few are chosen.