# Why would gays choose to be Catholic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 19, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826 "2023-12-19T14:20:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Jegpeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jegpeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jegpeg)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/81 "2023-12-20T22:27:10Z")
You could easily reverse the question. Why would Catholics choose to be gay? Christian teaching (I am not a Catholic but I think this is in line with Catholic teaching) is that everyone is a sinner, we all face different temptations and should seek Christ’s help in overcoming them. A heterosexual catholic doesn’t need to change their religion just because they lusted after a member of the opposite sex or even had sex outside marriage, the same applies to a Catholic who has sexual feelings towards a member of the same sex. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/82 "2023-12-20T22:32:53Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Hell, even people who have been excommunicated are still expected to attend Mass. Even though it’s “no ~~bread and wine~~ Body and Blood for _you_,” huh? Didn’t know that. (There should be a better Sacrament Nazi joke in here than that, but I can’t quite find it. 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/83 "2023-12-20T22:40:39Z")
Yeah, the point of excommunicating someone is to get them to come into alignment with church teaching, not to kick them out of the church. So, you want them there for the sermon, because that’s where you explain to them why they’re wrong. And then they get to watch everyone else get to have their own personal miracle, while they just sit there, to really rub in what they’re missing out on. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/84 "2023-12-20T22:46:39Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Lutherans (ELCA, at least; Missouri Synod etc. are a whole 'nother thing) have a liturgy that’s similar to the Episcopal liturgy. In fact, if your familiar with the Roman Catholic liturgy, you’ll be pretty comfortable with both Episcopalian and Lutheran services. I’m not talking about those new-fangled services with the contemporary music and the “call me Dave” type of minister, but the standard Sunday service with readings, creed, communion, and traditional hymns is still readily available. We had friends who went to a non-denominational evangelical service and described it as “15 minutes of Christian rock followed a 40-minute sermon.” They were not pleased. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/85 "2023-12-20T22:59:21Z")
Yeah, as I understand it, Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Presbyterians even all use the same sequence of readings (that is to say, on any given Sunday, all of those churches would have the same readings). Well, with a few exceptions: Occasionally one of the Catholic readings will be from one of the deuterocanonical/apocryphal books, and obviously the Protestants have a different reading then. Episcopalians and Lutherans, at least (I’m not sure about others) also share with Catholics the notion of apostolic succession: Every priest was ordained by a bishop, who was in turn ordained by some other bishop, all the way back through the ages, (theoretically, at least) tracing back to one of the Apostles. This is in contrast with some other denominations where just anyone who feels like it can call themself a pastor. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/86 "2023-12-20T23:06:39Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > We had friends who went to a non-denominational evangelical service and described it as “15 minutes of Christian rock followed a 40-minute sermon.” They were not pleased. I feel the same way: I hate formless services and long sermons. My all-time favorite priest/pastor/minister/whatever was the priest at the Episcopal church I attended in Bristol, TN, a few decades ago. Fr. Bodie believed a good sermon shouldn’t run more than about five minutes, and he pretty much stuck to that. They were very good sermons, too. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/87 "2023-12-20T23:36:59Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > All the Protestant rituals I attended just seemed so boring. I liked the ritual of Mass! My experience was the same as yours to a tee. Mass was boring, but at least it felt weighty. We tried Methodist for a bit when the kids were born. As an introvert, it was just too social. A few years later we tried UU. Walking into the sanctuary my first thought was “These are my people; this is where I belong.” The service wasn’t going to matter because I felt like we were all there for the same reasons. Not that I am disparaging Catholic Mass or Methodist service, it just wasn’t for me. * * * One other point, growing up in Chicagoland I felt like the majority of Catholics were cafeteria style, my family included. Especially if you were in the city and going to Catholic school. That’s not my sense today. My Catholic friends and neighbors are very devout; as serious as the evangelicals I know. It could be my limited sampling, but I feel like the casual Catholics have moved on and those that remain are very engaged. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/88 "2023-12-20T23:47:24Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > We had friends who went to a non-denominational evangelical service and described it as “15 minutes of Christian rock followed a 40-minute sermon.” They were not pleased. And there are people in this thread who deny there’s a hell! Here it is, there’s hell for you! q.e.d. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/89 "2023-12-20T23:53:47Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > “It’s Catholic Lite: same religion, half the guilt.” ---- Robin Williams As an Episcopalian I have to agree. Or the way I see it, all the things I enjoy about Catholicism and none of the things I loathe. My vicar is a married lesbian … ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/90 "2023-12-21T01:04:56Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I was raised Catholic, though I also was pretty much an atheist since grade school. But I went to a public junior and senior high school and was exposed to and friends with people from all faiths. I even attended some Church services with friends. All the Protestant rituals I attended just seemed so boring. I liked the ritual of Mass! If you don’t believe, that’s about the only thing that’s interesting about religion to me. I can remember attending a Methodist Sunday service with friends, and it was mostly sermon. That’s the part I always tuned out during Mass! Oh, and I liked singing in Latin. > > I have no inkling – especially this late in my life – that I’ll ever return to religion. But if I did I can’t imagine joining a Protestant congregation no matter how liberal it was. It would seem like faking it. Same here. I was raised Catholic, now a deist. Most of the stuff I still like about Catholicism is the rituals and iconography. Having a priest that wears vestments instead of a pastor wearing a coat and tie, having a crucifix instead of a plain cross, the holy water, rosaries, chalices, incense, candles, and so on, make Catholicism seem more - serious isn’t the right word, but something like that - compared to the various Protestant sects. I’m not gay, but if I was, I doubt that would take away from my enjoyment in that aspect of the Catholic Church. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/91 "2023-12-21T02:35:21Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > We had friends who went to a non-denominational evangelical service and described it as “15 minutes of Christian rock followed a 40-minute sermon.” They were not pleased. There’s a Justin Wilson joke about a Catholic boy and a Protestant boy who were best friends, and who attended either other’s churches two Sundays. In the first the Catholic boy explained to the Protestant boy all the details of the service. The next week the Catholic boy attended church with the Protestant boy. “What does this mean” he asked about each piece of the service, and the Protestant boy told him. Then it was time for the sermon. The minister pulled out his watch and laid it on the podium “What’s that mean?” The Catholic boy asked. The Protestant boy responded “Not a damn thing.” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/92 "2023-12-21T23:42:21Z")
You like the “bells and smells,” as they call it in the religion biz. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2023, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/93 "2023-12-25T01:13:36Z")
Oh for sure. If you want solemn Latin and cool ceremonies, and a sense of antiquity, the Catholic Church is very good at it. I mean absolutely no offense by this. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2023, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826/94 "2023-12-25T02:08:02Z")
I haven’t heard Latin in Catholic mass except in small bits and pieces pretty much ever. I post-date Latin masses (though I know some churches still do it.) What I find really ceremonial and solemn are Greek Orthodox masses. Just the smell of incense alone puts me in a reverent mood. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-gays-choose-to-be-catholic/994826.md?page=4)