Tuesday 2 October 2012

Church Teaching On Homosexuality



Writing about homosexuality is always difficult.  It is a subject that stirs up some pretty raw emotions in many people.  This is of course not helped by those activists who have chosen to use homosexuality as part of their agenda for the achievement of a far bigger objective; destroying the Church.  So they work hard at creating hype around the subject.

The Church has always gone to great lengths to make it clear that it condemns and rejects any malicious speech or actions towards homosexuals.

It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action.  Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs.  It reveals a kind of disregard for others, which endangers the most fundamental principles of a healthy society.  The intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in word, in action and in law.[1]

The need to treat homosexuals with the same level of dignity that is due to any person does not of course imply that we then move to the other extreme.  It does not mean, in the interest of trying to be sensitive, that we remain silent on the subject of homosexuality and cease to speak the truth.

We have a duty to continue to convey the truth and avoiding the subject, instead of confirming, especially when we are faced with contradictory views on the subject, is not an acceptable alternative.

But no pastoral method can be employed which would give moral justification to these acts on the grounds that they would be consonant with the condition of such people.  For according to the objective moral order, homosexual relations are acts which lack an essential and indispensable finality.[2]

The Church teaches clearly that homosexual acts are acts of grave depravity.  They are “intrinsically disordered[3] and “are contrary to the natural law[4].  This position of the Church is based on Sacred Scripture.[5]

The Church also teaches us that: “homosexual persons are called to chastity” and that it is through support from the community, prayer and sacramental grace, that homosexuals will attain the virtues that they need to overcome their inclination. 

Sadly, it seems that because of the unwillingness to speak up about the truth, maybe because of a need to be politically correct and avoid being branded as homophobic, we have now arrived at the point where gay marriage is a reality that is not about to go away.  Not only is it a reality, it is also highly likely that it will not be long before we may find that gay marriages must by law be permitted within our churches. 

Of course the gay activists assure us that this is not their objective.  Yet didn’t they say exactly that when they asked for civil unions for homosexuals?  No sooner than they had that right, than that was not enough and they wanted to have the right to change the definition of traditional marriage and have the right to marry.  They will not stop until they can legally force our Catholic priests to marry them inside a Catholic Church.

Let’s be clear.  Homosexuals have the right to be treated with absolute dignity.  But Catholics also have the right to be treated with dignity.  Mocking our beliefs and forcing us to act against them is not treating Catholics with the dignity, at least not the dignity that we are being asked to give to homosexuals.



[2] Congregation For The Doctrine Of The Faith, Persona Humana, Dec 29, 1975
[3] Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2357
[4] Ibid.
[5] Genesis 19: 1 – 29, Romans 1: 24 – 27, 1 Corinthians 6: 10, 1 Timothy 1: 10

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