Catholics & Homosexuals

In the current atmosphere, the social liberals view Catholics as homophobic as confirmed by the recent decision to bar homosexuals from the ordained priesthood. On the one hand, the pro-gay liberals will never be satisfied until the Catholic Church accepts homosexual acts as legitimate expressions of love. On the other hand, we as Catholics should not let pro-gay liberals set the template for the homosexual issue.

The Catholic template for the homosexual issue is quite different from the caricature fostered by the pro-gay lobby. The Church teaches that the inclination arising from deep-seated homosexual tendences is an objective disorder (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], section 2358). Some will immediately object that what is natural for many individuals cannot be a disorder. But the Church does not base its teaching on the premise that homosexuality is something voluntarily chosen. In fact, the Church admits that the causes of homosexuality remain "largely unexplained" (CCC, 2357). So, if tomorrow, some scientist discovers a genetic basis for homosexuality, the basis of what the Church teaches is unaffected. Homosexuality would then be one among many other genetic disorders in a world shot through with imperfection.

But why is this inclination disordered? The inclination tends toward acts that are gravely evil because they "close the sexual act to the gift of life" (CCC, 2357). This teaching is not unfairly discriminatory because the Catholic Church teaches that even heterosexual acts closed to the gift of life are gravely evil. That is why Christian communities that have abandoned the traditional Christian teaching against contraception find themselves either embracing the gay agenda or vulnerable to logical attack.

The other reason for the grave depravity of homosexual acts is that they "do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity" (CCC, 2357). God made male and female for the fullest intimacy possible (which includes sexual intimacy), not to dwell in parallel universes. Again, this teaching is not discriminatory. The full intimacy, including sexual intimacy, intended by God for male and female requires the complete mutual self-gift found in marriage. That is why fornication among heterosexuals is also gravely evil. Again, those who no longer view fornication as gravely evil will have a hard time logically resisting the gay agenda.

And so to present the Catholic Church as unjustly discriminatory or as homophobic misses the point. The Church has a coherent and logical theology of the body that proposes to all persons that sexual intimacy is for the full mutual and complementary self-gift of marriage open to new life. That teaching is a challenge to both homosexuals and heterosexuals.

But someone can then say that at least chaste heterosexuals have the ability to express their sexual drive in a marriage open to life, while homosexuals do not in the Catholic scheme of things. Here, the celibacy that has been traditional in the Catholic Church shows that there is no unjust discrimination involved. The Church has pointed to the celibate lifestyle as both doable and healthy. Unlike current society, the Church does not view abstaining from sexual acts as necessarily harmful in any way as part of a celibate lifestyle. In fact, the Church views celibacy as an eschatological sign of the full freedom to be available fully to all that will be part of a new earth and a new heaven where there will be no marriage.

At this point, some will then question why bar homosexuals from the ordained celibate priesthood. I have dealt in detail with this particular question in a prior post (11/26/05). What I will say here, solely on a practical level, is that events have conclusively shown that deep-seated homosexual tendencies among ordained priests have created scandal and harm of an immense magnitude and have fostered an image of the ordained priesthood as a "gay profession." So, without addressing here the theological reasons for the ban, the prohibition is a matter of urgent prudence based on undeniable facts. Again, this Catholic stance is not a matter of unjust discrimination.

But what happens to the homosexual struggling to be chaste with no approved sexual outlet? What happens to the heterosexual who is unmarried with no approved sexual outlet? What happens to the married couple that cannot use convenient contraceptives? Now, here comes what I believe is the real scandal that the Church presents to today's culture. Here comes what is really the great offense that sparks Catholic bashing by both heterosexuals and homosexuals: take our difficulties and unite them "to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross" (CCC, 2358). Yes, we all pull back from the Cross, even though Jesus promises that his yoke is easy and his burden light (Mt 11:30). In the end, we do not want to hear that conversion in the power of the Holy Spirit is the answer. But that is the scandalous answer for all of us regardless of our tendencies or inclinations. That's where the Church is coming from: the Good News that we are promised the power to bear any cross, not just the cross but the power with the cross. It is a challenge to our common tendency to control and organize our lives our way. But there it is. It is a challenge far different from the caricature of the Church that you will find in the media which cannot comprehend that anyone takes that promise of real power seriously.