Catholic position on gays
Homosexuality
Throughout history, Jewish and Christian scholars have recognized that one of the chief sins involved in God’s destruction of Sodom was its people’s homosexual behavior. But today, certain homosexual activists promote the idea that the sin of Sodom was merely a lack of hospitality. Although inhospitality is a sin, it is clearly the homosexual behavior of the Sodomites that is singled out for special criticism in the account of their city’s destruction. We must look to Scripture’s own interpretation of the sin of Sodom.
Jude 7 records that Sodom and Gomorrah “acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust.” Ezekiel says that Sodom committed “abominable things” (Ezek. ), which could refer to homosexual and heterosexual acts of sin. Lot even offered his two virgin daughters in place of his guests, but the men of Sodom rejected the propose, preferring homosexual sex over heterosexual sex (Gen. –9). But the Sodom incident is not the only time the Old Testament deals with homosexuality. An explicit condemnation is found in the book of Leviticus: “You shall not lie with a m
Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ+ Issues: Roman Catholic Church
BACKGROUND
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the world, with approximately billion members across the globe. With its origins in the earliest days of Christianity, the Church traces its leadership––in the person of the Pope––to St. Peter, identified by Jesus as “the rock” on which the Church would be built.
The Catholic Church in the United States numbers over 70 million members, and is organized in 33 Provinces, each led by an archbishop. Each bishop answers directly to the Pope, not to an archbishop. Those Provinces are further divided into dioceses, each led by a bishop. At the base of the organizational structure are local parishes, headed by a pastor, appointed by the local bishop. The Conference of Catholic Bishops in the United States meets semi-annually.
As part of a global organization with its institutional center at the Vatican, the Catholic Church in America is shaped by worldwide societal and cultural trends. It is further shaped by leadership that is entirely male, with w
A few years before gay marriage became the law of the land, I was in a Baltimore pub having dinner with a Jesuit priest. We were talking about vocation, and I was telling him I wanted to go to graduate noun so I could learn how to offer theological arguments in favor of homosexuality.
“And you know”, I told him, “the story of Sodom and Gomorrah isn’t about homosexuality per se, but rape. Even Jesus interprets the cities’ downfall in terms of their inhospitality.”
“Sure”, he said, taking another drink.
“And the biblical laws prohibiting same-sex activity were intended to maximise the population”, I added.
He nodded.
“And Paul’s rhetoric about what goes against nature …”
He cut me off. “Why are you so obsessed with this? You want to focus all your graduate function on this?”
I didn’t understand the question. I had to point all my attention on this. These were the so-called “clobber passages” that Catholics and Protestants alike have used to marginalise gay people for centuries. I couldn’t just leave them be. I couldn’t just let them go unchallenged.
“Taking on these passa
What the Church teaches about homosexual inclinations
Reason, Faith and Homosexual Acts
John Finnis
Oxford University and University of Notre Dame
The Church “refuses to consider the person as a ‘heterosexual’ or a ‘homosexual’ and insists that every person has a fundamental identity: the creature of God and, by grace, his child and heir to eternal life.”[1] Each person also has a “sexual identity”: either male or female, man or woman.[2] The Church does not use the term “sexual identity” as some people do, who claim that people have “sexual identities” as homosexuals, heterosexuals, bisexuals, and so forth. Instead, the Church teaches that each male should accept his sexual identity as a man, and each female her sexual identity as a woman; and that means accepting that one is distinct from and complementary to[3] – and equal in dignity with[4] -- persons of the reverse sex (gender).
The Church has sometimes spoken of “homosexual persons.” Anyone who has a “more or less strong tendency towards” sexual activity with a person or persons of the same sex can be