Homosexuality – a Catholic perspective

Fri, Jun 22. 2012

Editor: I wish to join the debate on homosexuality and to offer a Catholic perspective. In 2002, amid growing concern over child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, the American Bishops commissioned an independent study by the John Jay College of criminal justice. The study was geared toward determining the rates and characteristics of the abuse within the church.{{more}} Although less than 4% of Priests were involved, the harm done was immeasurable.

Out of the experience of the scandal and studies like the aforementioned, the Church has reaffirmed its position that homosexuality is intrinsically disordered. The Church learned that it could no longer under any circumstances open the doors of its seminaries to those who were homosexual and further took the position that to even be eligible to enter a seminary a previously homosexual individual has to be free of this disorder for at least three years. Increasingly, many, including the American media present homosexuality as a condition that cannot be changed; but this is not so. One has only to visit the website of organizations like NARTH to see the strides that are being made. Homosexuality is treatable and those who wish to seek treatment should not be deliberately misinformed and or have their autonomy in this regard unduly curtailed. The church further took the policy position that homosexuals cannot be placed in a position of authority where youth are concerned.

Many may ask, what harm can come from being more open to the homosexual life style? In light of the sex abuse scandal, the Church with its tarnished public image, damaged priesthood, and worst of all, thousands of scarred young people and their families, knows regrettably all too well what harm can come. Added to the above is the harm that may come to the wider society. In the United States, for example, harassment, stalking and intimidation were used to influence the removal of the diagnosis of homosexuality from the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM). (The DSM lists the various diagnoses in psychiatry and the criteria for making such diagnoses.) Its removal from the DSM has meant that more comprehensive study of this disorder to better understand its etiology and treatment has been slowed. Success in achieving removal by these methods also set the stage for the way in which most gay activism is carried out in the US today. In many states, activists lobby for laws to pressure institutions that disagree with them.

The Church has stood its ground in re-affirming that marriage is between one man and one woman, because the church understands that this definition of marriage is what is best for children and therefore society. In situations where the custody of children is being weighed, the State must put the good of the children first; all other considerations are secondary. All of psychiatry recognizes the need for parents of both sexes for proper development of gender identity in children. Those pushing for same sex marriage give no thought to how the development of a child’s gender identity will play out within a same sex couple. If a group of people are so hell bent on having their own way that they do not care if children are harmed, should they be allowed to adopt? Continuing with the effects on the wider society, it is well known that many heterosexual individuals experience transient same sex attraction during adolescence, which, if dealt with appropriately, in most cases resolves. Clearly, more widespread acceptance of homosexuality and so-called gay culture as normal, instead of disordered, means far more confusion for the young. It also increases the opportunity for disordered individuals or groups to intervene at a time of vulnerability.

In closing, I say homosexuals are children of God and they should be treated with respect and sensitivity, but that does not mean we should pretend that homosexuality is not a disorder, because it is, and it is treatable. Looking truthfully at this issue will help us all to grow and ultimately attain eternal life.

Salt