Arguments of the homosexual activists

A supplement to the our dossiers on the RCCGLCM/SMPC and Quest.

They say:
-It is natural for some people to be homosexual: God made them that way. He made nothing bad.
Answer: This suggests there is no original sin. God made us all, but because of Original Sin we all have a marked tendency to sin. People are tempted in different ways. That doesn't mean what they are tempted to do is not sinful.

-Sex is not only for procreation: the Church accepts it is for the building up of a relationship. Thus it should be permissible for gays in a relationship.
Answer: the role of sex in relationships is dependent on its role in procreation. The union of man and woman in sex is a union in an act potentially open to procreation: they become a single procreative principle. When procreation is excluded (by contraception, or in homosexual sex) then it loses the unitive role intended by God.

-The Church's teaching against sex between gays denies them the chance of living fulfilled lived.
Answer: sex is not necessary for living a fulfilled life.

-The bible's condmnations of sodomy do not have committed, loving relationships in mind. St Paul, for example, did not come into contact with such relationships.
Answer: this argument contradicts the idea that homosexuality, in its modern form, is 'natural'. If the biblical authors had no experience of loving homosexual relationships, if homosexuality was quite different in the ancient world, then modern homosexulity must be a cultural phenomenon. Be that as it may, St Paul (1 Corinthians 6: 9-10; 1 Timothy 1:9-10) condemns sex between men: it is perfectly clear, he knew exactly what he was talking about, and inspired by the Holy Spirit he said it has no part in the Christian life. Loving relationships are fine: sodomy is not.

-The Magisterium's condemnations of same-sex sexual activity are not infallible. Nor are the arguments convincing to us. So we are not bound in conscience by them.
The Magisterium is simply repeating what the Church has always taught. Since apostolic times - and before - this has been understood to be the moral law. When a claim is made over such a period of time, by so many authoritative sources, and with so little opposition, it is infallible by the 'ordinary Magisterium'. There is no need for a General Council to issue an anathema.
Furthermore, Catholics are not bound only the statements of the Magisterium they happen to find convincing. The point of teaching authority is that there is a presumption in favour of the truth of the teaching even if the hearer does not fully understand it.

-In its teaching, the Church condemns gays and lesbians. This is unjust.
Answer: this is the most insidious argument of all: the refusal to distinguish between the sin and the sinner, or even between people with homosexual inclinations and people who have homosexual sex. This conflation has even found its way into legislation. The Church has the task of making moral judgments, in the light of the teaching given to her by Jesus Christ, on actions, on states of character, and on individuals insofar as they do those actions and exhibit those states of character. The state of homosexuality is not a vice, since it is not acquired, as vices are, by voluntary actions, but as a tendency to a particular kind of bad action it is 'intrinsically disordered'.
The Church also has to judge what kind of people are appropriate for certain tasks: homosexual couples are not suitable candidates for adoption; homosexual men are not suitable candidates for ordination.
But people - unlike actions or inclinations - can be lost or saved, and it is the Church's task to call everyone to live a good life and accept the salvation offered to them by Christ, and available through the sacraments. Homosexuals are in no way excluded from this: the are God's children too. Those who love their homosesual neighbours will want them to be happy and grow in holiness, and not be swallowed up in the gay sub-culture which leads to misery. Quest and similar organisations want to bring this sub-culture into the Church.