Can someone give me a clinical definition of what the church means by ‘disordered’ when referring to people with SSA (same sex attraction)? In my opinion the term is ambiguous and could be interpreted several ways. I think most people immediately apply a negative connotation, but this might not necessarily be the intent of the church.
I don’t think “disordered” is “clinical” to begin with.
The traditional Christian ethical teaching that homosexual acts are intrinsically immoral and the homosexual inclination is objectively disordered: “that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and can in no case be approved of” (CDF, 1975) and that the homosexual orientation itself is “objectively disordered” (CCC, no. 2358) So along with “disordered” we also hear “intrinsic moral evil.” These are not medical terms but religious or moral and ethical in nature.
"Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder. Homosexuality has been called a deviation, an irregularity, a wound. The fact that an act is called an intrinsic evil tells us two and only two things.
First, it tells us why an action is wrong — because of the “object” of the acting agent’s will. To identify the object of an action, one has to put oneself in the shoes of the one acting, and to describe the action from his perspective. The object is the immediate goal for which that person is acting; it is
the proximate end of a deliberate decision
Second, the fact that an act is *intrinsically *evil tells us that it is always wrong to perform that type of act, no matter what the other circumstances are. A good motive cannot make an act with a bad object morally permissible. In other words, we may never do evil so that good may come of it. To echo an example used by both Pope John Paul II and St. Thomas, a modern-day Robin Hood should not hold up a convenience store at gunpoint in order to give the money to a nearby homeless center. Robin Hood’s good motive (altruistic giving) does not wash away the bad object or immediate purpose of his action (robbery)."
I posted an essay here that is borrowed from several sources: Richard John Neuhaus, Kathleen Curran Sweeney, Robert P. George, M. Cathleen Kaveny and Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, just to try and sort it all out.
An article by Andrew J. Sodergren, M.S.from the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family titled “Causes of Homosexuality: A Christian Appraisal of the Data” is also on the site and offers the best overview of homosexuality and the Church that I have ever read.
I think all disordered means is that it doesn’t align with the rest of God’s ordered creation. So blindness at birth would be a form of “disorder.” It is intended (I believe) to be a neutral term but can be stoked to the highly inflammatory, so I tend to avoid it when explaining Church Teachings or make very sure of the context when I use it. For example to give other examples of “disorder,” say congenital blindness where there is no will involved.
“Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or willful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator.”
Most of those mentioned above are evil; some are “disorders,” particularly the “insults to human dignity” where you will find some who willingly practice some of those acts and encourage others to do as well.
Hope some of this helps.
dj
