i am homosexual, yet i am Catholic

[slyboots]

Of course you can be a Catholic and homosexual. However when you act out in homosexual ways you commit sins. When we act out in any behavior which is not in Christ we sin. I sin, you sin, we all sin. Only Jesus Christ and His beloved mother were sinless. And fortunately the Church is a hospital for sinners.
That being said, if you really want to walk the walk you have to want to change your sinful nature. And for you that means giving up homosexual acts. For me it means learning to obey and learning the meaning of charity and instilling it in my heart, among my more notable sins.
When we sin we attempt to separate ourselves from Christ. Is this what you want? If that’s the case then why on earth want to be a Catholic? Christ wants all of us with Him. And all we have to do is ask Him what He wants us to do and then do it. It is that simple and it always was.
P.S. I never said it was easy though.

 

[mikew262]

mike182d:

MikeW,

I see what your saying, but there’s a fundamental reality about the nature of human beings that everyone is forgetting: the body is void of conceptual thought. When I am hungry, the cells in my stomach lack the ability to conceptualize what it is that it’s hungry for. The cells merely recognize a depletion of this, that, or the other nutrient/protein and notify the brain. It is me that turns this synapse into conceptual thought. For example, a person who has never had sushi before won’t ever crave sushi. Why? Because the stomach can’t tell me what I want, my brain has to decode this desire and this desire is filtered through the lens of my own experience.

Just because an alcoholic may *feel *like they don’t have control over their addiction, doesn’t mean they don’t have control. And just because an alcoholic relapses after treatment doesn’t mean that they are destined to be alcoholics and cannot be healed.

Furthermore,

Whether they reverted is irrelevant. The mere fact that they were able to be attracted to women for even a week means that it isn’t a genetic disorder and can be conditioned. All the pyschological treatment in the world can’t make an austistic child not be autistic. Why? Because autism is genetic. Homosexuality, however, is not.

I wasn’t really clear in my original post; perhaps “reverted” was a bad choice of words. My meaning was that maybe they were temporaily convinced that they could change, but later realized they couldn’t. They never truly changed their basic instincts or desires after the counseling.

 

[Commonplace]

2 Corinthians 12- “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

Paul too was afflicted with something that caused him great pain, but he saw it as a blessing, his weakness showed the power of Christ, just as your celibacy would show how perfect Christ is. Indeed, some medieval commentators believed it was unruly fleshly lust that he suffered from. Your homosexuality, regardless of it being genetic or learned, is not a curse. Instead, it is a chance to fully show Christ in your life. John 3:30- “He must become greater; I must become less.”

1 Corinthians 7:1-“Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry.” Are priests and monks and nuns not also called to celibacy? God has given them a special place, and, although you may not be called to any of those positions, certainly your chasteness will only increase the glory of God.

This is thoroughly what I believe God has in mind for all homosexuals. But if I am wrong, or have contradicted church teaching, then I ask forgiveness and I hope someone will inform me.

 

[freesoulhope]

mikew262:

I wasn’t really clear in my original post; perhaps “reverted” was a bad choice of words. My meaning was that maybe they were temporaily convinced that they could change, but later realized they couldn’t. They never truly changed their basic instincts or desires after the counseling.

It is not true that homosexuality cannot be defeated, If you doubt then thats another matter alltogether. God is not powerless, he demands faithfullness, he might even use your temptations as a means to reveal the lie, but if you believe then you can change it will happen. Some people might be so damaged that they need continuouis life long counciling. But they can live nomal lifes and considerably reduce the sexual desire, where as, if left uncounciled will flare up uncontrolibly. The idea that you cant get better or change completly is a lie and a misconception, and it is that presise misconception that makes people think that they have to be gay or that God made them that way.

 

[setter]

2 Corinthians 12- "To keep me from becoming conceited … given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, …”

Paul too was afflicted with something that caused him great pain, but he saw it as a blessing, his weakness showed the power of Christ, just as your celibacy would show how perfect Christ is. Indeed, some medieval commentators believed it was unruly fleshly lust that he suffered from. Your homosexuality, regardless of it being genetic or learned, is not a curse. Instead, it is a chance to fully show Christ in your life. John 3:30- “He must become greater; I must become less.”

To this I would add the doctrine of the cross as a requirement of daily discipleship:

“And he said to all, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

1 Corinthians 7:1-“Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry.” Are priests and monks and nuns not also called to celibacy? God has given them a special place, and, although you may not be called to any of those positions, certainly your chasteness will only increase the glory of God.

I would qualify that a person unfit for marriage because of a predominat SSA is not a fit candidate for the requirements of religious life by default.

This is thoroughly what I believe God has in mind for all homosexuals. But if I am wrong, or have contradicted church teaching, then I ask forgiveness and I hope someone will inform me.

You make good points.

 

[freesoulhope]

setter:

I would qualify that a person unfit for marriage because of a predominat SSA is not a fit candidate for the requirements of religious life by default.

You make good points.

I dont mean to be rude, but What do you mean by this?

 

[setter]

freesoulhope:

Originally Posted by setter

I would qualify that a person unfit for marriage because of a predominat SSA is not a fit candidate for the requirements of religious life by default.
I dont mean to be rude, but What do you mean by this?

A religious vow in essence is a complementary espousal relationship. A person who does not feel able to enter into the sacrament of marriage due to a predominant SSA, then this person is psychosexually unable to fully/adequately enter into the espousal vow of religious life, i.e., espousal as Christ as Bride (female) , *in personal christi * Church as Bridegroom (male).

How can one give and receive in a complementary espousal relationship what they do not [yet] have?

 

[freesoulhope]

I disagree with this. Im not quite sure what you mean however. Are you trying to say that if you have homosexual erges, you cannot live a true and chaste Catholic religous life or be married to a women?

 

[freesoulhope]

setter:

A religious vow in essence is a complementary espousal relationship. A person who does not feel able to enter into the sacrament of marriage due to a predominant SSA, then this person is psychosexually unable to fully/adequately enter into the espousal vow of religious life, i.e., espousal as Christ as Bride (female) , *in personal christi * Church as Bridegroom (male).

How can one give and receive in a complementary espousal relationship what they do not [yet] have?

Or do you mean if your not willing to commit yourself fully to Christ, it will not work.

 

[setter]

freesoulhope:

I disagree with this. Im not quite sure what you mean however. Are you trying to say that if you have homosexual erges, you cannot live a true and chaste Catholic religous life or be married to a women?

I will cite this bishop of the Church for what I mean:

Bishop Morline of Madison, WI:

Homosexual orientation is not intrinsically evil. Homosexual orientation is objectively disordered. This means that human reason can discern the nuptial meaning of the human person, that is, the male is ordered to spousal intimacy with the female and the female with the male. This is the proper ordering which is consummated and lived out in the covenant of marriage.

Thus same-sex attraction is objectively disordered, that is, the proper nuptial inclination, for whatever reason, is out of order. A deeply rooted homosexual attraction changes the way in which an individual relates both to men and to women.

The priest is called to be in the person of Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom who is married to his bride, the Church. The celibate priest is to relate to the Church as a loving husband to his wife. And with the Church he is called to raise up daughters and sons in Baptism as a loving father. The psycho-spiritual underpinnings of the celibacy to which the priest is called are weakened by a deeply rooted homosexual tendency."

madisoncatholicherald.or…html#statement