Same Sex Celibate Couples

[Dakota_Roberts]

As I’m sure you know, being gay doesn’t mean you find every same-sex person attractive. There always options that wouldn’t cause scandal.

People assume the worst, if someone is “out” people would automatically assume he’s living with someone in a relationship. This leaves a SSA person with two choice, live with family or live alone.

Isolation can be extremely detrimental to a person’s health, having someone who one can confide in is important for sanity. You have no idea how much it irks me when someone says they never feel alone because they have God and they’ve also said that their spouse cheers them up.

 

[SteveGC]

Dex, I’m not talking about presumption, which is indeed sinful. In terms of the sin of scandal, I’m talking about a combination of objectively observable circumstances, namely:

1. The two same-sex people are co-habiting

AND

1. Their sexual orientation is publicly known, and not denied by them.

If both of these circumstances exist simultaneously, scandal exists, again regardless of chastity. Take one away, no scandal.

Now, if you take away number 2), you still have the potential for the near occasion of sin, but I’m merely talking about scandal here.

The burden on the seemingly limited choices for a homosexual person are indeed significant. It is a cross to bare, and whatever the Body of Christ can do for such a person should be done without hesitation. My immediate thought is that they should be quite capable of living alone, working and supporting themselves, surrounding themselves with friends and family, perhaps pets, etc. I wouldn’t feel too swayed by an argument which posited that they should be able to live with another homosexual because they need the financial support of that arrangement. That’s not even a valid argument for a heterosexual. As far as loneliness, that is a subjective argument, and will vary from individual to individual. Many people are quite content alone, regardless of orientation. All I’m saying is that we can’t presume loneliness objectively. And again, loneliness has more cures than simply having a roommate.

I also would see no problem with them joining a religious order. Both scandal and near occasion of sin would require more than one known homosexual in the same living environment, not just one. But to be honest, I actually don’t know the official Church position on homosexuals in religious orders, so I’ll defer to someone else.

 

[Havard]

People assume the worst, if someone is “out” people would automatically assume he’s living with someone in a relationship. This leaves a SSA person with two choice, live with family or live alone.

Isolation can be extremely detrimental to a person’s health, having someone who one can confide in is important for sanity. You have no idea how much it irks me when someone says they never feel alone because they have God and they’ve also said that their spouse cheers them up.

Re: the sin of scandal: If the onlookers have to make a baseless assumption in order for there to be a scandal (flatmates must be a couple), then acting party isn’t sinning. Contrast that with two homosexuals checking into a hotel and asking for one king rather than two doubles.

So no, living with flatmates isn’t necessarily off the table.

 

[Dakota_Roberts]

Re: the sin of scandal: If the onlookers have to make a baseless assumption in order for there to be a scandal (flatmates must be a couple), then acting party isn’t sinning. Contrast that with two homosexuals checking into a hotel and asking for one king rather than two doubles.

So no, living with flatmates isn’t necessarily off the table.

There’s just something about the topic of homosexuality that makes people extremely irrational

 

[DexUK]

But to be honest, I actually don’t know the official Church position on homosexuals in religious orders, so I’ll defer to someone else.

I can tell you that the rules for the diocesan priesthood require a candidate for seminary who identifies himself as homosexual to have lived a settled and chaste life for a number of years before seminary entry. But the rules on that are not really any different for heterosexual men seeking seminary training, since no seminary would want to accept a man who was, until the day of his entry, engaging in fornication since it would mark him out as being unsettled and liable to not cope with the promise of celibacy and chastity he’d be required to make to his Bishop.

(I know these rules because I’ve been through the seminary application process and obviously one gets asked these sorts of questions in psychological investigations, etc!)

 

[SteveGC]

I can tell you that the rules for the diocesan priesthood require a candidate for seminary who identifies himself as homosexual to have lived a settled and chaste life for a number of years before seminary entry. But the rules on that are not really any different for heterosexual men seeking seminary training, since no seminary would want to accept a man who was, until the day of his entry, engaging in fornication since it would mark him out as being unsettled and liable to not cope with the promise of celibacy and chastity he’d be required to make to his Bishop.

(I know these rules because I’ve been through the seminary application process and obviously one gets asked these sorts of questions in psychological investigations, etc!)

Seems, therefore, a possible option for a homosexual. Thanks for the clarification. Any comment on the subject of scandal in my post above? Did you catch the gist of what I was trying to say?