What are your ideas for the LGBT person's vocation in the Church?

[DarkLight]

And here’s the issue a lot of us face.

We have two options. The first option is to basically pretend to be straight, make up other excuses why we’re single, not try to seek any licit outlets for human needs or relationships, show up to mass, maybe volunteer, but make sure we keep to ourselves. Basically, disappear so everyone can pretend we’re straight people who are just for some bizarre reason refusing to get married.

The other one is to be in a place where anything at all we ask for is seen as demanding a change of church teaching. Any desire for acknowledgement or for companionship at all is seen as a potential infiltration and a failure of our duty to shut up and get out of the way. Even people knowing that we may be LGBT is grounds to be seen with suspicion as someone who’s demanding to change church teaching.

It’s almost like people think if we were really Catholics we’d just somehow become straight…

 

[theCardinalbird]

The other one is to be in a place where anything at all we ask for is seen as demanding a change of church teaching. Any desire for acknowledgement or for companionship at all is seen as a potential infiltration and a failure of our duty to shut up and get out of the way. Even people knowing that we may be LGBT is grounds to be seen with suspicion as someone who’s demanding to change church teaching.

And doesn’t it seem ridiculous? If a person like me, who would fight (theologically speaking) tooth and nail before ever considering gay marriage in the Catholic Church (but even then oppose such a change after that), yet still wish for some sort of way to live in harmony with Church teaching while avoiding loneliness (which is often the fear of people who experience SSA and want to live by the Church), then would I still be considered someone who demands to change Church teaching for the worst?

WE UNDERSTAND GAY MARRIAGE WILL NEVER BE ACCEPTABLE, BUT WHAT CAN WE DO TO AVOID LONELINESS and actually be able to deal with the struggle with chastity in a society that promotes the opposite?

(This isn’t directed at you Darklight I agree with you (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.) )

I suggest more Courage Chapters, but that is just my opinion…

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[simpleas]

We have two options. The first option is to basically pretend to be straight, make up other excuses why we’re single, not try to seek any licit outlets for human needs or relationships, show up to mass, maybe volunteer, but make sure we keep to ourselves. Basically, disappear so everyone can pretend we’re straight people who are just for some bizarre reason refusing to get married.

I think I’ve done pretty well at this! It helps avoid those awkward questions too, (when you’re not too close to others)

 

[Sachsen]

WE UNDERSTAND GAY MARRIAGE WILL NEVER BE ACCEPTABLE, BUT WHAT CAN WE DO TO AVOID LONELINESS and actually be able to deal with the struggle with chastity in a society that promotes the opposite?

Catholic priests (not the Eastern Rite ones) are celibate, and so it goes without saying that they have to deal with loneliness and other issues that go with not having a spouse for life. Perhaps it would help you a lot if you were to talk to a priest you know personally about that, if you haven’t already.

 

[Prodigal_Son]

Catholic priests (not the Eastern Rite ones) are celibate, and so it goes without saying that they have to deal with loneliness and other issues that go with not having a spouse for life. Perhaps it would help you a lot if you were to talk to a priest you know personally about that, if you haven’t already.

Priests should be living in community with other priests. When they do not, that is bad for them. Of course, such community is not a marriage, and does not provide many of the needs of a marriage.

If we can find ways for gay Catholics to live in close community with other Catholics or Christians, we would come a long way toward providing for their needs. Of course, it is not so much that the Church needs to arrange these things; it is that the Church ought to provide vision for what these communities should – and should not – look like.

 

[Sachsen]

If we can find ways for gay Catholics to live in close community with other Catholics or Christians, we would come a long way toward providing for their needs. Of course, it is not so much that the Church needs to arrange these things; it is that the Church ought to provide vision for what these communities should – and should not – look like.

You may be on to something.

Perhaps that IS the key. To live in a community. To serve and to make a meaningful contribution to the lives of others. To give love and be loved.

Personally, I’ve seen that phenomenon take place in the lives of lifelong single laypeople I know. Some of them are loosely attached to a secular order (Carmelites), while others are single members of a Catholic community for life (Opus Dei and Teresian Association). They were always happy, they were always there to lend a helping hand, and not once did I ever hear them complain about the lack of a significant other in their lives - perhaps because the thought doesn’t occur to them anymore. The vocation became everything to them.

They may be single, they may be that way for the rest of their lives. But they are never truly alone.

 

[Prodigal_Son]

Helpful, in this respect: http://revoice.us/

 

[theCardinalbird]

Sounds interesting. I’ve never heard of this

 

[DarkLight]

The question is where the line is between clearly and straightforwardly stating it, and repeating it to reassure those who aren’t convinced that people who say they’re following church teaching are really following it and not just saying that.

 

[Onthisrock84]

There have no doubt been many wonderful gay priests. Being gay isn’t a sin in itself. The act coming from the attraction is the sin. Gays are called to a life of chastity and if they feel called to God and serving him , why should anyone have a problem with that?

 

[BlueMaxx]

There have no doubt been many wonderful gay priests. Being gay isn’t a sin in itself. The act coming from the attraction is the sin. Gays are called to a life of chastity and if they feel called to God and serving him , why should anyone have a problem with that?

Huh?..

 

[Onthisrock84]

Being gay is not a sin. They are loved by God. They are given a real challenge. Bearing their cross.
Homosexuality is not a sin just because you have those urges. It is a sin when you act on them.
The same way many heterosexuals who aren’t married and have sexual relations or the teenagers who take part in masturbation and think nothing is wrong, and noone would think twice about letting them receive the eucharist even though they are as in just as great of grave sin as the homosexual who has relations with someone.

 

[BlueMaxx]

If you do not act on them, you wold not be gay…thinking about killing someone does not make you a murderer, thinking about robbing a bank doesn’t make you a thief…having same sex urges does not make you gay…

Loving another person of the same sex does not make you gay…turning that love into an unnatural lust and acting upon it is.

 

[Onthisrock84]

If someone has physical attraction to someone else, they are probably a homosexual.

 

[BlueMaxx]

Temptations come in all shapes and sizes…

James 1

13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

 

[Thorolfr]

If you do not act on them, you wold not be gay…thinking about killing someone does not make you a murderer, thinking about robbing a bank doesn’t make you a thief…having same sex urges does not make you gay…

Loving another person of the same sex does not make you gay…turning that love into an unnatural lust and acting upon it is.

“Gay” and “homosexual” are just words and they have commonly understood meanings that you can find in a dictionary. So, according to Merriam-Webster:

Definition of gay

a : of, relating to, or characterized by a tendency to direct sexual desire toward another of the same sex : homosexual : gay men
b : of, relating to, or used by homosexuals: the gay rights movement a gay bar

Definition of homosexual

: of, relating to, or characterized by a tendency to direct sexual desire toward another of the same sex : gay a homosexual man was involved in a homosexual relationship

In both cases, it is the sexual desire or attraction which makes someone “gay” or “homosexual,” not the action. Most people wouldn’t claim that a 25 year old man who is sexually attracted to women isn’t a “heterosexual” until he actually has sex with a woman.

You can’t compare the words “murderer” or “thief” to the word “gay” because their definitions are different. For example, from Merriam-Webster:

Definition of murderer
: one who murders; especially : one who commits the crime of murder

The definition of “murderer” is based on an action, not a desire.

 

[OsculeturMeOsculo]

The Church offers a lot to do. Terminology seems to be a problem.

 

[Gab123]

In both cases, it is the sexual desire or attraction which makes someone “gay” or “homosexual,” not the action. Most people wouldn’t claim that a 25 year old man who is sexually attracted to women isn’t a “heterosexual” until he actually has sex with a woman.

Nonsense. By nature you are born a man with a purposeful physiology. You become a homosexual when you engage in sex with another man; much like one becomes a pedophile when sexual attraction for children is acted upon with children. Just because a thought pops into your head in it becomes an attractive temptation, doesn’t mean you should act upon. Nobody is born a pedophile, just like you were not born gay. All sin is a disorder; the problem is that today people want to mask the truth and pretend that there is no such thing as a perversion. Sexual perversion is just that: A perversion of sex. Usually the perversion process involves starts with initial thoughts, glances, then fantasies and lots of pornography.

If not battled, an addiction which starts in one’s youth becomes and obsession and a way of life. Deep rooted which only Christ can cut down. The problem is that Christ will not cut it down unless you want Him to.

The best advice is to firsr cut off anything in your life that is fueling the obsession. Throw out all the pornography and work on having a pure mind; it’s harder than you think; but it is only possible with God’s grace. Grace which will remain untapped if you don’t seek it…

 

[Bruised_Reed]

You become a homosexual when you engage in sex with another man;

I’m, no…do I become a lesbian if I had sex with another woman? Even if I’m not attracted to women? And a pedophile is someone who is sexually attracted to children; if they act on it they are a child molester. Not all child molesters are pedophiles.

 

[Gab123]

do I become a lesbian if I had sex with another woman?

Yes, obviously. Just like if you become a murderer if you kill me, or a saint if you choose to cooperate with God’s Grace, or a damned soul if you don’t.

Not all child molesters are pedophiles.

This is a dumb statement.
Again. Nobody is born a pedophile. People become pedophiles by not having custody of their mind and acting on their thoughts and ultimately perverting themselves by molesting children. As Jesus said: For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person.

Question: For what reason does the Church advise that one should have custody of the eyes and custody of the mind and imagination?

The problem is that the homosexual lifestyle is a man-made tradition, and now, even people in the Church are beginning to rationalize it. Thus Jesus said:

“And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’a and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

So:

do I become a lesbian if I had sex with another woman?

Yes, just like you become a prostitute if you sell your body for sex in exchange for $$$