I saw on EWTN a few months ago on the World over where there were many famous Catholics talking on Church doctrine. “Is it a sin to have homosexual tendencies if they did not act out the sin” out of the group only one knew the correct answer, but all spoke there own opinion,they all agreed to a popular false teaching that it was not a sin if one did not act out the tendencies, only Arch Bishop Burke knew the true teaching og the Roman Catholic Church, which is exactly what the scripture say’s, he said “It’s an abomination” Romans 1:13, You might still not be convinced, if a man looks on a woman lustfully he commits adultery even though he does not act it out, so like wise if a man looks on another man lustfully it’s a sin, the danger with many voices Catholics do not know their faith
A temptation is not a sin.
Giving in to temptation, even to the extent of dwelling mentally on the act without performing it, would be.
So, yes, indulging lust for either sex is a sin even if you take no action, but the fact that one
has sexual desires involuntarily cannot be sinful.
I’d thus have to join the chorus disagreeing with Archbishop Burke, assuming you have understood the exchange you are reporting correctly. To be pulled in a sinful direction against your will is not a sin, unless you alter your will to embrace the temptation.
Otherwise a heterosexual person whose body reacted to the attractiveness of someone other than his/her spouse would be guilty of sin as well, which is absurd. We cannot always help our physical reactions, but we can master them by the grace of God empowering our own will.
The alternative opinion matches more with some forms of Protestant thinking, where concupiscence itself is viewed as sinful, therefore backing up the idea that we are totally depraved and cannot truly be free from sin in this life even by God’s grace.
Paragraphs 2357 through 2359 of the CCC address homosexuality, and clearly distinguish between the behavior and the tendency:
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
Usagi
