Official Catholic doctrine describes homosexuality as a “disorder” even though the Catechism also insists that gays “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.“ What is the reason for this duality? The duality is created by the Catholic Church’s reliance on Natural Law as a basis for their teachings about morality and human nature - the same “Natural Law” that is the basis for Catholic teachings on matters like birth control.
The reason why homosexuality is treated a disorder is because it inclines a person to committing sins, and the reason why homosexual activity continues to be treated as a sin is because it is against “Natural Law.” According to Catholic doctrine, sexual activity only exists for the purpose of procreation and, obviously, homosexual activity cannot produce children. Therefore, homosexual acts are contrary to nature and God’s wishes and must be a sin. The 1975 document Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics states:
- ...no pastoral method can be employed which would give moral justification to these [homosexual] acts on the grounds that they would be consonant with the condition of such people. For according to the objective moral order, homosexual relations are acts which lack an essential and indispensable finality.
This is a crucial point, because it is the same Natural Law argument which forms the basis of the Church’s position against birth control. The Bible at least mentions homosexual activity in a negative light, thus providing a second basis upon which to build their case. Birth control, however, is not mentioned, and as a consequence the validity of this Natural Law argument is all the Church has.
What this means is that any change in either position would necessitate a change in the other position — and that’s just for starters. Both reformers and traditionalists are quite aware of this and as a consequence, both have focused primarily on either defending or undermining the Catholic Church’s doctrines regarding Natural Law generally as the cornerstone of their efforts.
Reformers move in two different directions when it comes to this. One group argues that homosexual and heterosexual acts should be treated basically the same — as part of a loving, intimate relationship between two people and with neither being superior or inferior to the other. Whereas the Catholic Church would define marriage as a divinely ordained institution for reproduction, they would define it more as an institution where a loving relationship between two people can be developed. This is the position which, obviously enough, is closest to what gays themselves would like to see the Church adopt.
Another group considers homosexual acts and relationships as imperfect and therefore as inferior to heterosexual acts and relationships — but nevertheless as something which should be permitted because a person does not choose his or her orientation. The difference between this group and the traditionalists is that this group does not expect homosexuals to live a life of celibacy while the traditionalists do.
