German Bishop: Homosexuality is Not a Sin

'Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender.'

Father Peter Kohlgraf leaves the laity with a smorgasbord of choices as to his statement. Confusione regnat!

The bishop-elect is absolutely correct - being homosexual, the homosexual inclination, is not a sin. The Church does not teach that. It is an intrinsically disordered nature, but not a sin. It IS a sin to impugn a priest with a veiled calumny for teaching the truth, no matter how much you may not personally approve of his election to bishop, or no matter how much you hate that part of the truth. It is a sin, of course, to engage is sodomy, or any sexual perversion, whether homosexual or not. But as you report, that was not the question asked of the bishop.

If the priest is saying that merely having temptations to homosexual acts is not itself a sin, then this is orthodox Catholic teaching. We all experience temptations, and are not sinful in doing so, unless, of course we deliberately invite them.

If he's saying that submitting to those temptations to homosexual acts is not sinful according to the Church, then he's uttering heresy.

Especially if he's going to be a bishop, he should distinguish carefully between the two cases. He may have done so in the original interview. I haven't read it. Can anyone supply the text of the interview?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition as presented is not helpful, as it omits the case where one simply has the temptations to homosexual acts. Many homosexuals simply have the temptation. They don't wish for it. They don't provoke it. They don't "direct" their desire, in any active sense. In fact, they regret it. Their desires are there through no fault of their own, and they work to counter these desires, recognising them as temptations to mortal sin. The excellent orthodox Catholic organization "Courage" founded by the late Fr John Harvey O.S.F.S., works to support homosexuals such as these who wish to counter their experienced desires and live united to Christ.

...and so the Catholic Church would say that same-sex attraction is not a sin, right? That has always been my understanding, that a person is not "sinful" if they struggle with same-sex attraction, but it's "sexual activity with another of the same sex" that is sinful. In other words, would someone with same-sex attraction that lives a chaste life still refer to themselves as "homosexual"? I'm a little confused...