Q. 1. I have a question regarding homosexuality. My child claims that those who are lesbians or homosexuals, they were born that way. She supports this by quoting a part of paragraph number 2358 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church where it states, "They do not choose their homosexual condition." How does one respond to such a comment?

A. 1. First of all, I wish to quote the paragraph from which the above quote comes from:

"The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is 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 form their condition." [Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 2358, 1994 First Edition]

On September 8, 1997, Pope John Paul II promulgated the Second Edition of the English Translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It includes 103 changes (corrections/amendments) to the English text. This was to ensure that it harmonized with the official Latin text that was promulgated by Pope John Paul II on the same date.

The corrected text of paragraph # 2358 states:

"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." [Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 2358, 1997 Second Edition]

Please note that the above quoted revised text does not contain the words "They do not choose their homosexual condition." Those words were removed because they opposed Catholic teachings. As such, Catholic and non-Catholic who are quoting those words, they are using an old Catechism that is outdated and which contains errors. They should throw away that version of the Catechism and get a copy of the Second Edition to ensure that what they quote is in harmony with Catholic doctrines and teachings.

On December 29th, 1975, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, released the document "PERSONA HUMANA," which expands on the teachings of the Catholic Church regarding certain questions concerning sexual ethics. More specifically, Section VIII deals with homosexuality.

I quote,

"At the present time there are those who, basing themselves on observations in the psychological order, have begun to judge indulgently, and even to excuse completely, homosexual relations between certain people. This they do in opposition to the constant teaching of the Magisterium and to the moral sense of the Christian people."

"A distinction is drawn, and it seems with some reason, between homosexuals whose tendency comes from a false education, from a lack of normal sexual development, from habit, from bad example, or from other similar causes, and is transitory or at least not incurable; and homosexuals who are definitively such because of some kind of innate instinct or a pathological constitution judged to be incurable."

"In regard to this second category of subjects, some people conclude that their tendency is so natural that it justifies in their case homosexual relations within a sincere communion of life and love analogous to marriage, in so far as such homosexuals feel incapable of enduring a solitary life."

"In the pastoral field, these homosexuals must certainly be treated with understanding and sustained in the hope of overcoming their personal difficulties and their inability to fit into society. Their culpability will be judged with prudence. But no pastoral method can be employed which would give moral justification to these 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. In Sacred Scripture they are condemned as a serious depravity and even presented as the sad consequence of rejecting God. This judgment of Scripture does not of course permit us to conclude that all those who suffer from this anomaly are personally responsible for it, but it does attest to the fact that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and can in no case be approved of."

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the position of the Church on homosexuality is,

"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, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." 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." [C.C.C. # 2357]

Having said that and in consideration of the previous references above, the Catechism of the Catholic Church concludes by stating,

"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." [C.C.C. # 2359]