April 9, 2001
Catholic Church Reaches Out to Gays
In an effort to make its parishes more "open and welcoming" to homosexuals, a growing number of U.S. dioceses have established a ministry for gay and lesbian Catholics. But the ministry has not been easy.
"It is rejected on the one hand, by people who don't want us to welcome homosexuals into our midst," said Auxiliary Bishop Carl Moeddel of the Cincinnati Diocese. "On the other hand, it's rejected by homosexuals themselves, who don't think the church goes fare enough in its teaching." One of the difficulties, Moeddel said, is helping people understand the church's teaching on homosexuality: that the homosexual orientation, in and of itself is not wrong, but that homosexual sex is. "The church calls the homosexual person to be chaste" the same way it calls heterosexuals to be chaste, Moeddel said. Sexual relations, however, can be blessed only when they are between a married man and woman.
Church teaching also stresses the inherent dignity and worth of homosexuals, he said. "There is no moral guilt in being homosexual, and so the church's job is to help homosexuals live chaste live." Homosexuals are encouraged to receive the sacraments and participate in church life, so long as they abide by church teaching.
(By Stephen Huba, Scripps Howard News Service)