RESPONSE
TO ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FROM THE CONGREGATION FOR THE
INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE AND SOCIETIES OF APOSTOLIC LIFE
1. Is a homosexual orientation in any sense a defect?
Although the word "defect" does not appear in any
magisterial document to describe a homosexual orientation, in 1975 the
Church described the definitive tendency of homosexuality as "some
kind of innate instinct or a pathological constitution judged to be
incurable." In 1986, the magisterium characterized the tendency
as an "objective disorder" because it is "ordered
toward an intrinsic moral evil" (i.e., genital acts which the
magisterium judges to lack "an essential and indispensable
finality").
On the pastoral level, it is important to help people understand
that this assessment of the homosexual orientation does not imply
moral failing or sin and that fundamental respect is due to gay and
lesbian persons as bearers of the image of God.
2. Are there any moral limitations on homosexual activity that do
not apply to heterosexual activity? What are these moral limitations?
The Church teaches that there are moral limitations on homosexual
activity that do not apply to heterosexual activity, i.e., that
homogenital acts are intrinsically immoral whereas heterosexual
genital activity can be moral in the context of marriage.
3. If there are such moral limitations, what is their basis?
The basis of the magisterium’s stance against homogenital
activity is the inseparable link between the unitive and procreative
meanings of human sexuality which the Church discerns in nature and
the Scriptures. This was set forth in 1986 when the magisterium stated
that "it is only in the marital relationship that the use of the
sexual faculty can be morally good" and that "homosexual
activity is not a complementary union, able to transmit life."
Respectfully submitted, this
22nd day of February, 1996
Jeannine Gramick, SSND Robert Nugent, SDS
|
