- Feb 5, 2002
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It isn't compassionate to encourage people to embrace a false version of reality
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the desire to be sexually involved with a member of the same sex is “objectively disordered” (2358). But for some, them’s fightin’ words.
Take Fr. James Martin, S.J., for example. In a 2017 interview with columnist Jonathan Merritt, Fr. Martin reaffirmed the position he took in his book Building a Bridge, namely, that this language in the Catechism is “needlessly hurtful” and should be replaced with the more pastoral language of “differently ordered.”
I don’t know if Fr. Martin still holds this view. In a 2018 article for America Magazine, he presents the Church’s official teaching on the objective disorder of same-sex sexual activity and the disorder of the desire for it. He then says, “As a Catholic priest, I have…never challenged those teachings, nor will I.”
Perhaps we could push back a bit on this last claim since he routinely celebrates events and organizations that publicly oppose Church teaching. Regardless, we still need to address the question: are sexual desires for members of the same-sex disordered or merely different?
Continued below.
Different or Disordered?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the desire to be sexually involved with a member of the same sex is “objectively disordered” (2358). But for some, them’s fightin’ words.
Take Fr. James Martin, S.J., for example. In a 2017 interview with columnist Jonathan Merritt, Fr. Martin reaffirmed the position he took in his book Building a Bridge, namely, that this language in the Catechism is “needlessly hurtful” and should be replaced with the more pastoral language of “differently ordered.”
I don’t know if Fr. Martin still holds this view. In a 2018 article for America Magazine, he presents the Church’s official teaching on the objective disorder of same-sex sexual activity and the disorder of the desire for it. He then says, “As a Catholic priest, I have…never challenged those teachings, nor will I.”
Perhaps we could push back a bit on this last claim since he routinely celebrates events and organizations that publicly oppose Church teaching. Regardless, we still need to address the question: are sexual desires for members of the same-sex disordered or merely different?
Continued below.
Different or Disordered?
