FOR CATHOLICS ONLY: If you'll notice...

Well, as she said, she does not wish to debate. I'm sure if God is calling her to the Church, she will seek Him out in understanding this position.

So I'll leave it be.

God bless you on your journey.

y'all do realize if we're planning on debating homosexality i'm gonna have to move this right? is this a thread about crystal changing her icon or are gonna debate the oh so dreaded topic? mind you i don't wish to but you know, rules and such...

I know a priest who is gay. Does this mean he will be defrocked?

AmyHasQuestions said:

I know a priest who is gay. Does this mean he will be defrocked?

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No. How do you know he is gay?

QuantaCura said:

No. How do you know he is gay?

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He is open about it and performs masses and communion for a congregation of gay Catholics.

CrystalBrooke said:

i know that heterosexuals are tempted too, that's how i got pregnant...and i do appriciate the fact that some homosexuals dont act on those temptations...but however, i still believe that acting or not, homosexuality is still a sin, and it is a choice IMO. it comes down to nature vs nurture, and i dont think that nature has anything to do with it...i know that some may have been abused as children and that somehow made them decide to be homosexual...it was still a choice and it is still wrong...but i didnt make this thread for a debate, i just wanted you guys to know that im still pursuing the faith, im just taking it slower.

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Crystal,
I sympathize with your emotion, but I would gently urge you to return to the faith so you can grow into the woman and mother were created to be. When I was 17, my emotions were also running wild, and I too would look for excuses to leave the Church. I would ask you not to make rash decisions, based on one sentance from the Catechism. As Jason noted, faith needs to be built on a solid foundation, especially for a soon-to-be mother.

It is now your life's calling to raise saints. Satan will be trying to trip you up, so it is all the more important that you fight and persevere in faith and virtue.

Blessings,

-Davide

AmyHasQuestions said:

He is open about it and performs masses and communion for a congregation of gay Catholics.

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Well, does he support homosexual activity? Or is this a group like Courage that helps homosexuals to live chaste lives? If it's the former, he needs to be reported to the bishop.

QuantaCura said:

Well, does he support homosexual activity? Or is this a group like Courage that helps homosexuals to live chaste lives? If it's the former, he needs to be reported to the bishop.

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He has been in a homosexual relationship for over 15 years and has gone to Vermont with his lover and has entered a civil union with him. The Bishop is aware of his activities and has not responded because priests are at a premium around here and he can't afford to lose one. Out here in the boonies, it's difficult to get priests.

AmyHasQuestions said:

He has been in a homosexual relationship for over 15 years and has gone to Vermont with his lover and has entered a civil union with him. The Bishop is aware of his activities and has not responded because priests are at a premium around here and he can't afford to lose one. Out here in the boonies, it's difficult to get priests.

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I'm almost afraid to hear the answer, but are you sure he's a Catholic priest? Some Protestant denominations call their pastors priests...

Why would someone choose to be gay? Like or not, they are greatly discriminated against (not in laws, but people literally hate them and are not very civil).

AmyHasQuestions said:

He is open about it and performs masses and communion for a congregation of gay Catholics.

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If he is so open about it, I'm sure you can supply us with a link to a website or article.

AmyHasQuestions said:

He has been in a homosexual relationship for over 15 years and has gone to Vermont with his lover and has entered a civil union with him. The Bishop is aware of his activities and has not responded because priests are at a premium around here and he can't afford to lose one. Out here in the boonies, it's difficult to get priests.

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That's sad. Regardless if he's Catholic or Protestant Anglican...

CrystalBrooke said:

i know that heterosexuals are tempted too, that's how i got pregnant...and i do appriciate the fact that some homosexuals dont act on those temptations...but however, i still believe that acting or not, homosexuality is still a sin, and it is a choice IMO. it comes down to nature vs nurture, and i dont think that nature has anything to do with it...i know that some may have been abused as children and that somehow made them decide to be homosexual...it was still a choice and it is still wrong...but i didnt make this thread for a debate, i just wanted you guys to know that im still pursuing the faith, im just taking it slower.

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Hey Crystal,

I understand that you are upset about this but I must encourage you to do more research and not look for the flaws but see the truth. The Catechism is simply restating the Church's truths in laypersons terms. I don't believe that your belief that it is nurture not nature is actually in conflict with the Catechism statement that they do not choose their homosexual condition. I think we can both agree that neither of us chose our nurturing as we were growing up. I didn't choose to have an alcoholic father and depressive mother. I didn't choose when and how I was born, I didn't choose to be the last child, I didn't choose the schools I went to and the people that lived near by, etc. All those things make up the nurture of a person and they are not chosen. An adult who is coping with the results of that nurturing doesn't choose to be coping with it. They can choose not to act out disordered desires but they don't choose to be in the disorder. It takes a lot of work and particularly that of the Holy Spirit to order what has been disordered. The Church is acknowledging that the individual has a disorder that was not of their own creation (there are also many Church documents that indicate that some homosexuals do make a choice).

I recommend that you continue your study. Get a catechism or commit to reading a little online everyday. Pray. Read The Theology of the Body - Pope John Paul II's writings on our sexual nature. You will see that the Church is not so far away from your instinctive beliefs about homosexuality.

In the meantime, I'll pray. And don't let those hormones of yours cause you too many knee-jerk reactions, we want to see you and Ben married this year and little bambino born and baptized!

Annabel Lee said:

If he is so open about it, I'm sure you can supply us with a link to a website or article.

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My thoughts also. Even the Church where this priest is.

Crystal, can I make a suggestion that you try and think about this another way? We are all made differently and some of us have far more to cope with in life in order to live as Jesus wants than others. Whether that is because of our genes, the way we are brought up, the unpleasant things that happen to us really doesn't matter. We all have our individual crosses to bear in our walk towards the Lord.
Jesus said this clearly in his parable of the talens, where people were given different amounts of money. To those who received more, much more was expected, but what mattered was not what was given but the choices people made with what they were given.
Whether homosexuality is an inborn trait or learned behaviour then should not matter in your understanding. What matters for all of us is what we do with both the gifts and the difficulties the Lord has given us. This is what the Church is saying in the Catechism..
And what is worth adding is that in the Church we have the great gifts of confession and communion that can help us in our struggles against our nature, which we all have! We all have a thorn in the flesh, but God has given us through Jesus and the sacraments a way to overcome these.

And sisof8, this thread is like being in OBOB, just in another place as far as the rules go...

Hi Crystal,

You are right, we all have freewill. We all make decisions by our own freewill. You are right that homosexuality is not according to God's will. You are right that nurturing has a lot to do with it and freewill... choice. The Catholic Church also believes this too.

Also, there is some scientific proof that some people have more estrogen than others and some have more nestrone. I'm not even close to an expert on this subject and I don't know that much about science either, but I have read that information in a few medical type magazines. I don't know what to think of it either.

One thing that I do know though, is that we all have temptation to work through and to overcome in our life. No one is perfect here on earth. If someone is attracted to the same sex, but by their freewill, they resist that temptation and pray and ask God to help them to overcome this attraction and they daily die to self... shouldn't that mean something?

We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God... none are perfect, none at all. It is only by God's grace that there is any hope for any of us, because we all are sinners... we all have a "thorn in the side", a heavy burden to bare, in one way or another.

Remember the story about when Jesus was with the people and while he was talking to the people, the Sadduccees and the Pharisees brought Jesus a woman and accused her of adultery... What did Jesus do? He bent down and started writing on the ground... most people believe that he was writing the sins of the accusers and as He was writing one by one they started to walk away...

John 8:1-11 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?" 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again."

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What did Jesus say... "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her...

Then near the end.... Her accusers were gone and Jesus looked at the woman and said... "Where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and then he gave her a commandment... a string attachment...

He said... go, and do not sin again....

Temptation, lust, pre-marital sex, lying, adultery... alcoholism, drug abuse, selfishness, unkindness, revenge taking, hate.... these all are sins too and yet when we are tempted, and we resist... that is a good thing...

When a homosexual is tempted to act upon this sin, but he/she resist... isn't that also a good thing?

I hope this makes some sense.

God be with you and yours always,

Debbie

QuantaCura said:

There are many psychological and biological disorders that are not chosen. What is chosen is the decision to engage in sodomy. They need to choose to not engage in homosexual behavior.


None of us choose our temptations but we can choose whether or not to give into them and we can choose to stay out of situations where we will be tempted.

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Amen to that brother! May chastity abound in my life and in everyone else's!

Michie said:

Well, as she said, she does not wish to debate. I'm sure if God is calling her to the Church, she will seek Him out in understanding this position.

So I'll leave it be.

God bless you on your journey.

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Same here.

Crystal,
I just want to sincerely apologise to you if I have offended you in any way on any of your threads. I know that this is a hot button issue for you and I do not want to hurt your feelings or anything. May God richly bless you and guide you!

Your Sister in Christ,
Holly

Homosexuality is a choice, eh?

try to make yourself attracted to somebody of the same sex as you.

Can you do it??

DIDNT THINK SO!!