Dear John:

Forgive me for being blunt, but I cannot think of a time that someone has so thoroughly mis-interpreted Scripture and Church teaching as you have. 

Let us first look at the Catechism in its full statement about homosexuals:

2357 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.

2358 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.

2359 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.

Exactly how is the Church "feeding the temptation?" The Church says that homosexual acts are a:

• grave depravity
• intrinsically disordered
• contrary to natural law
• that it closes the sex act to the gift of life
• that is does not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity (which effectively means that there is no such thing as "homosexual love")
• that homosexual acts "under no circumstances can they be approved."

Ya, this is encouraging the promoting the temptation all right! Boy, this is really an encouragement to sin!

John, the Church has made it crystal clear that homosexual sex is absolutely sinful, depraved, and is never to be approved. How can the Church be any clearer?

In addition, homosexuals themselves do not interpret the Church as you do. The homosexual activist groups hate the Catholic Church because of its teaching and lack of acceptance of homosexual sin.

You make the odd and remarkably unreasonable and ridicules remark that the Church should not accept the "existence of the homosexual person." What do you want the Church to do, pretend that homosexuals do not exist? Earth to John — homosexuals exist.

It is also a completely illogical and silly assertion to think that homosexuals cannot be chaste. Of course they can be chaste, just as single heterosexuals can be chaste. The sexual desire and temptation is just as great with homosexuals as with heterosexuals, and both are culpable if the choose to sin.

As for the term "homosexual" not known to St. Paul, I am beside myself in amazement. I am sorry, John, but this point is silly. Indeed the term, "homosexual", was not known by St. Paul as the term has been in existence only since around 1892. So what?

The Apostles also knew nothing of cloning and a whole host of sins that exist today that were unheard of in the First Century, yet the Church affirms cloning a sin. The Bible and Scared Tradition, as defined by the Magisterium, gives us the principles to which we can identify and classify any new sin that might be invented in modern times.

But, in this case, St. Paul was aware of homosexuality, regardless of the term used. A rose is still a rose under any other name.

Whether we use this modern term, homosexuality, or the older term, sodomite, or the effeminate, or whatever, the definition is the same. Those who had preferences for the same sex has been known in human history since about the beginning of the human race. 

There are people who have homosexual orientations. Some of these people choose to sin by committing sexual acts with the same-sex. This is a fact. There are people who may not be homosexuals, but occasionally choose to commit sex acts with the same-sex. This is a fact. 

The Church has made it clear that anyone who commits any sexual act outside the marriage bed, with marriage defined as one man and one woman married to each other, has gravely sinned.

The Church has made it crystal clear that regardless of why a person has same-sex attractions, that such attraction is a violation of natural law and gravely disordered (even if the person chooses to be chaste).

Thus, the Church calls all those with same-sex attractions to chastity.

The Church has been precisely accurate in this teaching on this, and profoundly compassionate. To the Person we offer love and compassion, to the sin, we offer admonishment. That is the approach the Church makes to all sinners.

In addition, those with same-sex attractions do not sin until such time as they indulge the lust in their minds or commit the act. This is the same for all of us. We all have desires and temptations. Some of us have a hard time with an attraction to heterosexual sex, but we do not sin unless with indulge that lust in our minds or actually commit the illicit sex act. It is no different with those with same-sex attractions.

Catholic Answers has a good pamphlet on this subject of homosexuality.

Sir, you need to mortify this arrogance that you think you know more than the Church. That same-sex sexual acts are grave sin is Level 2 teaching that is infallible. You agree with that. But, the other surrounding teaching discussed in the Catechism is, at the very least, Level 3 teaching to which you are required to offer your Religious submission of will and intellect. (see article of the Levels of Teaching in the Church).

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary