(Q):Can homosexuals belong to the Catholic Church?
(A):Yes, homosexuals may belong to the Catholic Church. There is not a law that prohibits homosexuals from belonging to the Catholic Church. It is NOT a sin for someone to have homosexual feelings. Homosexuality becomes a sin only when these desires are acted upon and practiced with a member of the same sex.

All Catholics are called to be chaste. When a man marries a woman, chastity is replaced by a love that procreates new life. Due to the fact that the Catholic Church does not approve of homosexual marriages, homosexuals must live a chaste life.

The church has always recognized the union between man and wife not unions of the same sex. Matthew 19:4-6 reads: "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, (5) and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? (6) So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

(Q): What does the church teach on homosexuality?
(A): The official teaching of the Catholic Church is found in the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's "Letter to the Bishops on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons" (1985). Here is an excerpt from this letter: "Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder. Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not."

What does the Catechism of the Catholic Church say about homosexuality?

(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 complementarily. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

(2358) The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is 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.

What does the Bible say?

The old testament gives us the following verses pertaining to homosexuality.

(Lev. 18:22) "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination."

(Lev. 20:13) "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination;"

(1 Cor. 6:9-10) "Do not be deceived: neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God." (NOTE: This passage is directed towards "practicing" homosexuals, not "chaste" homosexuals).

(1 Tim. 1:9-10) "...Now we know that the law is good, if any one uses it lawfully, (9) understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, (10) immoral persons, sodomites, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine..." (Note: the Webster's dictionary describes sodomy as anal copulation of one male with another)..

(Romans 1:26) "For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, (27) and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error."