Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care
Issued by USCCB, November 14, 2006. Copyright © 2006, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. All rights reserved.

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  1. See Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: Libreria Editrice Vaticana–United
    States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2000), nos. 1700-1702.
  2. CCC, no. 2358.
  3. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons(October 1, 1986), no. 10.
  4. See Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation On Evangelization in the Modern World (Evangelii nuntiandi), no. 79 (Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops [USCCB], 1975).
  5. Pontifical Council for the Family, The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality (December 8, 1995), no. 11.
  6. CCC, no. 2363; see Code of Canon Law (CIC) (Washington, DC: Canon Law Society of America, 1998), c.1055 §1.
  7. CCC, no. 2351.
  8. CCC, no. 2357.
  9. CCC, no. 2357. See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics (Persona humana) (December 29, 1975), no. 8.
  10. Gn 2:24. See Gn 1:27; Mt 19:4-6; Mk 10:6-8; Eph 5:31.
  11. See Gn 19:1-19; Lv 18:22, 20:13.
  12. Rom 1:26-27.
  13. See 1 Cor 6:9; 1 Tm 1:10.
  14. See CCC, no. 2358.
  15. See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, no. 3.
  16. Circumstances may affect the degree of culpability in individual cases, but to will homosexual acts is always wrong. “In fact, circumstances may exist, or may have existed in the past, which would reduce or remove the culpability of the individual in a given instance; or other circumstances may increase it. What is at all costs to be avoided is the unfounded and demeaning assumption that the sexual behavior of homosexual persons is always and totally compulsive and therefore inculpable” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, no. 11).
  17. See CCC, no. 2357: “Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained.”
  18. CCC, no. 2337.
  19. See CCC, no. 1768: “Passions are morally good when they contribute to a good action, evil in the opposite case.” Passions are thus to be judged according to their relationship to good and bad acts, which themselves are judged based on an understanding of the human person and of the end of human existence. It is through the exercise of reason and by the gift of divine revelation that the Church can offer a true understanding of the human person and of the end of human existence, providing a criterion by which to judge which acts are good, natural, and thus conducive of human happiness, and which acts lead only to unhappiness.
  20. See CCC, no. 2339: “Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy.”
  21. See CCC, nos. 1965-1974.
  22. Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis splendor) (Washington, DC: USCCB, 1993), no. 103.
  23. National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pastoral Research and Practices, Principles to Guide Confessors in Questions of Homosexuality (Washington, DC: USCCB, 1973), 11.
  24. CCC, no. 2347. See Pontifical Council for the Family, The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, no. 17: “Chastity is the joyous affirmation of someone who knows how to live self-giving, free from any form of self- centered slavery. This presupposes that the person has learned how to accept other people, to relate with them,
    while respecting their dignity in diversity. The chaste person is not self-centered, not involved in selfish relationships with other people. Chastity makes the personality harmonious. It matures it and fills it with inner peace. This purity of mind and body helps develop true self-respect and at the same time makes one capable of respecting others, because it makes one see in them persons to reverence, insofar as they are created in the image of God and through grace are children of God.”
  25. See Lv 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7, 26; 1 Pt 1:16. See Mt 5:48; Lk 6:36.
  26. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium [LG]), no. 40, in Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, new revised edition, ed. Austin Flannery, OP (Northport, NY: Costello Publishing, 1996). All subsequent Vatican II passages come from the Flannery edition.
  27. LG, no. 40.
  28. CCC, no. 2015.
  29. See Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), no. 6.
  30. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, no. 15.
  31. See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, no. 17: “All support should be withdrawn from any organizations which seek to undermine the teaching of the Church, which are ambiguous about it, or which neglect it entirely. Such support, or even the semblance of such support, can be gravely misinterpreted.”
  32. See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons(March 28, 2003), no. 8.
  33. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Some Considerations Concerning the Response to Legislative Proposals on the Non-Discrimination  of Homosexual Persons (July 23, 1992), no. 10.
  34. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Between Man and Woman: Questions and Answers About Marriage and Same-Sex Unions (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2003), question 5. See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Some Considerations Concerning the Response to Legislative Proposals on the Non- Discrimination of Homosexual Persons, no. 9: “In assessing proposed legislation, the bishops should keep as their uppermost concern the responsibility to defend and promote family life.”
  35. USCCB, To Live in Christ Jesus: A Pastoral Reflection on the Moral Life (Washington, DC: USCCB, 1976), no. 52.
  36. See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Notification Regarding Sr. Gramick and Fr. Nugent (May 23, 1999), Origins 29:9 (July 2, 1999): 133-136.
  37. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, no. 5.
  38. A useful resource is Pope John Paul II’s The Theology of the Body: Human Love in the Divine Plan (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1997).
  39. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, no. 2.
  40. See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, no. 7.
  41. See CIC, c. 868 §1, 2º.
  42. See USCCB complementary norm on the recording of Baptism of adopted children.
  43. See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics, no. 8. “A distinction is drawn, and it seems with some reason, between homosexuals whose tendency . . . is transitory . . . and homosexuals who are definitively such.”
  44. Examples of such ministries whose principles are in accord with Church teaching are Courage and Encourage.
  45. Pope John Paul II, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliation and Penance (Reconciliatio et paenitentia), no. 25 (Washington, DC: USCCB, 1984).
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