UNITED STATES, January 25, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Eight U.S. Catholic bishops, one of them a cardinal, have signed a statement in partnership with a pro-homosexual advocacy group, in support of young people who identify as LGBT, telling them that “God is on your side.”
“As Catholic Bishops in the United States, we join with the Tyler Clementi Foundation in standing up for at-risk LGBT youth in our country,” state the bishops (read full statement below).
“All people of goodwill should help, support, and defend LGBT youth; who attempt suicide at much higher rates than their straight counterparts; who are often homeless because of families who reject them; who are rejected, bullied and harassed; and who are the target of violent acts at alarming rates.”
“The Catholic Church values the God-given dignity of all human life and we take this opportunity to say to our LGBT friends, especially young people, that we stand with you and oppose any form of violence, bullying or harassment directed at you,” they statement continues.
“Most of all, know that God created you, God loves you and God is on your side,” the statement concludes.
The statement was signed by the following prelates:
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Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archdiocese of Newark, NJ
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Archbishop John C. Wester, Archdiocese of Santa Fe, NM
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Bishop Robert McElroy, Diocese of San Diego, CA
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Bishop Edward Weisenburger, Diocese of Tucson, Arizona
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Bishop John Stowe, Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky
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Bishop Steven Biegler, Archdiocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming
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Bishop Thomas Gumbleton (retired), Diocese of Detroit, MI
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Bishop Denis Madden (retired), Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland
The Tyler Clementi Foundation bears the name of an 18-year-old man who committed suicide in 2010 after his roommate at university filmed him engaging in homosexual acts with another student and then released the footage to the public.
“Without Tyler’s knowledge, his roommate secretly pointed his computer’s camera at Tyler’s bed, left the room, and invited other students online to watch Tyler in a most private, intimate act with another man,” states the foundation’s website about the event.
The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual acts are one of the four sins that cry to heaven for justice. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “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” (CCC 2357).
The Catholic Church furthermore teaches that the homosexual inclination is also “objectively disordered” since God created sexual attraction for the purpose of drawing a man and a woman together to become husband and wife in marriage. In other words, the Catholic Churches teaches that God does not make anyone gay.
In a 2019 Declaration of Catholic Truths, Cardinal Raymond Burke and Bishop Athanasius Schneider, together with several other bishops, made clear the Catholic position when it comes to people who are inclined to members of the same-sex.
“Hence, the opinion is contrary to natural law and Divine Revelation that says that, as God the Creator has given to some humans a natural disposition to feel sexual desire for persons of the opposite sex, so also He has given to others a natural disposition to feel sexual desire for persons of the same sex, and that God intends that the latter disposition be acted on in some circumstances.”
Archbishop Wester defended signing the statement in an interview with the Jesuit-run America Magazine.
“We have our teachings, which we prize and cherish, but those teachings need to be understood in the proper context of love and mercy,” he said. “Sometimes people can make equivocations, ‘Well if it’s a sin to engage in a homosexual act, then I must be terrible person.’ The church doesn’t teach that and it’s important [young people] don’t get that erroneous impression,” he added.
The Church teaches that those who engage in grievously sinful acts with full knowledge and consent damage their relationship with God and risk being separated from God for eternity. The Church calls all sinners to repentance and to experience the mercy of God.
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God Is On Your Side: A Statement from Catholic Bishops on Protecting LGBT Youth
As Catholic Bishops in the United States, we join with the Tyler Clementi Foundation in standing up for at-risk LGBT youth in our country.
As we see in the Gospels, Jesus Christ taught love, mercy and welcome for all people, especially for those who felt persecuted or marginalized in any way; and the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that LGBT people are to be treated with “respect, compassion and sensitivity.”
All people of goodwill should help, support, and defend LGBT youth; who attempt suicide at much higher rates than their straight counterparts; who are often homeless because of families who reject them; who are rejected, bullied and harassed; and who are the target of violent acts at alarming rates.
The Catholic Church values the God-given dignity of all human life and we take this opportunity to say to our LGBT friends, especially young people, that we stand with you and oppose any form of violence, bullying or harassment directed at you.
Most of all, know that God created you, God loves you and God is on your side.