NEWARK, New Jersey, April 18, 2019, LifeSiteNews — U.S. Cardinal Joseph Tobin said in a nationally televised Today Show interview on April 17 that the church’s teaching that same-sex attraction is “disordered” is “unfortunate” and “hurtful” language.
Speaking to NBC’s Anne Thompson, Cardinal Tobin suggested that the Catholic Church is in a state of flux regarding how it deals with those in homosexual relationships.
“The Church, I think, is having its own conversation about what our faith has us do and say with people in relationships that are same-sex. What should be without debate is that we are called to welcome them,” the Cardinal said.
When Thompson said, “But how can you welcome people that you call ‘intrinsically disordered?’” the Cardinal replied: “Well I don’t call them ‘intrinsically disordered.’”
“But isn’t that the Catechism of the Catholic Church?” she asked.
“That is,” Tobin said, adding “it’s very unfortunate language. Let’s hope that eventually that language is a little less hurtful.”
Thompson had introduced the topic by noting that Tobin’s “outreach to the LGBTQ community is in the mold of Pope Francis, despite some Church teaching.”
Homosexual acts are traditionally one of the four sins that cry to heaven for vengeance. Basing itself on Scripture and the natural law, the Catholic Church teaches that homosexual acts are “acts of grave depravity” and 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,” states the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Church teaches, moreover, that the homosexual inclination is “objectively disordered” and constitutes for most a “trial.”
In a 1986 letter to bishops, the Church said that “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.”
The Church calls for “respect, compassion, and sensitivity” for persons struggling with same-sex attraction while teaching that such “respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behaviour or to legal recognition of homosexual unions.”
Cardinal Tobin became the center of speculation last year after tweeting “nighty-night, baby. I love you” and then promptly deleting it, saying it was meant for his sister. The Cardinal was in the limelight again months later after having reportedly confirmed rumors he recently housed in his rectory a young Italian actor for a period of time.
Last year, Fr. James Martin, SJ suggested that Pope Francis deliberately appointed “gay-friendly” prelates such as Cardinal Tobin.
Archbishop Carlos Maria Viganò, former Papal Ambassador to the U.S., declared in his famous testimony: “The appointments of Blase Cupich to Chicago and Joseph W. Tobin to Newark were orchestrated by McCarrick, Maradiaga and Wuerl, united by a wicked pact of abuses by the first, and at least of coverup of abuses by the other two. Their names were not among those presented by the Nunciature for Chicago and Newark.”
Shortly after being appointed Archbishop of Newark, Tobin personally welcomed homosexuals to the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark as part of a so-called “LGBT Pilgrimage.”
Tobin’s participation in the event was praised by Fr. James Martin, who congratulated Tobin, exclaiming, “Bravo!”
Cardinal Tobin is one of a handful of U.S. prelates who have endorsed Fr. Martin’s pro-LGBT book Building a Bridge.
When rumors began to swirl that Tobin was likely to succeed Cardinal Donald Wuerl as the next Archbishop of Washington, D.C., thousands of people signed a petition asking the papal nuncio of the United States “not to support the appointment of Cardinal Tobin.”