In response to Pope
Francis’ remarks to journalists concerning homosexuality, San
Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone issued the statement below, dated
July 29:
The whole Church owes a debt of gratitude
to Pope Francis for reiterating the Church’s love and welcome to all people,
especially those who experience same-sex attraction, who often feel alienated
from the Church.
As the Catechism of the
Catholic Church states, these brothers and sisters of ours “must be accepted
with respect, compassion and sensitivity.
Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”
The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith
issued a Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of
Homosexual Persons in 1986 that stated this principle even more strongly: “It
is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent
malice in speech or in action. Such treatment
deserves condemnation from the Church’s pastors wherever it occurs. It reveals a kind of disregard for others
which endangers the most fundamental principles of a healthy society. The intrinsic dignity of each person must
always be respected in word, in action and in law.”
It is, indeed, a sign of a weakening of
civilization when it is deemed acceptable to treat any segment of the
population with anything less than the love and respect all deserve as children
of God.
Of course the Church must be a place of
welcome for people who experience same-sex attraction. The Church must be a
safe place where they can feel secure and loved in revealing their orientation
to others. No one has ever denied this,
but we need to do a better job at making this known and following through on
it.
The Church must also be a community
that assists her members in responding to the call to holiness. This is why the Church has support groups for
people who can benefit from such help in living virtuously in their relationships. While the Church does not judge individuals,
the Church does judge actions, for we know that some acts violate human dignity
while others make us more truly human according to the image in which God originally
made us.
With regard to sexual acts, the
Church has always faithfully taught, and always will, the teaching she has
received from her Lord, namely, that they find their proper order and purpose
within the marital union of husband and wife, and outside of the bond of
marriage they are sinful. Both natural
and revealed law teach us this truth.
While everyone struggles with this to some degree, healthy societies
encourage and support people to live in accordance with it.
With regard to priests, the call to the
Priesthood is one of spiritual paternity.
The same kind of qualities required for a man to be a successful husband
and father of a family are required of the priest; renouncing marriage and his
own family must be a sacrifice for the priest if he is going to be effective
and truly happy in his Priesthood.
This
is the gauge by which we must measure whether or not a man has a call to the
Priesthood.
I am deeply grateful to so
many wonderful priests I have known and have been privileged to work with in my
many assignments who serve the Church with such great generosity and spiritual
paternal affection.